Intent-centric Ethereum L2 Essential raises $11 million in Series A funding

Quick Take

  • Essential has raised $11 million in a Series A funding round structured as equity with token warrants.
  • The project is building an intent-centric Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain.

Essential, an "intent-centric" Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain developer, has raised $11 million in a Series A funding round led by Archetype.

Other investors included IOSG Ventures, the Spartan Group, Mirana Ventures, Amber Group, Maven 11 and Big Brain Holdings, Essential said Tuesday. Undisclosed angel investors from Celestia, Hashflow, LI.FI, Sorella and other firms also participated in the round.

Essential began raising funds for the Series A round earlier this year and closed it in June, co-founder and CEO Liesl Eichholz told The Block. The round was structured as equity with token warrants, Eichholz said, declining to comment on the valuation.

The Series A round brings Essential's total funding to $16.15 million, having raised $5.15 million in seed funding last September.

What is Essential?

Essential is a blockchain startup developing an intent-centric or declarative Ethereum Layer 2 network as an Optimistic rollup. Unlike traditional blockchains that use a transaction-based model (where users provide exact instructions), Essential employs an intent-based model (where users specify the desired outcome). As a Layer 2, Essential handles user intents off-chain using "specialized solvers" to make the process more efficient. This approach seeks to improve the user experience, reduce the on-chain workload and enhance scalability.

"We don't have direct competitors as we're the first project to build a blockchain using the declarative approach," Eichholz said. "Our main competitive landscape is other Layer 2 projects who are trying to improve on speed, scalability and user experience."

Essential mainnet and token launch timeline

Essential has today unveiled Pint, its programming language for developing intent-centric or declarative blockchain applications. It has also released a pre-alpha devnet for testing purposes and developer documentation as a quick-start guide.

"We're aiming for testnet later in 2024 and mainnet in 2025," Eichholz said. When asked if Essential will also launch its token alongside the mainnet, Eichholz said that's the plan but is subject to various factors.

There are currently 12 people working for Essential globally, and Eichholz is planning to "rapidly onboard a handful of roles," including head of growth, head of product, developer relations, community growth and engineering.


The Funding newsletter: Stay updated on the latest crypto funding news and trends with my bimonthly newsletter, The Funding. It's free. Sign up here!


Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.

© 2024 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block, covering all things crypto. As one of the earliest team members, Yogita has played a pivotal role in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With nearly 3,000 articles under her belt, Yogita holds the records as The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Prior to joining The Block, Yogita worked at crypto publication CoinDesk and The Economic Times, where she wrote on personal finance. To contact her, email: [email protected]. For her latest work, follow her on X @Yogita_Khatri5.

Editor

To contact the editor of this story:
Jason Shubnell at
[email protected]