Caldera Secures $9 Million in Funding from Two Rounds Led by Sequoia and Dragonfly Capital

In a significant development for the web3 ecosystem, Caldera, a no-code platform that simplifies creating app-specific blockchains, has raised $9 million in two funding rounds. The startup’s co-founder, Matt Katz, shared this information exclusively with TechCrunch.

Founding and Mission

Caldera was founded in March 2022 by Katz and Parker Jou, the company’s CTO. The duo aimed to make it easier for developers to create layer-2 blockchains, which can take months or even years to build. According to Katz, "We started the company when we realized developers wanted to build interesting things on the blockchain." However, they soon discovered that people needed to build more complex projects across various verticals, making it difficult to achieve this goal on a single blockchain.

The Funding Rounds

The two funding rounds were led by Sequoia Capital partner Shaun Maguire and Dragonfly Capital investment partner Ani Pai. Additionally, Neo, 1kx, and Ethereal Ventures participated in the funding. The $9 million raised will be used to accelerate Caldera’s development timeline, hire a team to strengthen its core product, and improve the user interface.

The Platform

Caldera allows users to create customizable layer-2 blockchains on the Ethereum blockchain, making it easier for web3 projects to scale their ecosystems. The platform is already live on mainnet with select partners in the decentralized finance (DeFi) and gaming space for both Ethereum and Polygon blockchains.

Public Beta and Availability

According to Katz, Caldera will enter public beta mode within a month and be widely available by summer. The platform’s co-founder emphasized that it does not require any coding knowledge, making it accessible to web3 developers who know how to write Ethereum smart contracts but lack the expertise to build custom blockchains.

Target Audience

Caldera is targeting users with a strong understanding of writing smart contracts but limited time to expand their knowledge. The platform aims to cater to teams building DeFi gaming, consumer applications, music NFTs, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), and institutional use cases.

Goals and Future Plans

Katz expressed his hope that Caldera can help usher in a "mini explosion" of projects building their own app chains. He declined to share which projects are currently working with the platform but hinted at upcoming announcements. The company’s goal is to provide an all-in-one solution, offering infrastructure that enables developers to focus on building their applications without worrying about underlying blockchain complexities.

Related Topics

• Blockchain
• Crypto
• Web3 ecosystem
• Developers
• Dragonfly Capital
• Ethereum
• Funding round
• Infrastructure

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