Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, has reaffirmed its commitment to LayerZero, a pioneering Web3 company that operates a crosschain messaging protocol, by injecting an additional $55 million into the business. This investment news was made public in an April 17 post by Ali Yahya, a general partner at a16z.
The venture capital heavyweight has a history of backing LayerZero, with initial funding provided in March 2022 and follow-up investment during LayerZero’s Series B funding round in April 2023. However, the companies have kept the valuation of the funding round under wraps.
LayerZero, a Canadian firm, was valued at a whopping $3 billion during its Series B round, which attracted 33 investors. Among the participants were notable names such as Circle Ventures, OKX Ventures, OpenSea Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and, of course, a16z.
In January 2025, LayerZero settled a long-standing disagreement with the FTX Estate, which had accused the former of exploiting the exchange’s liquidity crisis to negotiate a “fire-sale transaction.” In June 2024, LayerZero introduced its own token, known as LayerZero (ZRO).
Crosschain messaging protocols, which allow for information exchange across ecosystems, have been gaining traction, especially among decentralized applications (DApps) and traders seeking seamless cross-blockchain swaps. LayerZero faces competition from other protocols such as Wormhole, Stargate, Superbridge, Connext, and more.
Wormhole, one of LayerZero’s biggest competitors, secured $225 million in funding at a $2.5 billion valuation in November 2023. Like LayerZero, Wormhole also held an airdrop for its token, Wormhole (W), which unfortunately attracted fraudulent activities and fake tokens. Chainlink is another player in the space, offering a crosschain interoperability protocol for messaging between blockchains.
Increasingly, companies are recognizing the benefits of being omnichain or at least chain-agnostic. Phantom, initially a Solana-centric wallet, now extends its support to six major blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Likewise, Magic Eden, an NFT-infrastructure company that started on Solana, now hosts marketplaces on multiple blockchains.
