Farcaster Parent Company Valued at Over $1 Billion in Paradigm-Led Funding Round
Merkle Manufactory, the company behind the decentralized social network Farcaster, is on the verge of reaching a valuation of $1 billion in its latest funding round.
Leading the funding round is crypto investment firm Paradigm, known for its investments in major cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase, Blur, dYdX, Compound, and Citadel Securities, Bloomberg reported , citing sources familiar with the matter.
Founded in 2020 by former Coinbase executives Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, Merkle Manufactory is best known for its flagship social media application called Warpcast.
This application operates on the decentralized network for social media apps known as Farcaster.
Dan Romero confirmed the ongoing capital raise in a post on March 28.
However, Paradigm has not officially confirmed its participation in the funding round.
Merkle previously raised $30 million in July 2022 from venture capital firm A16z Crypto.
Farcaster has experienced a significant surge in user activity since January, following the introduction of Frames, a feature that allows apps to run within posts without leaving the platform.
Frames enable users to perform various actions such as minting nonfungible tokens (NFTs), conducting transactions, accessing external blog posts, and participating in surveys directly within the app.
As a result, user engagement has skyrocketed.
According to data from Dune Analytics, the number of daily active users on the Farcaster network surged from around 5,000 on January 28 to over 249,000 on March 30.
Decentralized social media platforms represent a new breed of networks that leverage blockchain technology to offer users ownership over their data, content, and interactions.
These platforms aim to
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