Blockchain Project Raises $61 Million from A16Z, Polychain Capital

A blockchain project based in Switzerland has raised $61 million from a group of investors that includes venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz and token hedge fund Polychain Capital.

Announcing the news this morning, DFINITY Stiftung said the funding would go toward development of its blockchain protocol, aimed to support a public decentralized cloud computing platform. According to Reuters, $21 million of the total will be dedicated to development, with the rest devoted to a venture fund aimed at supporting developers and teams working on applications of the protocol.

"Though the DFINITY Foundation is well capitalized, our focus with this financing was to bring in key partners who can provide real strategic value and help distinguish us from the noise in the market," Dominic Williams, DFINITY's president and chief scientist, said in a statement.

Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) has invested in a number of blockchain companies and projects in the space in recent years, having notably bought a stake in exchange startup Coinbase back in 2013. Recent investments include seed funds for DydX (through general partner Chris Dixon), Basecoin, and OpenBazaar, among others.

A16Z also invested in Polychain itself, with the company and fellow VC firm Union Square Ventures buying a $10 million stake in 2016 along with a group of undisclosed investors.

Disclosure: CoinDesk is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which has an ownership stake in Coinbase and OB1.

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