Intent-centric Ethereum L2 Essential raises $11 million in Series A funding
2024-08-13

Essential, an "intent-centric" Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain developer, has raised $11 million in a Series A funding round led by Archetype.
Other investors included IOSG Ventures, the Spartan Group, Mirana Ventures, Amber Group, Maven 11 and Big Brain Holdings, Essential said Tuesday. Undisclosed angel investors from Celestia, Hashflow, LI.FI, Sorella and other firms also participated in the round.
Essential began raising funds for the Series A round earlier this year and closed it in June, co-founder and CEO Liesl Eichholz told The Block. The round was structured as equity with token warrants, Eichholz said, declining to comment on the valuation.
The Series A round brings Essential's total funding to $16.15 million, having raised $5.15 million in seed funding last September.
What is Essential?
Essential is a blockchain startup developing an intent-centric or declarative Ethereum Layer 2 network as an Optimistic rollup. Unlike traditional blockchains that use a transaction-based model (where users provide exact instructions), Essential employs an intent-based model (where users specify the desired outcome). As a Layer 2, Essential handles user intents off-chain using "specialized solvers" to make the process more efficient. This approach seeks to improve the user experience, reduce the on-chain workload and enhance scalability.
"We don't have direct competitors as we're the first project to build a blockchain using the declarative approach," Eichholz said. "Our main competitive landscape is other Layer 2 projects who are trying to improve on speed, scalability and user experience."
Essential mainnet and token launch timeline
Essential has today unveiled Pint, its programming language for developing intent-centric or declarative blockchain applications. It has also released a pre-alpha devnet for testing purposes and developer documentation as a quick-start guide.
"We're aiming for testnet later in 2024 and mainnet in 2025," Eichholz said. When asked if Essential will also launch its token alongside the mainnet, Eichholz said that's the plan but is subject to various factors.
There are currently 12 people working for Essential globally, and Eichholz is planning to "rapidly onboard a handful of roles," including head of growth, head of product, developer relations, community growth and engineering.
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