Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, announced a $55 million investment in LayerZero, a Web3 company that runs a crosschain messaging protocol.
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, has invested $55 million in LayerZero, a Web3 company that runs a crosschain messaging protocol, according to a recent X post by Ali Yahya, a general partner at the firm.
The investment was disclosed on April 17. A16z has previously invested in LayerZero, beginning with an initial investment in March 2022. The firm also participated in LayerZero’s Series B funding round in April 2023, although the companies have not disclosed the funding round's valuation.
However, reports at the time stated that the Canada-based LayerZero was valued at $3 billion during its Series B funding round, which saw participation from 33 investors. In addition to a16z, Circle Ventures, OKX Ventures, OpenSea Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and many others participated at the time.
LayerZero reached a settlement with the FTX Estate in January 2025 over a long-running dispute stemming from allegations that the firm exploited the exchange’s liquidity crisis by “negotiating a fire-sale transaction,” according to the Estate. In June 2024, LayerZero launched its own token, LayerZero (ZRO).
Crosschain protocols, chain-agnosticism gain traction
Crosschain messaging protocols allow programs to share information across ecosystems and can be a critical function for decentralized applications (DApps) or traders who want seamless swaps.
Some protocols competing in the same space as LayerZero include Wormhole, Stargate, Superbridge, Connext, and many others.
Wormhole may be one of the largest competitors to LayerZero, having raised $225 million at a $2.5 billion valuation in November 2023. Like LayerZero, Wormhole also hosted an airdrop for its token, Wormhole (W), although the airdrop attracted scammers and spoof tokens. Chainlink also has a crosschain interoperability protocol that allows for messaging between blockchains.
More and more companies are realizing the value of being omnichain or at least chain-agnostic. Phantom, which at first was a Solana-centric wallet, now supports six major blockchains, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Magic Eden, an NFT-infrastructure company, also started as Solana-centric but has launched marketplaces for multiple blockchains now.
