Sonic, a Solana Layer 2 network with a focus on gaming, has successfully raised $12 million in a Series A funding round. The round, led by Bitkraft Ventures and supported by Galaxy Interactive, Big Brain Holdings, and others, has propelled Sonic’s valuation to $100 million.
With Bitkraft joining Sonic’s board, this investment marks a significant milestone in Sonic’s growth trajectory.
The Solana Sonic Ecosystem
According to Sonic’s founder and CEO, Chris Zhu, the fundraising process commenced in April and concluded earlier this month. Now, Sonic’s total funding stands at $16 million, including a previous $4 million seed round raised in 2022.
Sonic is a gaming-focused Solana Layer 2 network developed by Mirror World Labs (MWL), the legal entity behind Sonic. Based on the arrangement, MWL’s proprietary technology, HyperGrid Framework, facilitates horizontal scaling through rollups on Solana, providing a robust foundation for Sonic’s development.
Sonic’s capability to offer a fast and cost-efficient on-chain gaming experience is made possible by the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM). As per Zhu’s explanation, the platform also allows developers to deploy decentralized applications (dApps) seamlessly from Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains to Solana using HyperGrid’s interpreter.
Evolution from Game to Infrastructure
Commenting on the network structure, Bitkraft Ventures’ principal, Justin Swart, expressed confidence in Sonic SVM becoming the preferred choice for gaming studios building within the Solana ecosystem.
Sonic initially started as a mobile game, however, it identified gaps in the gaming infrastructure on the Solana network. Although the Sonic game still exists as a demo for technical documentation, the project has introduced the World Store. This is a decentralized application for asset aggregation, aiding game studios in asset distribution and settlement. Sonic’s Layer 2 network aims to boost gaming adoption on Solana.
Sonic Future Plans
There are plans for Sonic to upscale. At present, Sonic is operating on its devnet with five gaming studios utilizing its technology. The incentivized testnet campaign, “Odyssey,” is set to launch soon, which will allow users to engage with games on Sonic, send transactions, and earn “rings” for on-chain activities.
Additionally, Sonic’s mainnet and token are slated for a third-quarter launch this year and to support this expansion, Sonic plans to grow its core developer, developer relations, and marketing teams. It also will offer grants and acceleration programs valued at $20 million to onboard game developers.
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