Lightning Labs secures $70M from Valor Equity-led Series B raise

• The Bitcoin-focused firm intends to use the funds to continue advancing its Lightning solutions
• Lightning Labs also proposed a new protocol, Taro, that will facilitate low-cost stablecoin transactions

Lightning Labs yesterday shared news of a $70 million Series B raise, adding that the funds will go into projects set to introduce stablecoin and other asset transfers on Bitcoin.

The funding round saw participation from several names, including asset management firm Baillie Gifford and Valor Equity Partners – the latter leading it. Other entities and individuals that took part are NYDIG, Goldcrest Capital, Kingsway, Stillmark, Brevan Howard, Moore Strategic Ventures, Silvergate CEO Alan Lane, and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.

The California-based, which focuses on the development of software that powers the Lightning Network, also announced a taproot-powered 'Taro' protocol. The protocol, Taproot Asset Representation Overlay, will enable users to complete low-fee stablecoin and asset transfers at low fees to the Lightning Network. The latter is a decentralised layer 2 payment solution that allows for fast and cheap transactions with Bitcoin.

"Taro makes sending assets like stablecoins possible using the bitcoin network with the instant, high volume, low fee nature of Lightning, and fees dramatically lower than Visa. Taro will bring interoperability between assets like USD stablecoins and BTC to the many places Lightning is already in use today, such as across emerging markets, including El Salvador, which recently made bitcoin legal tender, as well as video games, major exchanges, tipping on Twitter, and more," a statement from the company said.

The firm's only previously concluded raise came in February 2020. At the time, the company secured $10 million from the funding led by Craft Ventures and concurrently brought the beta version of its Lightning Loop service to the space.

Asked about the trend of announcing raises alongside products, Lightning Labs CEO and co-founder Elizabeth Stark said it was deliberate.

"The goal of the announcement was to focus on the technology [Taro protocol], raising money is solely the means not the end," she noted.