Layer3 raises $15 million Series A ahead of token launch and airdrop

Layer3, a token distribution protocol, has raised $15 million in a Series A funding round ahead of its token launch and airdrop in the coming months.

ParaFi and Greenfield Capital co-led the round, with Electric Capital, Immutable, Lattice, Tioga, LeadBlock, Amber and others participating, Layer3 said Wednesday. The project began raising funds for the round in April and closed it in May, Layer3 co-founder Brandon Kumar told The Block. The round was structured as equity with token warrants, Kumar said, declining to comment on the valuation.

Layer3 also revealed its previously unannounced strategic funding round of $3.7 million from Electric, ParaFi, Polygon's Sandeep Nailwal and others, raised in 2022. The Series A round brings Layer3's total funding to $21.2 million, having also raised a $2.5 million round in 2021.

What is Layer3?

Layer3 is a token distribution protocol that enables projects to distribute their tokens to attract and retain users.

"Protocol treasuries hold billions of dollars in tokens," Kumar said. "These tokens, in large part, serve as a Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) mechanism and will, over time, find the most efficient routes for distribution. Protocols like Layer3 are poised to capture the majority of this demand given our direct relationship with the consumer, efficiency, and targeting capability."

Layer3 essentially unifies user activity across multiple blockchains and applications, enabling protocols to distribute tokens more effectively.

Kumar said over 100 crypto projects, including Uniswap, Base, Arbitrum and Linea, use Layer3's platform. The platform claims to have served over 3 million unique users in 120 countries.

Layer3 is also working on a new AI-enabled protocol for optimizing token distribution strategies, slated to launch later this year. Kumar said the AI-enabled protocol will unlock new ways for projects to issue and distribute tokens and make Layer3 more personalized for the end consumer.

Layer3 token launch and airdrop

Layer3's Series A round comes as it is set to launch its native L3 token and conduct an airdrop this summer. Last month, Layer3 introduced its "governance and utility token," L3, with a total supply of 300 million. The initial airdrop will distribute 5% of the total supply, or 15 million tokens, to early adopters and CUBE minters. CUBE (short for Credential to Unify Blockchain Events) are "dynamic NFTs" minted upon quest completion, Kumar said.

The airdrop snapshot was taken on May 10. Layer3 has allocated 51% of the total supply to the community, while details regarding the remaining allocation are yet to be released.

With fresh funding in place, Layer3 plans to expand its current team of 13 people to 20 by year-end by hiring across engineering, data science and business development functions, Kumar said. The project also looks to expand its presence in the Asia–Pacific (APAC) region.

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