The staking platform Kiln, which targets institutional clients, has closed a $17 million funding round led by 1kx.
Thrilling start to 2024!
? We have secured $17M in funding led by @1kxnetwork for our global expansion.
? We are opening a new office in Singapore and are gearing up to provide exciting new features on our platform, such as DeFi rewards.
? Huge thanks to our existing and… pic.twitter.com/R3lEnIF3ga
— Kiln ?? (@Kiln_finance) January 18, 2024
Other investors include Crypto.com, IOSG, Wintermute Ventures, KXVC, LBank, Kraken Ventures, GSR, and Avon Ventures, a venture fund affiliated with FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments.
The total funding raised by the startup is nearing $35 million. In November 2022, Kiln closed a Series A round with participation from Kraken and ConsenSys, securing €17 million (approximately $17.8 million).
The company’s valuation remains undisclosed. However, developers reported that in 2023, the volume of staked assets grew more than fivefold to $4.2 billion. The platform has also integrated with numerous custodial solutions, wallets, and exchanges.
Kiln will use the funds for global expansion, including establishing a division in the Asia-Pacific region and a regional headquarters in Singapore. The funds will also be invested in further product development.
“We are currently developing DeFi solutions that allow our integrator clients (wallets, exchanges, custodians) to monetize stablecoin reward opportunities,” Kiln representatives noted.
The platform supports numerous PoS blockchains, though the majority of staked funds are in Ethereum.
“Financial institutions will become a dominant force in the crypto space. They leverage vast market opportunities by staking on behalf of their clients,” said 1kx founding partner Christopher Heymann.
The institutional platform is also the largest operator of validator nodes in the Ethereum network, according to Rated.
In September, Coinbase Cloud integrated Kiln to provide users with staking capabilities below the minimum threshold of 32 ETH.
For similar purposes, the firm also partnered last year with hardware crypto wallet manufacturer Ledger and the platform Crypto.com.