Solana-based cryptocurrency wallet, Phantom, just secured $109 million in Series B funding round led by leading crypto-focused investment firm, Paradigm, in a bid to bolster its vision of “bringing Web3 to the broader world.”
The fundraising catapulted the cross-platform wallet to unicorn status after attaining a $1.2 billion valuation. The financing round also witnessed the participation from other venture firms including private venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, thesis-led venture investor specializing in scalable software opportunities in crypto, Jump Capital and an early-stage venture firm investing in crypto networks & platforms, Variant Fund. This comes on the heels following the Series A funding round last year when Phantom raised $9 million.
Web3 Development
According to the official blog post, Phantom aims to use the capital to onboard more users and developers to support the growth of Web3. The funding will help to enhance the wallet’s technical capabilities and help expand the multi-chain user experience. In addition to its funding round, Phantom also announced that its mobile app is now available for iOS devices.
Phantom CEO Brandon Millman said that the company’s plans merged with the groing craze for non-fungible tokens (NFT). NFT drops happen at all times of the day. Hence, it is not possible for a user to participate if they don’t have their laptop. Hence, the mobile-friendly applications will be a convenient way for users to browse through their NFTs, and other Web3 applications. Millman went on to add,
“With an Android launch also coming shortly, we couldn’t be more excited about the potential for mobile to empower a whole new set of users and use cases for Phantom. These additional platforms will provide both promising avenues for user growth and opportunities to innovate on safety and security.”
User Friendly Gateway To Web3
As per global app store for decentralized applications, DappRadar, Phantom wallet currently boasts of over 2 million monthly active users, having doubled its user count in less than three months. Much of that growth is tied to Solana ecosystem adoption, especially around NFTs. Phantom provides support to Solanart, a Solana-based NFT marketplace that currently ranks eighth in terms of trade volume. The recent blog-post stated,
“Collectively, our users have staked over 112.4 million SOL ($10.4 billion), swapped $1.37 billion in tokens, and made 55.2M NFT, defi, and app transactions. We know we have a great responsibility to continue building and will always act in the best interest of the community.”
