Celestia raises $55 million for new modular blockchain

Blockchain scaling startup Celestia has raised $55 million in a push to bolster its Web3 development goals.

The round is earmarked to create a modular blockchain network, Celestia said Wednesday. The round was led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital, and participants included Spartan Group, FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto.

Modular blockchains – unlike monolithic blockchains – are in theory highly scalable and segmented. They consist of specialized chains, which “are less constrained and break the rigidity of monolithic chains into flexible components, which promise greater scale, security and decentralization,” Celestia wrote in a blog.

“Modular blockchains will define the next decade of Web3 innovation,” said Mustafa Al-Bassam, a Celestia co-founder.

For the past decade, crypto has been dominated by relatively monolithic layer-1 smart contract platforms, which have sacrificed decentralization and security to make room for cheaper transactions, according to Al-Bassam.

“Contrary to what is seen in sharding, with Celestia, non-consensus nodes will still improve throughput and security,” Blockworks research wrote in a report. “The network prioritizes scaling block verification over block production.”

Modular blockchain projects Eclipse, Constellation and dYmension already use Celestia for their data availability layer, the company said, an illustration of the demand.

“Modular designs unlock rapid experimentation across the decentralized application stack,” said Alex Evans, a partner at Bain Capital Crypto. “By minimizing foundational complexity, Celestia offers cleaner abstractions for developers and greater sovereignty for user communities.”

The capital raising comes as venture dollars continue to hold strong – even amid turbulent market conditions. Last month, Sardine, a blockchain transaction security company, completed a $51.5 million venture raise for product development. Also in September, North Island Ventures closed a $125 million fund to support promising crypto and Web3 projects.

Venture funding is probably just starting to pick up after the market downturn, said Cathie Wood, managing director of Ark Invest, during a recent panel discussion in New York.

“I think venture has been taking cues from public markets lately,” Wood said. “I think that when the public market starts to turn, venture funding will turn around furiously. The private markets are pricing innovation more correctly than the public markets are right now.”

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