Owlto Finance Raises $ 8M in Strategic Round
We are pleased to announce that Owlto Finance, the intent-centric interoperability protocol, has successfully raised $8 million through our strategic funding round. This funding round was led by leading Web3 Venture institutions Bixin Ventures and CE Innovation Capital, followed by over 20 backers including Presto, Hailstone Labs, Skyland Ventures, Blocore, SNZ Capital, BESTO, Kroma, Coinseeker.co, Stratified Capital, X21 Digital, Maxx Capital, Incubate Fund, GSR, ChainCatcher, etc.
What is Owlto Finance?
Owlto Finance provides seamless cross-chain bridging services, enabling users to transfer assets across various blockchains effortlessly. It’s an intent-centric interoperability protocol, “Bridge the World with AI Agent”. Owlto’s bridge product has emerged as one of the fastest-growing bridges in 2023, with 1.6M+ users in 200+ countries/regions. Additionally, it has been ranked as the №1 omnichain interoperability protocol in BTC ecosystem with over 1.5M transactions. Due to features of “Safe, Fast, Low-priced and Easy-to-use”, it has been highly recommended by over 92 well-known partners like Arbitrum, Linea, Base, BEVM, BSquared, Binance Web3 Wallet, Trust Wallet, OKX Web3 Wallet, zkSync Era, Scroll, Starknet, Kroma, imToken, Bitget Wallet, Chainlink, iZUMi, etc.
Investors’ Commentary
- Bixin Ventures
The leading investor, Bixin is a venture capital firm that specializes in early-stage infrastructure projects. Their investments are focused on cultivating and facilitating the mass adoption of open finance through permissionless and decentralized networks. Their notable portfolio includes EigenLayer, LayerZero, Sui, Aptos, Pendle, and Mina, etc.
“Owlto has an innovative team, and it’s impressive that they are the first to propose the AI-powered intent-centric approach for connecting diverse networks in Web3. We have witnessed the rapid growth and flourishing community that Owlto has cultivated in the past, and we believe that in the near future, Owlto’s tremendous potential will position it as a leading-edge infrastructure project, revolutionizing the blockchain technology landscape. We proudly include Owlto in our investment portfolio and look forward to its success!” by Bixin Ventures.
2. CE Innovation Capital (CEiC)
CE Innovation Capital is a renowned venture capital fund that has been investing in Web3, AI & Enterprise Tech since 2016, focusing on frontier technology and the digital transformation of the current technology stack. Their notable portfolios include Circle, Figure, Transak, Chainalysis, Matrixport, Cross River Bank, Biocatch, Marqeta, Onfido, Upgrade and more.
“The future of Web3 is multi-chain, however current cross-chain interactions are too costly and complex. Today, we’re excited to announce that we co-led a strategic round in Owlto Finance, a leading intent-centric interoperability protocol. We’re particularly impressed by their dedication to technology-focused blockchain advancement, including AI-powered enhancements to its products and seamless omnichain integration with diverse Web3 ecosystems. We’re confident that Owlto will make significant strides in blockchain technology, driving the expansion and success of the Web3 ecosystem,” commented CEiC.
3. Hailstone Labs
Asia’s leading web3 venture studio with a global team #BUIDLing the next digital economy. It has a strong invested portfolio of promising companies, including Ethena, Flashbots, Monad, and Lita Foundation, etc.
“As we move towards a more multichain future, bridging and cross chain infrastructure is evidently becoming one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in the space. We’re impressed with the Owlto team’s ability to ship incredibly fast to integrate new chains and their extreme user awareness in focusing on smaller value transfers, offering low costs and over 30 available networks,” said Raymond Wong, Founder of Hailstone Labs.
4. Skyland Ventures (SV)
A Tokyo-based seed VC that has been investing in tech startups for over 10 years. Since 2022, the cryptocurrency industry with boundless opportunities has the potential to redefine capitalism, thus it established a new fund to invest in Web3 startups, both in Japan and globally. They have been an initial investor in many successful web3 startups, such as Taiko, GoPlus Security, UniSat, NFTGo, etc.
“Owlto Finance started as a bridge protocol for L2 tokens, but its evolution does not stop there. It aims to comprehensively support the diversifying L2s and facilitate handling of large asset transactions. In the near future, it also plans to approach the EigenLayer ecosystem and provide a smoother user experience utilizing AI. I resonate with their grand vision and intend to continue supporting their entry into the Japanese market,” said Yonkuro, Principal of Skyland Ventures.
5. Kroma
A pragmatic, adaptive, and user-friendly layer 2 solution, with a booming community and flourishing ecosystem.
“We are proud to participate in the investment in Owlto Finance and integrate it with Kroma Network. It has made a great contribution to our community’s thriving, occupying 75% of the bridging volume among our 3rd-party bridges and helping us build a robust ecosystem. Owlto originated from the community and has been embraced by users for its cost-efficient and fast features, aligning perfectly with Kroma’s advocates. In the future, Owlto will leverage AI to enhance its intent-centric capabilities. We are excited about the future prospects of Owlto Finance and will support them to enter the Korean market,” commented Kroma.
6. SNZ Capital
SNZ is a crypto-native, research-driven investment company, active since 2014, SNZ team has not only focused on investment but also been dedicated to community building and incubation. SNZ is an engaging and proactive investor that grows with portfolios, as one of the earliest backers of Ethereum in Asia, and the strategic partner for multiple Western projects.
“We are happy to support Owlto’s vibrant and agile team, especially considering their super product and customer-driven approaches and mindsets to address cross chain interoperability challenges. Looking forward to a world-class bridging experience empowered by Owlto’s AI agent.” by SNZ Capital.
Future Development Direction
The raised capital will primarily be allocated towards accelerating Owlto’s AI Intent Interoperability Protocol development. As the first to introduce AI Agent to achieve cross-chain intent interoperability, we’re an innovative team, striving to bring epoch-making products in the field of intent cross-chain interoperability protocols, integrating AI Agents into cross-chain products. With the cutting-edge product, users no longer need to understand complex cross-chain expertise nor execute potentially risky operations. Instead, it provides AI-generated bridging path suggestions from a trusted list of channels, enabling users to execute cross-chain operations seamlessly and with zero barriers.
Besides, the raised funds will be used for the development of Owlto’s modular interoperability protocol. Owlto Finance offers Owlto Bridge-as-a-Service (OBaaS), a hybrid cross-chain solution that provides bridging services for Bitcoin and Ethereum Layer 2 networks. This service covers various assets, including native tokens and non-native assets such as staking (LST) and re-staking (LRT) tokens. There will be no need for Layer 2 networks to develop their own bridges or protocols for supporting special tokens. They can quickly deploy cross-chain protocols by connecting to 40 networks supported by Owlto Finance, enabling seamless transactions.
Additionally, the funding will support the implementation of Owlto Finance’s Omnichain Liquidity Solution V2 for DApps. DApps can directly utilize Owlto Finance’s SDK, API, or smart contracts to facilitate non-custodial cross-chain transactions, eliminating the need for them to deploy their own multi-chain liquidity. For example, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) can leverage Owlto Finance’s service SDK, API, or smart contracts to facilitate cross-chain swaps without the need for deploying multi-chain liquidity. With product upgrades, cross-chain transactions can be completed in as fast as 10 seconds, allowing DEXs to complete cross-chain swaps within approximately 30 seconds.
Lastly, Owlto Finance will utilize the fund to enhance Owlto’s global operations and marketing strategies, including the global ambassador program, recruiting local teams, and organizing offline events in key markets.
