VCs back $40m round for Korea's Fantom Foundation
Fantom Foundation, a Korean blockchain technology company, has received a $40 million funding round from a number of specialist investors, including US-based 8 Decimal Capital and Singapore’s Link VC.
Other participants included Signum Capital, Hyperchain Capital, Arrington XRP Capital, Bibox Fund, Nirvana Capital, and JRR Crypto. Previous backers also include Kosmos Capital, a blockchain-focused VC based in Australia.
The capital will be used to develop a platform that aims to enable cryptocurrency transactions to be made at speeds significantly faster than is currently possible with traditional payment systems such as Visa and Mastercard. The plan is expected to accelerate widespread adoption of crypto by reducing historical constraints around time, cost, and transparency.
At present, popular crypto systems such as Bitcoin and Ethereum can process no more than 20 transactions per second, compared to the approximately 65,000 transactions per second achieved by traditional credit card companies. Fantom aims to increase crypto transaction speed capacity to around 300,000 transactions per second at nearly no cost.
“Fantom is set to lead the next wave of innovation in the blockchain sector,” John Ng, a partner at Signum Capital, said in a statement. “This next generation technology they’re developing, which is designed to be infinitely scalable, will be truly transformative and drive mass adoption for blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies in every industry and market imaginable.”
Fantom has secured a number of strategic partnerships as part of its platform development plan, including SBCK, a technology-focused subsidiary of Softbank Group, US cloud computing company Oracle, and the Korea Food-Tech Association, an organization with more than 90 food tech member companies.
8 Decimal is said to be one of the largest VCs focused on blockchain infrastructure globally, with some $35 million of assets under management and more than 20 portfolio companies. Recent activity by the firm in Asia includes participation in a $19.5 million token sale by Bluzelle, a Singaporean database provider.
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