Middleware platform Particle Network raises $7 million

Particle Network has raised $7 million to build a middleware platform to support web3 developers.

The seed funding round is led by ABCDE and has backing from other investors including Animoca, Longhash Ventures, GSR Ventures, Hashkey and OP Crypto, the company told The Block. It previously raised $1.8 million in a pre-seed funding round in April last year with participation from LongHash Ventures and Insignia Ventures.

Founded early last year, the startup's core product is a login and wallet middleware solution that helps developers integrate a user-friendly web3 authentication solution into their decentralized applications. The tool enables the end user to log in either through existing crypto wallets, or by using a phone number or social media account, which will automatically create an on-chain noncustodial wallet, said Pengyu Wang, founder of Particle Network. 

"This is how we help the developers or the projects to lower the barriers for the end users, especially for the non-crypto users," Wang said.  "What makes us stand out is that we are not sacrificing the user's autonomy [surrounding] the on-chain assets. Because we are using MPC technologies, we don't have any room to do evil, so that way, we ensure that the end users still have full control over the assets."

Since launching this service in October 2022, the startup has onboarded over 200 web3 projects, including Ultiverse, FunPlus and Perfect World, Wang said.

Particle Network's tooling is multi-chain available on all Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, and Solana and Tron. The startup also plans to launch on Near this month and Aptos the following month, Wang said.

A one-stop web3 dev shop

The startup started fundraising after the product launch and closed the raise in January, Wang said.

The funds from the raise will be used to further improve its security offerings and expand the team, which currently sits at a headcount of around 25.

Particle Network has a range of other offerings, from node services to a data API and an NFT service. It aims to become a full-stack middleware platform for web3 developers. "We are trying to provide the developers with a one-stop solution to help them focus more on business — like helping GameFi projects spend more time providing better quality games," Wang said.

Particle Network is using a software-as-a-service model for revenue. "We charge projects or developers based on monthly active users," Wang said. "There is a charging point, which is 2000 MAU. Below that, it's all free, and after they reach a certain point they are going to pay per MAU per month. Basically, it's just a subscription fee model." 

This story has been updated with additional investor details provided by Particle Network.