Crypto Startup Mysten Labs Raises $300M From Industry Heavyweights at $2B Valuation

Mysten Labs has raised $300 million at a $2 billion valuation in a funding round led by FTX Ventures with contributions from an array of big names in the crypto industry.

Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and the crypto wing of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) were among the participants, Mysten announced Thursday.

The size of the fundraise demonstrates that appetite for investment in crypto and blockchain projects has not been greatly diminished despite the crash in the crypto market in recent months. Talks of the latest funding round were reported in July, when sources for The Information said that investors had committed $140 million.

Mysten Labs will use the funding to build out its Sui blockchain and expand into Asia-Pacific.

The startup was founded by veterans of Novi Research, the crypto research division of Facebook parent company Meta (META). CEO Evan Cheng was head of research and development for Meta's crypto wallet initiative.

Mysten Labs raised $36 million in Series A funding led by a16z last December.

Read more: New Galaxy Crypto Fund on Path to Raise $100 Million by Year End

UPDATE (Sept. 9 2022 13:18 UTC): Adds link to Mysten announcement and removes references to WSJ.