Ironblocks, the first-ever blockchain-native cybersecurity platform, announced today that it has raised $7 million dollars in seed funding.
This fundraise is co-led by Collider Ventures and Disruptive AI, with additional participants including ParaFi; Quantstamp; Samsung Next; Balaji Srinivasan, ex-CTO of Coinbase and former general partner at Andreessen Horowitz; Calvin Liu, chief strategy officer at Eigen Layer; Simplex co-founder and ex-CEO Nimrod Lehavi; Fos Finance; venture investor Lluis Pedragosa; and others.
Ironblocks aims to stem the tide with a novel smart contract-based security solution that operates on-chain to automate threat detection and enable DeFi protocols, Web3 platforms, market makers, and cross-chain bridges to proactively take immediate action to stop hackers in real time to secure funds before they are funneled into hackers’ wallets.
“We are thrilled to be on this journey with such a great group of partners as we set out to set a new standard for on-chain threat mitigation,” said Ironblocks CEO Or Dadosh. “We believe that smart contract security is a given right for all crypto traders and protocols, and we aim to ensure the safety of data and crypto assets in the best way to bring about the broad adoption in DeFi and Web3.”
Last year saw a record amount of money stolen from DeFi protocols by hackers, more than $3.9 billion, according to research from Web3 bug bounty platform Immunefi, a more than 56 percent increase over the previous year. Additionally, according to the report, more than 80 percent of all exploit hacks resulted in the successful theft of funds. Ironblocks is set to prevent this kind of malicious activity.
Last year saw 155 individual exploits, a more than 50 percent increase over 2021, and proves that hackers have become more brazen as hundreds of dApps continue to come online, and they are further emboldened by a lack of reliable cybersecurity solutions and consistent enforcement by authorities. Robust security measures are needed to thwart their efforts and further build trust between founders and users.
“Smart contracts, like other blockchain financial fundamentals, must have the right protection. It is critical for Institutional players and all ecosystem maturity,” said Yorai Fainmesser, general partner at Disruptive AI. “Ironblocks is harnessing artificial intelligence and years of deep native blockchain experience to disrupt the way on-chain products are done. We are excited to back the team in executing its vision.”
The funds will be used to accelerate development activity and further expand the team across engineering, sales, marketing, and more, and also to support a number of product launches and partnerships that will soon be announced.
“Ironblocks is building a best-in-class solution to help bring an end to hacks, exploits, and thefts in DeFi and Web3,” said Adam Benayoun, managing partner at Collider. “We are proud to be part of this effort and believe that this is going to be a game changer for many protocols that will enable them to further establish trust and credibility with their communities.”
Ironblocks is based in Tel Aviv, and was co-founded in 2022 by Or Dadosh and CTO Assaf Eli, veteran software engineers and blockchain natives with vast experience in cyber security and in DeFi, having been part of the team responsible for creating Bancor, and securing more than $300 million in total value locked (TVL).
Or Dadosh also previously was head of blockchain innovation and solidity developer at Orbs, blockchain engineer at eToro, and blockchain leader at Bancor.
Assaf Eli previously also was a blockchain consultant for projects on the Ethereum Network ecosystem, part of the former core team that built Bancor, and served as a technical team lead in Israeli Military Intelligence.
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