Aptos Labs, a Palo Alto-based Web3 company, announced Tuesday it raised $150 million in Series A funding co-led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto. This funding round comes just four months after the company’s $200 million seed round, bringing its total capital raised this year to $350 million.
Aptos’ Layer 1 blockchain utilizes elements of the Diem blockchain and its smart contract language Move. The founding members of the Atpos’ team began developing what would become Aptos’ technology while at Meta before the Diem project was shut down earlier this year. The goal for Diem is to be a safer and more scalable cryptocurrency than competitors and a reliable foundation for Web3 development.
“This latest investment is a further endorsement of our teams work to date, and confirms that there is [a] real appetite for a next generation Layer 1 — one that prioritizes security, usability and the overall user experience for developers and consumers,” Aptos co-founder and CEO Mo Shaikh said in a statement. “We’ve known for a while that, due to issues like outages and downtime, current blockchains are not fit for purpose when it comes to mass Web3 adoption. That’s why we’re building a blockchain to be the reliable foundation for Web3 that ushers in users from around the world to experience the benefits of decentralization.”
The company is currently operating incentivized testnets in advance of its planned mainnet launch later this year.
Aptos plans to use its new funding to hire more developers and build out new initiatives, such as ecosystem funds, according to a company statement. The company is also actively hiring positions in design, data, finance, marketing, partnerships, HR and product. There are currently 23 positions available as well as a general application for those interested in joining the Aptos’ community outside of the roles currently offered.
