Sonic, a Solana Layer 2 network tailored for gaming, has successfully secured $12 million in a Series A funding round. Led by Bitkraft Ventures, the round also saw participation from notable investors including Galaxy Interactive and Big Brain Holdings. This investment brings Sonic’s fully diluted valuation to an impressive $100 million.
Founded by Chris Zhu, Sonic began its fundraising efforts in April and closed the round earlier this month. The funding was structured as equity with token warrants. With this latest round, Sonic’s total funding now stands at $16 million, following a $4 million seed round in 2022. Bitkraft Ventures has also joined Sonic’s board as part of this deal.
Sonic is developed by Mirror World Labs (MWL) using its proprietary HyperGrid Framework technology. This framework enables horizontal scaling via rollups on Solana, providing an exceptionally fast and cost-effective on-chain gaming experience powered by the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM). Developers can seamlessly deploy decentralized applications (dApps) from Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains to Solana using HyperGrid’s interpreter.
“Sonic offers a unique solution for gaming studios looking to build on the Solana ecosystem,” said Justin Swart, Principal at Bitkraft Ventures.
Initially a mobile game, Sonic identified the need for better gaming infrastructure on Solana. The project has since developed the World Store, an asset aggregator to assist game studios in asset distribution and settlement. Sonic aims to increase gaming adoption on Solana with its Layer 2 network.
Currently, Sonic is on devnet, with five gaming studios using its technology. The incentivized testnet campaign, “Odyssey,” will launch later this week, allowing users to earn “rings” for on-chain activities. Sonic’s mainnet and token launch are expected in the third quarter of this year.
Sonic plans to expand its core developer, game relations, and marketing teams to support its global growth. The company, headquartered in New York, currently has a team of 20. Sonic also offers a $20 million grants and acceleration program to onboard game developers onto its platform, consisting of token grants, token swap deals, and stablecoins or fiat.