Mina blockchain protocol developer raises $10.9 million from prominent Asian investors

The team at O (1) Labs, behind the Mina blockchain project (formerly the Coda protocol), raised $10.9 million in funding. The round was led by Hong Kong’s Bixin Ventures and Singapore’s Three Arrows Capital, CoinDesk reports.

HashKey Capital, NGC Ventures and Fenbushi Capital also participated in the round.

Total investment in the project now stands at $29.4 million: the team attracted $3.5 million in a seed round in May 2018 and $15 million in a Series A in April 2019 from Coinbase Ventures and Paradigm.

The Mina mainnet launch is planned for early 2021. The protocol uses zero-knowledge proof technology (zk-SNARKs), allowing proof of ownership of certain information without revealing it.

Mina is distinguished by its exceptionally lightweight architecture — storing a copy of the Coda blockchain requires only 22 KB.

The solution can interact with layer-one protocols and, it is claimed, is designed to address the problems of popular blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, which over time push users out of the competition.

CEO of O (1) Labs, Evan Shapiro, noted that the Mina blockchain can be used to verify personal data or financial information. Third-party developers will have the ability to build decentralized applications that ensure privacy and computational efficiency.

In Q3 2020, twelve cryptocurrency and blockchain startups attracted a total of about $897.7 million in venture capital. The average size of early deals was $7 million, seed rounds—$2.1 million.

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