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Union Labs, a rising star in the blockchain startup world, has closed Series A funding round at $12 million, taking its total fund up to $16 million. The round was led by Gumi Cryptos Capital, San Francisco; and Longhash Ventures out of Singapore. Borderless Capital, Movement by Polygon’s founders and Berachain also participated significantly. This milestone reflects strong investor confidence in Union Labs’ vision to revolutionize blockchain interoperability and address the challenges faced by Web3 ecosystems.
Founded in 2023 by Karel Kubat and his team, Union Labs is a company working to address the fragmentation of the Web3 space by providing seamless communication between different blockchain ecosystems. As blockchain technology grows, many chains fail to interact effectively, and this creates significant barriers to interoperability. Union Labs is addressing this issue by developing a modular interoperability protocol that enhances the exchange of assets and messages between blockchains and decentralized applications (dApps).
In the heart of Union’s solution lies the technology on zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs-a secure, trustless, and decentralized way to transfer assets and pass messages. It is productive for communications between or across blockchain networks while also being secure and private. In this way, Union Labs is launching trustless communications to an even more connected and scalable Web3 ecosystem.
The recent $12 million funding round occurred less than a year after the seed round of Union Labs, marking a significant milestone in the company’s rapid growth. Karel Kubat, CEO of Union, expressed his excitement about the achievement, while acknowledging the support of Union’s partners, users, and investors. According to Kubat, the success of the funding round reflects the company’s continued commitment to solving the fragmentation problem in Web3 and delivering secure, sovereign, and seamless interoperability.
Kubat, an experienced professional in blockchain, was most recently Chief Technology Officer at Composable Finance. He was a lead developer of the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Protocol on Polkadot and has experience with the development of smart contracts since 2016. Kubat’s expertise in blockchain architecture makes him a moving force behind the innovation of the approach to interoperability by Union Labs.
A Modular Approach to Blockchain Interoperability
Union Labs introduces a modular interoperability protocol that simplifies complex communication between blockchains. Unlike legacy systems, the Union protocol is modular and flexible, supporting greater adaptability across different blockchain environments. This helps not only with more fluid asset transfer but also with the integration of different blockchain ecosystems into a more coherent Web3 user experience.
Using ZK technology, Union makes the interoperability process both secure and scalable. The transfer of data and assets through zero-knowledge proofs does not expose the sensitive information. This kind of feature is important nowadays, especially with the trend of blockchain adoption in almost all industries such as finance, supply chains, and decentralized applications which are highly based on trust and security.
A Multichain Future
The emphasis on modular interoperability by Union Labs resonates well with the direction of the trend towards a multichain future. In the opinion of most blockchain thought leaders, such as Miko Matsumura, the Managing Partner at Gumi Cryptos Capital, the technology created by Union represents a missing link in achieving a fully multi-chain environment. As pointed out by Matsumura, “this would unlock true decentralised finance, other blockchain based applications, as well as interoperability among multiple networks and protocols”.
Longhash Ventures’s Emma Cui was of the view that Union would be a means to bring composability and abstraction to thousands of blockchain ecosystems. This would unlock new possibilities for businesses and developers looking to create a decentralized application that would operate seamlessly across different blockchain platforms.
Union Labs’ Commitment to Security and Scalability
Modularity for seamless interoperability and security-scalability are the two core planks from where the foundations are put for the blockchain interoperability venture at Union Labs. At this growth rate of Web3, the requirement in terms of secure and highly scalable mechanisms which will deal with asset-exchange data across different chains is increasing. This both of the challenges, a modular protocol powered by zero knowledge are met.
Union Labs is also focused on making blockchain technology more accessible to businesses and individuals by providing the necessary infrastructure, tools, and applications. In finance, supply chain management, or decentralized applications, Union aims to simplify the adoption of blockchain technology so that organizations can build and scale blockchain-based solutions with ease.
Union Labs is well placed to further ramp up its efforts in blockchain interoperability with the successful closing of its series A round. The company is planning to continue refining its technology, expanding its team, and working closely with the blockchain developers and enterprises to speed up the adoption of its modular interoperability protocol.
With determination in reducing the fragmentation of Web3 and more interconnected blockchain ecosystems, Karel Kubat and his Union Labs team are ready to do something more. In securing seamless communications between blockchains, the Union Labs group is dealing with one of the critical industry pain points while simultaneously writing the future of Web3.
