Botanix Labs Raises $11.5 Million To Develop Bitcoin-Native Layer 2 Solution, Spiderchain

Botanix Labs, a Bitcoin protocol development startup based in New York and founded at Harvard Business School, proudly announces a total funding raise of $11.5 million. The funding will support the development of Spiderchain, the first Bitcoin-native Layer 2 primitive with full Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) equivalence, aimed at facilitating a decentralized global financial system running on Bitcoin.

The funding round was backed by prominent investors, including Polychain Capital, Placeholder Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and ABCDE, among others. This investment marks a significant milestone for Botanix Labs, following a previously undisclosed $3 million pre-seed round last year, bringing the total funding raised to $11.5 million.

Angel investors, such as Andrew Kang, Dan Held, and Dovey Wan, among others, also participated in the seed funding round, highlighting the widespread interest and support for Botanix Labs' innovative approach to Bitcoin-native DeFi solutions.

Botanix Labs has been dedicated to its mission since early 2022, focusing on building technologies like Spiderchain to safeguard a decentralized, Bitcoin-native financial system. Since the launch of the early-stage testnet in November 2023, Spiderchain has demonstrated promising results, with over 10,000 experimental token launches, thousands of testnet bitcoin wallet refills, and more than 200,000 active addresses. Additionally, dozens of decentralized applications (dApps) are preparing to launch on the mainnet later this summer.

The raised capital will be deployed to support the growth of the Botanix Labs team and the Spiderchain ecosystem, with a strong emphasis on product development and creating a secure network with a vibrant ecosystem. As pioneers in Bitcoin innovation, Botanix Labs embarked on building the next generation of Layer 2 networks during a bear market, demonstrating foresight and commitment to the future of Bitcoin.

The recent surge in venture investment, application development, and speculative activity within the broader Bitcoin sector underscores the value and importance of Spiderchain and similar Bitcoin-native solutions. By building infrastructure that supports a global financial system running on Bitcoin, Botanix Labs aims to unlock the untapped potential of Bitcoin capital and onboard billions of users to the network, shaping the future of decentralized finance for the next century and beyond.