Investing in NEAR

TRANSFORMING SCALABILITY AND USER EXPERIENCE IN WEB3

The blockchain space has seen remarkable growth, but many networks face scalability challenges, limiting their ability to support mainstream applications. NEAR is addressing this issue by offering a blockchain with sharding-based scalability and developer-friendly tools, creating an environment ripe for adoption in gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), and more.

WHY WE INVESTED IN NEAR

NEAR Protocol is a layer-1 blockchain designed to be ultra-scalable, user-friendly, and developer-oriented. It offers cutting-edge features like sharding and progressive user experience, allowing developers to build applications that are more intuitive for everyday users. This is achieved through NEAR’s “progressive UX,” enabling users to interact with apps without having to deal with complex wallets or token systems immediately.

A standout feature of NEAR is its Nightshade sharding technology, which enables the network to scale efficiently by processing transactions in parallel. This makes it particularly attractive to developers looking to create decentralized applications (dApps) capable of serving millions of users without slowing down or becoming prohibitively expensive.

NEAR also emphasizes a developer-first approach, offering tools such as contract-based accounts and the ability for developers to earn rebates for highly-used apps. These features position NEAR as a leader in making Web3 more accessible, unlocking significant potential for growth across multiple industries, from gaming to financial services.

Key Team Members:

• Illia Polosukhin – Co-founder
  Former Google Research scientist who worked on TensorFlow, Illia brings deep expertise in both AI and blockchain.
• Erik Trautman – Co-founder
  Former head of the Viking Education platform, Erik's focus is on community building and developer growth.
• Alexander Skidanov – Co-founder
  With a background in systems engineering from Microsoft and MemSQL, Alexander is driving the technical direction of NEAR.

NEAR has raised a total of $1.1B in funding over 14 rounds, led by Tiger Global, alongside other notable investors like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Alameda Research. This funding highlights the confidence in NEAR's potential to shape the future of blockchain scalability and Web3 applications.

We’re thrilled to support NEAR Protocol as it tackles some of the biggest challenges in the blockchain space, from scalability to user experience, setting the stage for widespread adoption of decentralized applications.

For more information about NEAR and potential opportunities, visit NEAR's official website.