NEAR Foundation Forms Nuffle Labs With $13M in Funding

NEAR Foundation, the non-profit steward of the blockchain ecosystem of the same name, has formed Nuffle Labs with $13 million in funding.

The spinout is aimed at advancing NEAR’s modularity and bringing more decentralized development to the ecosystem, according to an emailed announcement on Thursday.

“As an independent entity, Nuffle Labs will now be able to make agile decisions, ensuring that NEAR Modular products remain competitive,” the announcement said. “Strategically positioned between the NEAR Foundation, Ethereum, and EigenLayer ecosystems, Nuffle Labs will leverage strengths from multiple platforms to enhance efficiency and resilience in the NEAR ecosystem.”

The fundraise included a grant from the foundation and external investment by Electric Capital. Also participating were Canonical Crypto, Fabric Ventures, Robot Ventures, Caladan and Lyrik Ventures.

Nuffle Labs will use NEAR to offer rollups via NEAR’s Veri Availability (NESR DA) and Fast Finally Layer (NFFL) products.