Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and crypto trading firm FTX are co-leading an investment of more than $100 million in LayerZero Labs, a 10-month-old crypto firm that has yet to launch its product publicly, at a $1 billion valuation, according to two people familiar with the deal.
LayerZero’s rapid rise to unicorn status, unusual for a startup of its age, reflects the recent explosion of investor interest in blockchain startups among more generalist venture firms that previously shied away from the sector. It’s also part of a trio of such deals that Sequoia has inked recently, bringing its total number of crypto-startup investments this year to over a dozen.
