Quick take:
The fundraising attracted participation from crypto VCs Framework Ventures and Electric Capital.
The company will use the funds to hire more employees as it seeks to double the size of its staff from five to ten.
By leveraging RSIC-V, Heeger says the new virtual machine will make the Thru blockchain more accessible to non-crypto native developers.
Unto Labs has announced a $14.4 million funding round backed by leading crypto-focused venture firms, Framework Ventures and Electric Capital.
Developed by Liam Heeger, a former engineer at Ethereum and Solana, Unto Labs is building a new virtual machine, ThruVM, that seeks to address one of the biggest drawbacks of network-specific virtual machines by using the popular computing system RISC-V to build Thru blockchain.
“Crypto-specific tools, bespoke crypto VMs, and domain‑specific programming languages pigeon‑hole blockchain development and prevent mainstream industry adoption,” Unto Labs said in a statement.
The company plans to use ThruVM to make its upcoming layer-1 blockchain, Thru more accessible to non-crypto native developers.
RISC-V is widely used outside of the crypto world and Heeger thinks its ability to allow software to interact with hardware will promote more innovation in the crypto space.
“RISC-V maps better to conventional hardware that you would find in a server or in a laptop,” Heeger said. “There are performance benefits, there are developer benefits, there’s more tooling.”
Heeger’s new layer-1 blockchain is built to compete with leading dApp-focused blockchains Ethereum and Solana. Thru will let users make transactions, interact with existing crypto applications, and build blockchain-based finance tools, Fortune reported.
Heeger said the company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its team of five to ten by the end of the year.
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