Key points:
- Merkle is finalizing a funding round that would value the firm around $1 billion.
- Merkle was co-founded by Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, two former executives at Coinbase.
- In July 2022, Merkle secured a $30 million investment in a funding round led by a16z Crypto.
Merkle Manufactory, the brainchild of two former Coinbase executives, is on the brink of finalizing a funding round that would value the company at approximately $1 billion. Sources familiar with the matter revealed that crypto investment firm Paradigm is spearheading the investment in the Los Angeles-based firm.
Notably, Merkle Manufactory is the company behind the infrastructure of the Farcaster social media network. Dan Romero, a co-founder of Merkle and an ex-vice president at Coinbase, affirmed in a social media post on March 29 that the startup is indeed in the process of raising funds. However, he refrained from specifying the exact amount.
“I wanted to let everyone know that Merkle Manufactory is closing a new round of financing. I will share more details soon,” Romero remarked in a post on Warpcast, the Farcaster app developed by Merkle.
Merkle was co-founded in 2020 alongside Varun Srinivasan, a former senior director at Coinbase. The company aims for a decentralized public square devoid of centralized control. Merkle’s two primary offerings include the Farcaster protocol integrated with a blockchain component and Warpcast, an application layered atop Farcaster mirroring X, the social media platform previously recognized as Twitter.
In July 2022, Merkle secured funding in a $30 million investment round led by a16z Crypto, marking its last capital raise. During a recent podcast, Romero emphasized that Farcaster’s core philosophy revolves around a protocol devoid of singular control by any individual, entity, or nation. He asserted that such conditions represent the enduring equilibrium for the global public square.
Data shows that Farcaster’s daily active users skyrocketed to over 50,000 in early February from fewer than 10,000 the preceding month.
In January, the Farcaster ecosystem unveiled Frames, a novel feature empowering developers to seamlessly integrate external app functionalities within Warpcast without disrupting user experience.
