London-based Bitcoin startup raises €9.2M in Seed funding: Know more

London-based Build on Bitcoin (BOB), a “first-of-its-kind” hybrid Layer-2 powered by Bitcoin and Ethereum, has closed a $10M (approximately €9.24M) seed funding round led by Castle Island Ventures. 

The round also saw participation from investors, including Mechanism Ventures, Bankless Ventures, CMS Ventures, UTXO Management, Asymmetric, Antalpha, Web3.com Ventures, BTC Frontier Fund, Zeeprime, and angels such as Dan Held and Domo.

Nic Carter, General Partner of Castle Island Ventures, says, “Key unlocks like BitVM have made rollups possible on Bitcoin, ushering in a new era of scalability and expressivity for the world’s premier blockchain.”

“We’re proud to be backing BOB as the market leader and one of the first movers in this space. BOB combines the security and liquidity of Bitcoin with the shovel-ready infrastructure of the EVM ecosystem, and we couldn’t be more excited to support this stellar team.”

Capital utilisation

The proceeds will fuel the rollout of the first Bitcoin Layer-2 (L2) with Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatibility. This initiative aims to foster innovation in the network and create a vibrant Bitcoin dApp ecosystem.

Alexei Zamyatin, co-founder of BOB, says, “We’re thrilled to have the support of such esteemed investors who share our vision for the future of Web3 innovation by combining the best of Bitcoin and Ethereum.”

“We look forward to launching our hybrid Layer-2 to facilitate the growth of novel applications with the highest security and execution while being easy for developers to build on—no new wallet creation or set-ups involved.”

Brief about BOB

BOB serves as the tool for DeFi and innovation across all fields of Bitcoin use cases and experimentation. It is a hybrid Layer-2 (L2) solution that leverages the strengths of both Bitcoin and Ethereum ecosystems. 

By merging the security and liquidity of these two blockchain networks, BOB claims to pave the way for the future of Bitcoin innovation. “This makes BOB the best place to build on Bitcoin,” says the company.

BOB uses the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) for smart contract creation and execution, ensuring compatibility with existing developer tools, wallets, and crucial infrastructure.

Recently, BOB announced a key partnership with Anduro (by Marathon Digital) and attracted top developers like Layer Bank, IceCream, bit_Smiley, and iZUMi to deploy their applications on its platform.

The company also announced the launch of its inaugural Fusion programme on 27 March, providing early access to the platform. Users can participate by locking tokens to earn Spice points, reflecting their engagement within the BOB ecosystem. Campaign partners include Blockchain.com, OKX, Sovryn, and Alex Labs, prominent Bitcoin DeFi protocols.