ZAP, a token distribution protocol built on the Ethereum Layer 2 network explosion explosion
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It announced that it had raised a total of $15.1 million.
The funds were raised in three rounds: a $900,000 seed round in December, a $2.1 million private round last month, and $12.1 million in an ongoing “vault sale,” ZAP’s pseudonymous founder and CEO Francis told The Block. The seed and private rounds were structured as a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT), Francis said. The vault sale is like a node sale, he added, offering buyers not-yet-released ZAP tokens, as well as other benefits such as token airdrops from other ecosystem projects, on a daily basis.
“The Vault sale will end when we conduct our token generation event in the coming months,” Francis said. “Once all the Vaults are sold out, we will have raised a total of $50 million.”
Investors in ZAP’s seed and private rounds include Rarestone Capital, Cypher Capital, Sharding Capital, Luca Netz of Pudgy Penguins, Larry Cermak of The Block, and Chelsea Jiang of Foresight Ventures.
ZAP was valued at $15 million during its seed round, grew to $30 million during its private token round, and is currently valued at around $100 million, Francis said. “The implied fully diluted token valuation from the current Vault sale is around $100 million,” Francis said.
What is ZAP?
ZAP was founded in November last year and has built a “reputation-based” token distribution protocol on Blast. ZAP says the protocol verifies user contributions to ensure fair and meritocratic token rewards, allowing the project to develop and grow its community sustainably.
ZAP recently launched the “Blast Gigadrops” campaign, rewarding users for social and on-chain interactions with over 20 Blast ecosystem projects. The campaign boasts a prize pool of approximately $1 million and partners with projects including Thruster, Particle, and MetaStreet.
ZAP’s token distribution protocol is currently built on Blast, but will expand to more blockchains starting from Base. ZAP is also building a “no-code” token launcher and token launchpad, giving users access to venture capital-backed projects.
“We’re rethinking the token launch experience from the ground up,” ZAP’s pseudonymous head of product Carlo told The Block. “By giving crypto founders a seamless way to distribute tokens for their goals—building a community, raising capital, rewarding specific user profiles, or some combination of the three—we look forward to seeing founders, investors, and communities leverage ZAP to add tremendous value to their projects.”
Francis said ZAP currently has 12 staff based in London and the UAE and is looking to hire a few more for engineering.
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