cryptoknowmics.com
Phantom, a crypto wallet for accessing the Solana ecosystem has raised $109 million in a Series B funding round, raising the company’s valuation to $1.2 billion. Along with the latest funding, Phantom also revealed that the mobile version of the Solana wallet was now available for iOS users with plans for Android launch in the first half of the year. In a blog post published on Monday, Phantom revealed that it had completed a $109 million Series B funding round led by Paradigm, an investment firm focused on crypto- and Web3-related companies. Other investors participating in the round included venture capital firms such as Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Variant Fund, Jump Capital, DeFi Alliance, and Solana Ventures. With the latest funding, Phantom hit unicorn status and now has a valuation of $1.2 billion. The unicorn status comes six months after the company closed a $9 million Series A from Andreessen Horowitz. At the time, the crypto wallet had 40,000 active users and now they have 2.1 million, with CEO Brandon Millman noting that the company has been consistently onboarding about 100,000 users per week.
“It’s amazing to see the expansive growth that has happened in just under a year since our beta launch,” said Brandon Millman, CEO of Phantom, in a statement.
One of the Fastest Growing Crypto Wallets
The funds will be used to accelerate the growth of the Web 3 ecosystem with further plans to capitalize on the Solana’s growing DeFi and NFT market. The investments will also be used to innovate multiple blockchains in its wallet with plans to support Ethereum and EVM compatible blockchains and grow the Phantom team. Phantom was one of the fastest-growing crypto wallets having gained more than two million active users just six months after launch. According to data from Defillama, Solana ranks as the sixth biggest DeFi chain by total value locked (TVL), with over $8.71 billion staked. The wallet initially launched as a browser extension in July last year and has quickly grown to become the leading Solana wallet similar to Ethereum's MetaMask.