Solana-based multisig protocol Squads raises $10 million, launches retail wallet app Fuse

Squads Labs, the main developer of the Solana SOL -1.39% -based multisig protocol Squads, has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round and launched its retail-focused iOS wallet app called Fuse on public TestFlight.

Electric Capital led the funding round, with Coinbase Ventures, Placeholder VC, RockawayX, L1 Digital and Mert Mumtaz, co-founder and CEO of Helius and founder of Odyssey Ventures, participating in the round, Squads Labs said Monday. The firm began fundraising in March and closed it earlier this month, Stepan Simkin, CEO of Squads Labs, told The Block. The round was structured as equity with token warrants similar to Squads' seed round, Simkin said, declining to comment on the valuation.

The Series A round brings Squads' total funding to $22.5 million, having previously raised $12.5 million in three funding rounds.

What is Squads protocol?

Squads is a Solana -based multisig protocol that helps businesses manage on-chain assets like treasury, tokens and admin keys with multi-signature security. Since launching in 2021, Squads says it has helped secure over $10 billion in assets, a massive jump from $500 million this past October.

Simkin said the number of clients has also jumped from over 100 that October to over 250 currently, with the biggest ones being Jito, Jupiter, Tensor, Drift, Zeta, Backpack and Kamino.

With fresh funding in place, Squads plans to continue enhancing its protocol and help more businesses run their on-chain workflows at every stage of their lifecycle, Simkin said.

Squads' Fuse wallet app

Squads also launched its retail-oriented iOS wallet app, Fuse, on public TestFlight today. Fuse is a Solana wallet built on top of Squads protocol with multi-signature security for personal assets.

When asked if Fuse plans to compete with Solana's leading wallets like Phantom , Simkin said, "Not really."

"While Phantom and other wallets focus on onboarding and connectivity, Fuse aims to be the ultimate savings account for your digital net worth, eliminating the need for solely relying on cold wallets or CEXs [centralized exchanges]," Simkin said. "So the focus is on internal features like 2FA [two-factor authentication], wallet recovery, progressive security, time locks and spending limits, allowing users to fully program their self-custody setup. The distinction I would make is that Fuse is for storing and compounding assets, while other providers are for ecosystem interactions."

Squads aims to launch Fuse on the main app store in early July, Simkin said.

Squads currently employs 17 people, and Simkin plans to expand the team by hiring designers and engineers. He said Squads is also in the process of setting up its permanent headquarters in Dubai.

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