Manta Network Raises $1.1M Led by Polychain Capital to Build Privacy Preserving Decentralized Exchange

Manta Network, the privacy-preserving DeFi stack built on Polkadot, today announced its closing of $1.1M funding. The round was led by Polychain Capital. Additional investors include Hypersphere Ventures, Three Arrows Capital, Defiance Capital, Multicoin Capital, Alameda Research, BTC12 Capital, Genblock Capital, Rarestone Capital, AU21 Capital and others.

Manta Network leverages zkSNARKs to offer privacy for transacting and exchanging as a layer-1 blockchain solution. The project intends to launch as a Polkadot parachain, which allows Manta Network to eliminate gas fees, and offer scalable privacy with faster transactions. All of those features, which translate into a better user experience, will be applied in its first product: a privacy-preserving decentralized exchange called MantaSwap.

“We see a large opportunity to bring plug-and-play privacy to the blockchain space, starting with the decentralized exchange,” said Professor Shumo Chu, CEO of Manta Network. “There are many user experience frictions for implementing a privacy-preserving DEX that we are solving through a combination of modern, scalable implementations of zkSNARKs and leveraging Polkadot.”

Ben Perszyk, Partner at Polychain, stated, “Manta Network brings an experienced team to tackle the critical and growing issues regarding privacy on the blockchain. Its unique approach to building as a Polkadot parachain enables them to offer plug-and-play privacy to a multitude of use cases and projects, starting with their own privacy-preserving DEX.”

“Manta Network takes a practical approach to implementing zkSNARKs at the blockchain level, enabling cheaper and more private financial transactions. We look forward to supporting Manta’s adoption in the Polkadot ecosystem,” said Jack Platts, Cofounder of Hypersphere Ventures.

Manta Network was started in 2020 by industry veterans with backgrounds including Harvard, MIT, and Algorand. As part of its first milestone, Manta Network will be executing its prototype in early Q1 in an effort to fulfill the grant. It plans on launching the test network in later Q1 of 2021. Manta Network plans on participating in the Polkadot Parachain auctions to secure a parachain to launch its main net around Q4 2021.