• Polygon has fetched $450M in a recent funding round led by venture capitalist Sequoia Capital India.
• With the financial uplift, the network plans to upgrade its ZK scaling technology, and improve its Web 3.0 capabilities.

To fulfill its Ethereum scaling and Web 3.0 ambitions, Polygon (MATIC) has now raised a whopping $450 million funding. The Monday round was led by venture capitalist Sequoia Capital India. More than 40 institutions were in involved, including Republic Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Animoca Brands, Steadview Capital, Galaxy Digital,  Tiger Global, Vision Fund 2, and SoftBank, to mention a few. The latest round now pumps up the network’s valuation to the tune of $2 billion.

In a statement following the round, Polygon says it plans to use the funds to expand its coverage. Since it solves scalability issues on Ethereum, the platform will work to further reduce the need for blockchain and crypto users to resort to other blockchains. 

Polygon $450M funding for scalability and Web 3.0

As for Web 3.0, the multichain protocol intends to develop decentralized applications (DApps) for the decentralized internet. It also looks forward to building upon its Web 3.0 scaling solutions. Among them are Polygon Avail, Polygon Edge, and Polygon PoS. These solutions are synonymous with Amazon Web Services (AWS) offerings to Web 2.0 developers.

Polygon has hugely embedded, promoted, and profited from zero-knowledge (ZK) rollups. The technology allows the network to execute multiple transactions, after which it converts them to a single transaction. Polygon will spare some of the funds acquired to further develop ZK technologies. The move, it hopes, will work towards onboarding the next billion users on the Ethereum network.

Sandeep Nailwal, a Polygon co-founder, had the following to say of the development:

Web3 builds on the early internet’s open-source ideals, enabling users to create the value, control the network and reap the rewards. Ethereum, scaled by Polygon, will be the bedrock of this next stage in the Web’s evolution. The technological disruption didn’t start with Web2, nor is it going to end there. That’s why we are very excited to see some of the same firms that funded the previous round of innovation now being our Web3 vision.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Sequoia India said the firm chose to back Polygon due to the value it brings to the Ethereum ecosystem. 

“This is an ambitious and aggressive team, one that values innovation at its core,” he added.

MATIC growth

MATIC, the native token to the Indian-native network, saw its popularity skyrocket last year despite volatile market conditions. Other leading crypto assets such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP suffered major dips in June 2021. Meanwhile, MATIC rose 35 percent over the same period, ranking among the top 15 cryptocurrencies. Its demand also rose, especially among Indians, leading firms such as CMC Markets to list the digital asset on their platforms.

MATIC now trades at $1.97 having risen nearly 10 percent in the past 24 hours.