Stake Technologies secures $10M to build DApp ecosystem for Polkadot and Kusama

Published at: June 11, 2021

Stake Technologies Inc., an infrastructure provider for decentralized applications and Web 3.0 protocols, has raised $10 million in strategic investments to help build out the Polkadot and Kusama ecosystems through its wholly owned Plasm and Shiden networks.

The funds will be immediately deployed to help Stake Technologies complete a successful parachain lease offering, or PLO, both on Kusama and Polkadot, the company announced Friday. The Kusama PLO will be conducted through the Shiden Network parachain, while Plasm Network will be dedicated to Polkadot.

Stake Technologies has adopted a “crowdloan-centric strategy” for securing the Shiden parachain lease, which refers to one of two primary approaches for securing a parachain slot, the other being direct sales.

The investment round was led by venture capital firm Fenbushi Capital, with participation from Hypersphere Ventures, Gumi Cryptos, IOSG Ventures, TRG Capital, AU21 Capital and others. Nobuyuki Idei, former CEO and chairman of Sony, also participated as an angel investor.

Related: Polkadot creator Gavin Wood proposes June 15 for first Kusama parachain auction

“The Plasm Network, and its cousin Shiden, aim to be the multi-chain DApp hubs of Polkadot and Kusama,” Stake Technologies said. “The two networks will become the gateway for cross-chain assets from other networks, layer-two platforms and parachains.”

“The multi-blockchain approach means that Plasm and Shiden will be key contributions to the overall parachain ecosystem, with their work on scaling benefiting every other future parachain,” said Jack Platts, partner at Hypersphere Ventures, which contributed to the funding round.

The highly anticipated Kusama parachain auction could have its first winner later this month should the Kusama Council approve a tentative schedule published earlier this week by creator Gavin Wood. As Cointelegraph reported, Kusama has been ready to host parachains since May, with developers confident that all technical hurdles have been cleared.

Tags
Business
Polkadot
Investments
Venture Capital
Related Posts
Coinbase Ventures backing DeFi in the Polkadot ecosystem
Coinbase Ventures, the investment arm of the San Francisco-based digital currency exchange, has thrown its weight behind a layer-one blockchain designed to bring full-service DeFi to the Polkadot ecosystem. The investments are focused on Acala, the Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible blockchain that is building a host of DeFi capabilities on Polkadot, as well as Karura, which is building a DeFi ecosystem on Kusama. Acala has already built four core products for the Polkadot ecosystem: Liquid DOT staking, a stablecoin, an automated market maker decentralized exchange and a sovereign wealth fund. The amounts allocated to Acala and Karura were not disclosed. According …
Business / April 1, 2021
Galaxy Interactive raises another $325M fund aimed at metaverse and next-gen games
Galaxy Interactive, a venture capital firm focused on next-generation interactive technology, has announced it has raised $325 million for its second fund from 70 different investors. The fund is focused on virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence and blockchain-based games. In a Tuesday announcement, Galaxy Digital, the majority owner of Galaxy Interactive, stated that $150 million from the fund has already been allocated to new portfolio companies, including Republic, 1047 Games, Elodie, Roar, Art Blocks and Masterworks, with other additional investments to be announced in coming months. Established in 2018 by general partners Sam Englebardt and Richard Kim, the company …
Technology / Oct. 20, 2021
Framework’s Michael Anderson: ‘Ethereum is where DeFi will continue to be’
Following the collapse of initial coin offerings, venture capital became the primary funding source for cryptocurrency projects. A slew of crypto-native funds opened their doors, one of them being Framework Ventures, a fund primarily investing in decentralized finance that was co-founded by Michael Anderson and Vance Spencer. Cointelegraph previously reported on Anderson’s philosophy of network capital, a change in investing mindset that is almost necessary in a space where decentralized protocols take the place of traditional companies and equity structures. Framework Ventures has made several investments, notably into Chainlink’s LINK token and Synthetix’s SNX token. But the fund is not …
Altcoin / Sept. 12, 2020
IPOs Are ‘Really Not Worth It’ Says Tim Draper
Tim Draper, a famous American venture capitalist and serial cryptocurrency investor, believes that initial public offerings, or IPOs, are not the best source of funding for industry firms. The billionaire investor joined the Unitize conference on July 6 to talk about investing in early stage blockchain startups. Draper’s thoughts on IPOs During the Unitize panel, Draper highlighted that existing regulations make it difficult for blockchain companies to go public. “I don’t recommend going public to anybody right now unless your company is worth at least $10 billion,” the investor said. Draper continued that it makes more sense for blockchain entrepreneurs …
Business / July 6, 2020
NFTs will bring crypto to billions of users, explains VC investor
Avichal Garg, the CEO and co-founder of Electric Capital, defines himself as “an NFT maximalist” – who believes that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) will play an essential role in bringing crypto to the masses. Unlike other crypto niches, NFTs are relatable to aspects of everyday life such as art, music and games. “I could imagine that NFTs are actually many billions of people because it's ultimately culture. And that's something that everybody can participate in and everybody can understand,” said Garg in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. In particular, Garg is bullish about NFTs being used in the gaming industry, which …
Adoption / Sept. 18, 2022