Holograph, a startup working to enable blockchain interoperability with its novel omnichain tokenization protocol, has closed on an $11 million strategic funding round to advance the concept of “omnichain gaming”.
Today’s round was co-led by Andrew Kang’s Mechanism Capital and Jordi Alexander’s Selini Capital, and saw participation from the likes of existing investor Mechanism & Selini, plus new investors such as Hal Press’ Northrock Capital, Arca, Courtside Ventures and Hartmann Capital.
Holograph was built to solve one of the major challenges that arises from blockchains acting as independent sovereign networks — the lack of interoperability between networks. Because blockchains are independent, there’s no easy way to transfer assets between any two of them, and this has big implications in an industry that sees itself as having a “multichain” future.
One of the problems caused by having so many standalone networks is “liquidity fragmentation”, where the capital invested in each blockchain is essentially siloed from other networks, prohibiting innovation and worsening user experiences.
Holograph wants to solve this issue with a novel protocol that allows asset users and issuers to engage with tokens across multiple blockchains, enhancing the connectivity between different networks and unifying liquidity across ecosystems.
Using Holograph’s omnichain tokenization protocol, it becomes possible to create interoperable “omnichain” tokens that can live on multiple blockchains. The way it works is, when someone wants to transfer a token from one chain to another, they burn the token on the first chain, before sending a message to the target chain using a messaging protocol. The burned token is then “reminted” on the target chain with an identical contact address. In this way, Holograph is uniquely able to combine liquidity across chains and ensure blockchain fungibility.
Unlike other cross-chain protocols, Holograph’s omichain tokens have two distinct properties that set them apart, including an ability to maintain fungibility, keeping the same contract address so they can index cross-chain data. The burn-and-mint mechanism employed by Holograph also ensures liquidity can flow effectively across chains, without disrupting or altering a token’s overall supply.
Mechanism Capital’s Andrew Kang said he is thrilled to lead today’s round, adding that Holograph stands at the forefront of an omnichain gaming revolution. “The industry is on the verge of a major transformation, and Holograph’s cutting-edge tech paves the way for an exciting new era in which gamers and developers can harness the power of cross-chain interoperability,” Kang promised.
Holograph supports dozens of top blockchains and layer-2 networks, including Ethereum, Polygon, Optimism, Base, Zora, Arbitrum, Linea, Mantle, Avalanche and BNB Chain. Holograph’s omnichain NFTs can be minted on any of those supported chains, then quickly and easily bridged to another supported chain. In this way, blockchain games developers have the freedom to build games on multiple chains and players can easily move assets across them.
Holograph launched its mainnet last year, and it has enjoyed explosive growth since then, with over 10 million ominchain tokens minted by approximately 1.5 million unique wallets. The platform has also enabled more than two million cross-chain transactions to be completed using the LayerZero cross-chain messaging protocol.
Jordi Alexander, founder of Selini Capital, said he and his team have long been bullish on the potential impact of cross-chain asset production and distribution. He added that the “demonstrable progress” being made in this specific area made the decision to back Holograph a very easy one. “We see their ability to facilitate seamless asset transfer across multiple chains as opening up novel opportunities, for not just users but also for developers,” he said.
Because Holograph’s technology can support regular cryptocurrency tokens, fungible and non-fungible tokens, it has a wide array of applications beyond just blockchain gaming. For instance it can enable creators to publish omnichain NFTs that represent digital art, paintings and visual effects, and it can be used by DeFi investors to conduct complex, cross-chain transactions involving multiple protocols at once. Finally, it’s also hoping to drive growth in the area of tokenized real-world assets such as real estate, treasury notes and stablecoins.
Holograph co-founder and Chief Executive Jeremy Kerbel said he’s extremely grateful for the support from today’s investors. “This milestone validates our vision and strengthens our resolve to enhance the gaming industry with our omnichain technology, enabling more immersive and interconnected experiences for all players,” he said.