Token distribution protocol ZAP reaches $100 million valuation with latest funding

ZAP, a token distribution protocol built on the Ethereum Layer 2 network Blast BLAST -6.73% , announced raising $15.1 million in total funding.

The funding was raised in three recent rounds — $900,000 seed last December, $2.1 million private round last month and $12.1 million in an ongoing "vault sale" — ZAP's pseudonymous founder and CEO Francis told The Block. The seed and private rounds were structured as simple agreements for future tokens (SAFTs), Francis said. As for the vault sale, it is like a node sale , he said, adding that it gives buyers a daily stream of yet-to-launch ZAP tokens and other benefits, such as token airdrops from other ecosystem projects.

"The vault sale will end when we conduct our token generation event in the next few months, Francis said. "If all vaults sell out, we will end up raising a total of $50 million."

Investors in ZAP's seed and private rounds included Rarestone Capital, Cypher Capital, Sharding Capital, Luca Netz of Pudgy Penguins, Larry Cermak of The Block and Chelsea Jiang of Foresight Ventures.

ZAP was valued at $15 million at the time of its seed round, then its valuation increased to $30 million during the private token round and is now valued at around $100 million, Francis said. "Our ongoing vault sale puts our implied fully diluted token valuation at around $100 million," Francis said.

What is ZAP?

ZAP was founded last November to build a "reputation-based" token distribution protocol on Blast . ZAP says its protocol validates user contribution to ensure fair and meritocratic token rewards, enabling projects to sustainably develop and grow their communities.

ZAP recently launched the "Blast Gigadrops" campaign, rewarding users for both their social and on-chain interactions with over 20 Blast ecosystem projects. The campaign boasts a prize pool of around $1 million and has partnerships with projects including Thruster , Particle and MetaStreet.

While ZAP's token distribution protocol is currently built on Blast, it looks to expand to more blockchains, starting with Base . ZAP is also building a "no-code" token launcher and a token launchpad to offer users access to venture-capital-backed projects.

"We're rethinking the token launch experience from first principles," ZAP's pseudonymous head of product Carlo told The Block. "By offering crypto founders a seamless way to distribute tokens according to their goals, whether that's building community, raising capital, rewarding certain user profiles, or a combination of the three, we can't wait to see how founders, investors and communities leverage ZAP to bring insane value to their projects."

Francis said that 12 people are currently working for ZAP in London and the United Arab Emirates, and he is looking to hire a couple more for the engineering function.

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