Solayer Labs, the developer behind the Solana restaking protocol Solayer, has secured $12 million in a seed funding round, pushing its valuation to $80 million. The round, led by Polychain Capital, included investments from Big Brain Holdings, Hack VC, Nomad Capital, Race Capital, ABCDE, and Arthur Hayes’ family office, Maelstrom, the company announced on Tuesday.
The round, which closed in May, was structured as a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants, according to co-founder Rachel Chu. Binance Labs also participated in the funding, as part of the same round. Solayer had previously raised funds in a pre-seed round from notable angel investors, including Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.
What Is Solayer?
Solayer is a restaking protocol built on the Solana blockchain, inspired by Ethereum’s EigenLayer. Restaking protocols allow users to maximize their earnings by locking up staked assets again in other protocols, called actively validated services (AVSs).
Unlike other restaking platforms like EigenLayer and Jito, which focus on exogenous AVSs (e.g., cross-chain bridges, oracles), Solayer is targeting native Solana on-chain applications, referred to as endogenous AVSs. The protocol aims to help these apps reserve block space and prioritize transaction inclusion based on delegated stake, according to Chu.
For native Solana (SOL) restaking, Solayer converts SOL into an intermediary form called sSOL-raw, which is then converted into sSOL, a liquid staking token, after further interaction with the Solayer restaking pool manager.
Rapid Growth and Future Plans
Since its launch, Solayer has quickly gained traction, with over $186 million restaked from approximately 104,500 depositors, making it the 13th largest protocol on Solana, according to DeFiLlama.
With the new funding, Solayer plans to expand its team, integrate additional protocols, and prepare for the next phase of its platform. Currently based in San Francisco, the project has a team of eight and plans to hire across various functions, including growth, institutional partnerships, and engineering.
Solayer also plans to introduce its native token in the future, with the design still under development, according to Chu.
