Andalusia Labs Secures $48 Million in Series A Funding at $1 Billion Valuation, Launches Karak Blockchain Testnet, Opens Global HQ in Abu Dhabi
Announcing Andalusia Lab’s new funding: $48M Series A at $1B+ Valuation
Over the last several years, we saw $12B+ worth of digital assets lost due to hacks, theft, or bugs, with over $3.8B+ lost in 2022 alone. This represents a 15% increase from the previous year, making the past year the largest ever for crypto hacking. As a result, we saw the world awaken to the idea that risk management infrastructure represents a fundamental building block in enabling the mass adoption of digital assets. Robust risk management provides institutions with real, safe technology that serves as a true extension of their team, allowing them to interact with and benefit from digital assets in a secure and scalable manner; gives users greater freedom and security in how they participate within the ecosystem; and most importantly, allows developers to build powerful and innovative applications that are safe and secure from day one. Andalusia Lab’s vision is to become the core layer for these new open digital economies to thrive, helping power and secure the world’s safest and most trusted financial applications, while protecting and empowering the financial interests of the next billion users using them.
To accelerate this vision, we have raised $48 million in Series A funding, positioning the company’s equity valuation north of $1 billion. Lightspeed led the round with participation from Mubadala Capital, the asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, a $280 billion global sovereign investor headquartered in Abu Dhabi, and existing investors Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Digital Currency Group. Other existing investors include Coinbase, Proof Group, Nima Capital, Naval Ravikant, and founders, general partners, and executives from leading global organizations. We are excited to work with these incredible partners, operators, and builders who collectively bring a depth of experience in blockchain and Web3, financial markets, and traditional technology experience.
We have three goals for this funding: 1) accelerate product development, 2) spur global expansion, and 3) grow the team.
Accelerating Product Development: Karak Blockchain Testnet Launch
Karak, an EVM-compatible Layer 2 blockchain, is risk infrastructure that prioritizes financial security while upholding the highest standards of efficiency, scalability, and affordability. By amalgamating the power of risk management, restaking, and AI, Karak allows developers to build innovative blockchain applications that are safe and efficient from day 1. Karak introduces a new paradigm of safety and security to other blockchains by bringing native risk management to other networks via a novel interoperability mechanism to be announced soon. We’re excited to announce that the Karak blockchain is now in Open Testnet. Users can interact with Testnet by bridging assets to the Karak blockchain and using the Subsea Protocol, which is built on the Karak blockchain and also in Open Testnet. Karak Mainnet will be launched next week paired with a huge announcement around earning XP. We recommend everyone keep their eyes peeled for the announcement and continue to interact with the Karak blockchain Testnet.
Spurring Global Expansion: Abu Dhabi HQ
In conjunction with the round, we announced the establishment of a global headquarters in the capital of capital, Abu Dhabi. This underscores our commitment to expanding our global footprint and highlights Abu Dhabi as a leading financial hub for digital assets that nurtures growth and fosters innovation through its progressive regulatory structure, unique connectivity to eastern and western markets, and being home to some of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds providing strong access to institutional capital.
Growing the Team: Searching for Outliers
The industry has picked up considerably over the last several months and the need for risk infrastructure, specifically what we’ve been building at Andalusia Labs with Karak, Subsea, and Watchtower, has exploded in parallel. The team is rapidly expanding and actively looking for outliers from around the world across engineering, cryptography, and business development. If you believe you may be a good fit, please take a look at our roles on our website or contact us directly at info@andalusia-labs.com.
About Andalusia Labs
Andalusia Labs is a collection of leading technology solutions, including Karak, Subsea, and Watchtower. Andalusia Labs is backed by Coinbase, Lightspeed, Mubadala (Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund), Bain Capital, Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Proof Group, Nima Capital, and Naval Ravikant, as well as founders, general partners, and executives from globally leading organizations like Founders Fund, Google, and Coinbase, among many others.
