Cross-chain protocol Axelar raises $35 million at a $1 billion valuation

The Axelar blockchain interoperability network closed a $35 million Series B financing round. The round’s result valued the startup at $1 billion.

📢Big News: Axelar raises $35M Series B financing round at a $1B valuation🚀

This investment will power the growth of the network, the team and new cross-chain integrations.https://t.co/4RQA6WqyM0 pic.twitter.com/Yb2aoq6Cjv

— Axelar Network (@axelarcore) February 15, 2022

Investors included Polychain Capital and Dragonfly Capital. North Island Ventures, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, Cygni Capital, Lemniscap, Olive Tree Capital, Blockchange Ventures and Node Capital also participated in the round.

The funds will be used to further develop the ecosystem. In late January, the Axelar team began phased deployment of the mainnet, as well as onboarding validators, wallet integration, and the setup of monitoring tools and node infrastructure.

The team plans to launch a beta version of Satellite on the mainnet. The Dapp will enable asset transfers across several blockchains, including Ethereum, Terra, Avalanche and Moonbeam.

The project has already integrated the protocol with Polygon, Polkadot, Cosmos and Pangolin Exchange.

The team is working on the Axelar SDK, a set of development tools that will enable building cross-chain dapps on top of the network.

As noted, Axelar was one of the first projects that backed the cryptocurrency venture fund founded in 2021 by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones and rapper LL Cool J.