Venture firm Framework Ventures heads $14 million Series A investment for Berachain's liquid staking protocol, dubbed Infrared.
Infrared, a liquid staking protocol built on Berachain, has successfully raised $14 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Framework Ventures and attracted participation from Citizen X, Halo Capital, NGC Ventures, Selini Capital, and other notable investors, including YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), Hack VC, and No Limit Holdings.
This investment plays a pivotal role in the Berachain ecosystem, enabling significant team expansion and supporting the development of innovative products on Berachain. The primary objective is to strengthen Infrared's capacity to issue tokens aligned with Berachain's blockchain users. This move aims to reprime incentive structures and attract liquidity back to the ecosystem, which has faced challenges due to a collapse in the Bera token price and a loss of investor funds in liquidity vaults.
Infrared has prioritized security on the Berachain network by completing multiple top-tier audits and releasing new features, as part of its growth and assurance efforts funded by the Series A round. The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its team, specifically hiring a development and operations engineer and a head of DeFi for the Asia Pacific region.
Framework Ventures' co-founder has stated that they believe Infrared will simplify and increase access to Proof of Liquidity for users in the Berachain community. The capital raised is helping Infrared unlock significant amounts of productive capital within the wider Berachain ecosystem while maximizing efficiency and yield.
Infrared, which is incubated by Berachain's Build-a-Bera program, offers two flagship liquid staking tokens: iBGT and iBERA. The company's focus will extend to the Asia Pacific region, suggesting an expansion into that market. However, the statement does not specify how the remaining capital from the Series A round will be used.
This round brings the total amount raised by Infrared to $18.75 million, making it the largest protocol on Berachain with over $1.7 billion in TVL, according to DeFiLlama data. The fundraising was structured as a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFTs).
In summary, Infrared's Series A funding is instrumental in expanding its team to accelerate development on Berachain, prioritizing security and robustness, and driving initiatives to reprice incentives within Berachain’s liquidity and yield frameworks to attract liquidity and users back into the ecosystem. This aligns with the broader need within Berachain to restore liquidity and adoption following significant outflows and token value decline.
- The Series A funding, led by Framework Ventures, will help Infrared expand its team, specifically hiring a development and operations engineer and a head of DeFi for the Asia Pacific region, which is instrumental for the growth of the Berachain community.
- Infrared's focus will extend to the Asia Pacific region, not only providing liquid staking tokens like iBGT and iBERA, but also aiming to simplify Proof of Liquidity for users in the region, thereby increasing access and potentially attracting more community members.
