Phantom raises $9M to launch multi-chain crypto wallet

The Series A fundraiser was led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Variant Fund, Jump Capital, DeFi Alliance and Solana Foundation. Angel investors from Compound, dYdX and Ethereum Foundation also participated.

Cryptocurrency wallet provider Phantom has secured $9 million in Series A financing to launch a new multi-chain wallet designed to help DeFi users access decentralized applications across multiple blockchains. 

The raise comes on the heels of a successful beta launch in April of this year that saw 40,000 new Phantom users. The company also secured $500,000 in grants from Serum and Solana during the beta phase. 

Brandon Millman, Phantom’s co-founder and CEO, said his platform enables users to easily access decentralized exchanges and nonfungible token platforms, explaining:

“With the world moving into a multi-chain future, the strong interest from the participants in our beta group indicates that our team has designed a DeFi wallet for the masses, one that’s in a unique position to provide value to users unlike any other related product on the market.”

Cryptocurrency wallets are the first point of contact for DeFi users, but the steep learning curve around their use may be impacting broader mainstream adoption. Phantom has prioritized simplicity in onboarding more wallet users. The Phantom application can be installed as a browser extension on Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Brave and Firefox.

Saurabh Sharma, a general partner at Jump Capital, said projects like Phantom will help springboard mainstream adoption of DeFi. “The next phase of DeFi would be focused on onboarding mainstream users and one of the biggest barriers to that is intuitive user interface and workflows,” he said.

Arianna Simpson, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, touted Phantom’s mission to build a “beautiful, easy-to-use wallet that bridges assets and gives users a seamless experience,” adding that her firm is excited to work with the crypto startup. 

Related: Andreessen Horowitz launches biggest-ever crypto venture fund at $2.2B

Andreessen Horowitz is one of the largest backers of Solana projects, having co-led Solana Labs’ $314 million private token sale earlier this year. The venture firm is behind some of the biggest raises in crypto, having earmarked billions of dollars for blockchain-focused startups.