Movement Labs, a San Francisco-based software developing team building a layer-2 blockchain on Ethereum, is close to wrapping up its Series B funding round with a target of $100 million, according to multiple sources close to the deal. The round would value Movement around $3 billion, according to one of the sources.
Crypto prices have soared since the election of Donald Trump in November, who has vowed to take a friendly approach toward blockchain technology during his second term as president. Movement’s new round comes amid a resurgence in investor interest in the sector after a prolonged downturn in digital assets markets. The rally has seen the return of generalist funds like Khosla Ventures.
Founded by two college dropouts, Movement previously raised a $38 million Series A in April 2024 led by the crypto megafund Polychain Capital, with participation from other top blockchain-focused investors including Hack VC, dao5, and Robot Ventures. The latest round will be co-led by CoinFund and Nova Fund, part of hedge fund Brevan Howard’s digital assets arm, according to the sources. Investors will receive a combination of equity and Movement’s proprietary token, Move, which launched in December, said one of the sources, though the emphasis will be on the token—a common funding structure in crypto venture deals. The round is expected to close by the end of January.
Representatives from CoinFund and Brevan Howard declined to comment. A Movement spokesperson confirmed that the Series B is underway and declined further comment.
Blockchain race
Movement operates in the crowded space of layer-1 and layer-2 blockchains—the digital ledger technology that processes transactions and facilitates decentralized applications. While Bitcoin and Ethereum remain the two most popular options, a number of well-funded competitors have emerged that promise faster and cheaper transactions. Last year, two competitors, Monad and Berachain, announced funding rounds of $225 million and $100 million, respectively.
Movement is built on Move, a programming language originally developed by Facebook for its shuttered stablecoin project Diem. Two other blockchains, Aptos and Sui, also utilize Move, although they both function as standalone chains. In contrast, Movement is a layer-2, meaning it operates on top of another blockchain—in this case, Ethereum.
In a previous interview with Fortune, cofounders Rushi Manche and Cooper Scanlon said that Movement’s structure would allow developers to utilize the programming language while still taking advantage of Ethereum’s popular ecosystem, pointing to the struggles of Aptos and Sui to attract significant communities. Aptos cofounder and CEO Mo Shaikh announced he was stepping down in December.
Movement launched a beta version of its mainnet in December along with its token, which is currently trading on major venues such as Binance and Coinbase. As of Jan. 7, Move traded at a market cap of around $2.25 billion, nearly doubling from its initial trading volume in December.
