Router Protocol Completes Oversubscribed Strategic Funding Round

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21 Jun 2024

Router Protocol is pleased to announce that it has completed an oversubscribed strategic funding round with participation from prominent crypto angels and funds.

The primary goal of the strategic round was to thoughtfully expand Router's cap table with crypto operators who deeply understand the importance of cross-chain infrastructure and can accelerate the ecosystem growth as Router evolves into a Layer 1 blockchain.

Router Protocol is honored to welcome an exceptional group of accomplished founders and web3 executives as angels and advisors, including Keone Hon (Monad), Parker Jou (Caldera), Amrit Kumar (Altlayer), Aniket (Biconomy), Anurag Arjun (Avail), Amitej (Stader), Ravindra (Frontier), and several others.

In a testament to the unwavering belief in its vision, Router Protocol also received overwhelming support from existing investors, including heavyweight players such as Wintermute Ventures, Woodstock, DeFi Capital, CryptoBanter, RavenDAO, and Luganodes. Other renowned advisors and angels include Zaki Manian (Sommelier/Cosmos), Ajit Tripathi (@chainyoda), Gokul Rajaram (Google/Doordash), and Surojit Chatterjee (Coinbase, Google, Flipkart, EMA).

The proceeds from this funding round will be deployed strategically to fuel the development and highly anticipated launch of the Router Chain mainnet. Router Chain is set to revolutionize value transfer by abstracting away blockchain complexity and unlocking a new era of frictionless cross-chain applications and user experiences.

"Router Chain embodies the evolution of our unwavering vision to build the universal interconnectivity layer between fragmented L1/L2 networks," said Ramani Ramachandran, CEO of Router Protocol. "By abstracting away blockchain complexity, we are laser-focused on delivering the most seamless and intuitive user and developer experience for multi-chain applications. This funding round propels us closer to realising this transformative vision."

Router Protocol’s mantra has always been "developers first." Its mission is to empower builders to focus on bringing their groundbreaking ideas to life, rather than grappling with infrastructure complexities. Router Chain will provide a robust suite of flexible interoperability primitives, including its innovative cross-chain intent framework and developer-friendly toolkits, to make this vision a reality.

"We are thrilled to witness the rapid expansion of our ecosystem, with trailblazing cross-chain projects like StakeEase, FolioX, and many more leveraging our interoperability primitives to push the boundaries of what's possible," said Shubham Singh, CTO of Router Protocol.

In a major milestone, Router Protocol launched Router Nitro, a super-fast, gas-efficient, intent-based cross-chain bridge powered by an innovative reverse-verification mechanism. Nitro Bridge crossed $350M volume in the past 4 months, over 650K+ transactions, and almost 300K unique users.

To further accelerate ecosystem growth, Router Protocol is thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of the Router Ecosystem Grants Program, which will provide substantial financial support and resources to promising projects building on Router Chain. Moreover, the project’s recently revamped tokenomics empowers it to aggressively focus on community engagement, ecosystem expansion, and the promotion of exciting new cross-chain primitives that will redefine the landscape of interoperability.

The oversubscribed round demonstrates the demand for high-value web3 infrastructure and marks a crucial step in Router's maturation from a bridge solution to a core Web3 connecting layer. Backing from this expanded group of partners will aid in evangelizing Router's vision and unique value proposition to a global audience.