Aztec Network Raises $100M from A16Z and Others

On December 15th, private layer-2 chain, Aztec Network, reported that venture capital firm a16z crypto had led a $100 million in Series B fundraising round. A Capital, SV Angel, King River, Variant, Hash Key, Fenbushu, and AVG also participated in the round as investors.

Using the funding from a16z, Aztec Network wants to expand its engineering team and develop a “next-generation encrypted architecture” which will enable users to inspect if blockchain rules were followed without disclosing sensitive data. 

Additionally, the blockchains can be encrypted so that users can do business in complete secrecy.

Aztec Network claims that its cryptography has been put through its paces in a production environment using Aztec Connect, making it possible for hundreds of transactions to be conducted privately using decentralised finance (DeFi) protocols. 

Ethereum DeFi protocols including Aave, Lido, Element, Curve, Set Protocol, Compound, and Liquidity are all part of the Aztec Connect ecosystem.

In the company’s official release, Zac Williamson, CEO of Aztec, said that “what we’re building is a revolutionary piece of technology that transforms how we interact with each other online, in which the end user is the customer, rather than the product.”

In order to facilitate the smooth coexistence of encrypted and unencrypted applications, the business is also working on a public-private execution layer for its blockchain. 

Joe Andrews, one of the founders of Aztec, said: 

“With a16z we are standing on the shoulders of giants to bring the encryption we have enjoyed since Netscape to our digital Web3.0 lives. We couldn’t think of a better partner to help us scale Aztec to mainstream.”

DeFi Down but Not Out

Matter Labs, the company behind the zkSync Ethereum scaling solution, raised $200 million in a Series C fundraising round back in November. In addition, Ngrave, a digital asset security wallet, is also seeking $15 million in a Series A fundraising round as reported by TheCoinRise.