Layer 1 Blockchain Startup 5ire Turns Unicorn After Raising $100 Mn in Series A Funding

5ire, a 5th generation Layer-1 (L1) blockchain network has raised $100 Mn in Series A funding from UK-based conglomerate SRAM & MRAM at $1.5 Bn valuation.

With this, 5ire has become India’s 105th unicorn and 19th unicorn of 2022.

5ire was founded by Indian-origin entrepreneurs, Pratik Gauri and Prateek Dwivedi, along with web3 financier Vilma Mattila, in August 2021. The company had raised $21 Mn in Seed funding, within two months of incorporation. In February, this year 5ire had also secured a $100 Mn capital commitment from GEM Global Yield LLC SCS (GGY), as it sought to file for an IPO. However, it didn’t materialise as the company has now opted to raise Series A instead of filing an IPO.

Speaking to Inc42, Gauri said that it’s equity-based funding and will be utilised in talent acquisition, technology development and sales and marketing.

“We have currently 105 employees, out of which 65 are developers, mostly deployed in the Bengaluru office. We plan to increase the headcount from the existing 105 to 150. Most of the employees we want to bring in are going to be senior executives who can help us get adopted by Fortune 500 companies and governments. So, we’re going to target either C level people from corporates or retired people from government to come onboard and help us,” he added.

5irechain testnet will be live in the next 30 days while the mainnet is planned to go live in November, this year.

How 5irechain Is Different From Existing Blockchains

“‘5’ in ‘5ire’ stands for 5th industrial revolution. What Google did to web1, what Facebook did to web2, we’re trying to curate a similar space in web3,” – cofounder and CEO Pratik Gauri.

Unlike Bitcoin and Polygon which have deployed Proof of Work or Proof of Stake for consensus, 5ire has built a new L1 public blockchain called 5irechain that uses Proof-of-Benefit methodology for consensus.

Cofounder Gauri explained, “We have the world’s first mathematical model, which not only measures sustainability but rewards it financially. That’s how the nodes are validated by a consensus. Proof-of-benefit is an innovative concept where scores are given based on UN’s 17 sustainable development goals(SDG) and 650 environmental, social and governance (ESG) parameters.”

5irechain is not only faster than other conventional blockchains but is the most sustainable blockchain too, said Gauri.

India Is The Core Focus

Working with the governments and corporates from across the world, 5ire mulls to keep the Indian market as its core focus.

Gauri said, “Southeast Asia would be our prime market and India will be the core focus in Southeast Asia. Besides, we will also target the United States and African market.”

Even before its launch, the company has partnered with corporates like V John, and government bodies like Muzaffarnagar police; City of Alliance, Nebraska, US; Nigerian government and so on.

On applications, Gauri said that 5ire is agnostic.

“Though, we have customised applications-based use cases. Now it depends on who adopts us. So if an FMCG adopting us then we obviously have a supply chain use cases, but we then optimize or we customize according to the requirements of the companies. If we are getting adopted by, say the police department, then applications will include firearms licensing, smart policing, predictive policing, FIRs registration and on,” he said.