(Duplicated) Aptos Labs raises $150 million in new funding

Aptos Labs announced that it raised $150 million in new funding.

The company, which rose from the failed wreckage of Meta's crypto ambitions, said that the new funding more than doubled the crypto startup's previous valuation of more than $1 billion in March.

The funding has come at a time when the market is experiencing a downturn, and venture capitalists have cooled down on crypto investing. The market downturn is also a good opportunity for startups to raise their lower valuations.

Aptos raised $200 million in its previous funding round, although the company was only founded a year ago.

However, the new valuation is yet to be disclosed.

Aptos was founded by former Meta employees Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching. At Meta, the pair had worked on the doomed cryptocurrency project, Diem. The project was backed by Meta; however, it failed to succeed due to strong resistance from regulators. The company eventually sold their assets. 

Based in Palo Alto, California, Aptos is building a blockchain that uses a programming language called Move, which also powers the Diem blockchain and is supposed to make transactions faster and cheaper.

“We are developing upgradable, cutting-edge blockchain innovations that will dramatically improve the web3 experience for developers, brands and users,” Ching said in a statement to Bloomberg.