LayerZero
also invests · investor profileUnicorn · $3BFounded 2021 · 168 employees on LinkedIn · 42 known investors
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LayerZero builds decentralized infrastructure for interoperability across blockchains and asset issuance, enabling applications and chains to connect liquidity and extend reach across ecosystems. The company also develops Zero, a heterogeneous blockchain designed to scale to 2M TPS and improve performance as the network grows.
Also known as LayerZero Labs
Founders & leadership
LayerZero was founded in 2021 by Bryan Pellegrino and Raz Zarick.
Investors · 42
Also in the syndicate · 5
Funding
SEC filings, press & company announcements- Undisclosed amountSeries ASep 2021
Binance Labs (lead), Multicoin Capital (lead), Defiance, Delphi Digital, Gen Block Capital, Hypersphere Ventures, Protocol Ventures, Robot Ventures, Sino Global Capital, Spartan
Source ↗
Source: company announcements and press reports — follow each round's link for the claim.
Valuation · disclosed
Disclosed eventsSource: SEC prospectus filings, and round valuations the company or its investors disclosed — follow each entry's link for the claim.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026LayerZero, developed by LayerZero Labs, is a permissionless omnichain messaging protocol that lets applications securely send arbitrary data and instructions between blockchains. Its framework combines immutable, non-upgradeable endpoint contracts deployed on each supported chain, configurable message libraries that control how messages are emitted off-chain, application-owned modular security in which each application selects its own decentralized verifier networks (DVNs) and parameters such as finality and execution rules, and permissionless execution so that any party can deliver a verified message. The protocol exposes primitives including generic omnichain message passing, omnichain fungible and non-fungible token standards (OFT and ONFT) that maintain a consistent global supply via burn/mint or lock/unlock, and omnichain state queries (lzRead).
The company describes three product areas: Interoperability, covering asset issuance, value transfer and cross-ecosystem expansion for asset issuers, chains and applications; Stargate, described as a composable liquidity transport protocol for omnichain DeFi; and Zero, described as a heterogeneous blockchain that becomes more performant as more nodes join, configurable to up to 2 million transactions per second per zone, with stated per-transaction network cost of one ten-thousandth of a penny and low compute requirements for validators. LayerZero states four design principles — permissionless, immutable, decentralized and censorship-resistant.
Developer documentation covers building on EVM chains with Solidity, Solana with Rust and the Anchor framework, Aptos and other Move-based chains, and Hyperliquid, along with published deployed contract addresses and DVN addresses across supported networks.
Business model
LayerZero Labs develops and maintains open, permissionless protocol infrastructure used by third-party applications, chains and asset issuers rather than a gated service; the sources do not describe how the company monetizes. Zero is described as making "the business model of decentralization viable at scale," with a stated network transaction cost of 1/10,000th of a penny.
Traction
Company site figures: $75B+ in total value of assets secured, $200B+ in historical volume and 700+ companies powered. In its first year after launch (as reported in April 2023), the protocol relayed over two million messages across 30+ chains, secured over $7 billion in TVL, processed more than $6 billion in transactional volume, and saw 30,000+ testnet contracts and 3,500 mainnet contracts deployed, 10,000+ unique applications and hundreds of thousands of unique end users. Within 10 days of the Stargate launch, $3.4 billion in assets were secured and over $264 million transferred.
Latest developments
LayerZero has published V2 documentation covering EVM, Solana, Aptos Move and Hyperliquid development, DVN and deployed contract directories, and lzRead state queries. It has introduced Zero, described as a heterogeneous blockchain configurable to up to 2M TPS per zone, accompanied by a manifesto.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
LayerZero Labs is described in a company press release as the team behind a leading blockchain messaging protocol connecting more than 30 blockchains, and by investors as handling more transactions to and from major ecosystems than native bridges. The company's site reports over $75 billion in total value of assets secured, over $200 billion in historical volume, and more than 700 companies powered.
LayerZero positions itself against monolithic bridges with centralized verifiers or fixed signer sets, which it characterizes as creating single points of failure and tight coupling between applications and infrastructure. Its stated differentiators are immutable, non-upgradeable core contracts, application-owned and configurable security via selectable DVNs, permissionless execution, and a five-layer separation of concerns. Zero is positioned as the first heterogeneous blockchain architecture whose performance increases as more nodes join.
Technology
Immutable endpoint smart contracts on each chain act as fixed entry and exit points for messages; configurable, immutable message libraries handle encoding and verification; worker services split into Decentralized Verifier Networks (DVNs) for verification and Executors for permissionless delivery. Applications configure their own security stack instead of relying on a single centralized verifier set or fixed signer group. Token standards OFT and ONFT implement cross-chain fungible and non-fungible transfers, and lzRead supports cross-chain state queries. Zero is described as a heterogeneous blockchain architecture with zones configurable to up to 2M TPS, very low per-transaction cost, and minimal validator compute requirements.
Go-to-market
Distribution is developer-led: open documentation, SDK-style guides and contract deployments across EVM, Solana, Aptos/Move and Hyperliquid environments, combined with integrations by large on-chain applications and a partner network. Following its Series B, the company said it would deepen its presence in the APAC region.
Developers and teams building applications that span multiple blockchains, asset issuers, blockchain networks, and decentralized finance protocols; the website also cites teams in fintech and banking. Cited users of the protocol include decentralized exchanges such as PancakeSwap, SushiSwap, Trader Joe and Uniswap.
Geography
The April 2023 Series B announcement was datelined Vancouver, and the company stated plans to deepen its presence in the APAC region.
History
LayerZero launched its protocol and, following a beta launch, released Stargate, a cross-chain liquidity transfer protocol, which reported more than $3.4 billion in assets secured within 10 days of launch and over $264 million transferred via LayerZero. In March 2022 LayerZero Labs announced a $135 million round at a $1 billion valuation. In April 2023 it closed a $120 million Series B at a $3 billion valuation, stating proceeds would fund headcount growth and expansion in the APAC region. The company has since released LayerZero V2 documentation and announced Zero, described as its heterogeneous blockchain.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Founder mafia
2 people who came through LayerZero went on to found or lead other companies.
Competitors · 10
by search overlap
Companies competing with LayerZero for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Timeline · 5
launches, deals, and filingsLayerZero introduced Zero, described as a heterogeneous blockchain architecture configurable to up to 2M TPS per zone with very low per-transaction cost and minimal validator compute requirements, accompanied by a manifesto.
Company stated Series B proceeds would increase headcount at LayerZero Labs and deepen its presence in the APAC region.
33 investors participated, including a16z crypto, BOND, Christie's, Circle Ventures, Lightspeed, OKX Ventures, OpenSea Ventures, Samsung Next and Sequoia Capital.
$120M source ↗
Round led by Andreessen Horowitz, FTX Ventures and Sequoia Capital, with participation from Uniswap Labs, Tiger Global, PayPal Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and others; valued the company at $1 billion.
$135M source ↗
Following LayerZero's beta launch, the company released Stargate; within 10 days it reported $3.4B in assets secured and over $264M in transfers via LayerZero.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
In the news
LayerZero Announces ATLAS: Infrastructure for Onchain Capital Markets - Genfinitygenfinity.io · Aug 2026▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- LayerZerolayerzero.network · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does LayerZero do?
- LayerZero is an omnichain messaging protocol for moving data and assets between blockchains, and is building the Zero blockchain.
- Who founded LayerZero?
- LayerZero was founded by Bryan Pellegrino, Raz Zarick in 2021.
- Who are LayerZero's investors?
- LayerZero's investors include a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitz, Andromeda Capital, BitDAO, Bixin Capital, Bixin Ventures, Chapter One, Coinbase Ventures and 29 more.