SKALE Labs Raises $9.65M to Launch the SKALE Network, Accelerate dApp Performance With New Blockchain Infrastructure

Multicoin Capital, Galaxy Digital, FLOODGATE, Signia Venture Partners Back Decentralized Network That Scales to Millions of Transactions Per Second

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SKALE Labs, Inc., a leading innovator in blockchain scalability infrastructure, today announced that it has raised $9.65 million in funding, comprised of a $8.86 million Simple Agreement For Future Tokens (SAFT) and a $785,000 seed SAFT raised earlier this year. The most recent round was led by Multicoin Capital. Other investors include Aspect Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Boost.VC, Canaan Venture Partners, Galaxy Digital, FLOODGATE Fund, Hack.VC, Neo Global Capital, Signia Venture Partners, among others.  

SKALE Labs will use the funds to launch the SKALE Network, a fully permissionless, opensource, peer-2-peer (P2P) network, and the SKALE Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the SKALE Network similar to how the Ethereum Foundation supports the Ethereum Network. SKALE will be the first implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) on a Plasma chain. Following launch, the SKALE Network plans to release a fully-functional, Ethereum-integrated TestNet in Q4 of 2018, followed by a MainNet in subsequent months.

SKALE Labs has created a powerful new infrastructure that accelerates decentralized applications (dApps) built on smart contract platforms by enabling smart contracts to execute in a Layer 2 environment. Leveraging SKALE, developers can instantly scale dApps to millions of transactions per second at a fraction of the cost of what's possible today. The combination of SKALE and Ethereum gives dApp developers security, decentralization, and scale never before realized on decentralized networks.

"Helping Ethereum dApp developers scale applications is the center of what we do. We are sharply focused on making Layer 2 easy, fast, secure and cost-effective for anyone who wants to run smart contracts on Ethereum," said Jack O'Holleran, co-founder and CEO of SKALE Labs. "It takes a deep understanding of math and cryptography to build a secure scaling platform. We are fortunate to have such a talented team of engineers with cryptography, physics, and informatics backgrounds. We are looking forward to bringing this Network to market in a fully open-source, P2P manner."  

Parties interested in mining SKALE or running validators nodes, or being among the first to develop dApps using the SKALE infrastructure before the mainnet launch should complete this survey. The full technical white paper and product roadmap will be released in 2019. SKALE will also be sponsoring the ETH San Francisco Hackathon on Oct 5-7.   

"SKALE Labs is one of the strongest and most well-rounded teams we've seen in the space thus far. We're excited to see the testnet launch later this year," said Kyle Samani, Managing Partner at Multicoin Capital. "SKALE is Ethereum's best shot at fending off competition from other smart contract platforms. This is the first implementation of Ethereum Virtual Machine that will run on a Plasma chain. SKALE is uniquely positioned to dominate Layer 2 on Ethereum on other smart contract platforms facing similar scaling issues. We fully expect it to be a vital component of the Web3 stack."  

To learn more about SKALE Labs please visit https://www.skalelabs.com/.  

About SKALE:

SKALE's mission is to help developers scale Decentralized Applications (dApps) in an easy, fast and secure manner. Decentralized Systems need greater throughput and lower transaction fees in order to meet the requirements of dApps. Currently dApps with high frequency transactions are unusable due to latency and high transaction fees. SKALE acts as Layer 2 for high speed consensus and empowers dApps to run smart contracts at the rate of millions per second with platforms such as Ethereum. The SKALE Network is a fully decentralized, open-source P2P network that is run using the SKALE utility token which is staked by dApps and supported by SKALE Validator Nodes.

About Multicoin:

Multicoin Capital is a thesis-driven cryptofund focused on driving exceptional returns for longterm investors.  

Blockchain technologies will create trillions of dollars of value over the next decade. But investing in tokens is fundamentally different than investing in companies. New tools, heuristics, and security measures are required to responsibly invest in this ecosystem.

We believe in making decisions based solely on first principles and deep understanding of technology. We rigorously research blockchain protocols, teams, and market opportunities to deliver venture capital economics with public market liquidity.

Please contact us at https://multicoin.capital.  

Media Contact:
Jack O'Holleran
press@skalelabs.com