Pharos Network, a layer 1 blockchain focused on real-world tokenized assets, said it has raised $44 million in a Series A round led by a mix of traditional financial and crypto investors.
Backers include the venture arm of Sumitomo Corporation, SNZ Holding, Chainlink and Flow Traders, as well as unnamed financial institutions that the company described as “giants of global finance.” The funding comes as interest grows in integrating assets such as bonds, energy projects and private credit along the blockchain lines.
Pharos claims to be building an “asset-native” network designed to manage regulated financial activity at scale. Its system uses parallel processing to support large volumes of transactions, with compliance features aimed at institutions that need audit trails and identity checks.
The company is targeting a market it values at $50 trillion. Although nowhere near this figure, the tokenization space has been growing, with data showing that total real on-chain assets now stand at $24.3 billion. This is up from $14 billion at the start of the year.
Pharos also highlighted activity on its testnet, which it said includes millions of users and unique addresses, as well as a partnership with energy company GCL linked to solar-backed assets. These numbers, common in pre-launch networks, are often driven by incentives and are difficult to independently verify.
This raise follows a previous funding round in which the company raised $8 million. This round was co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC. This also follows a recent investment from GCL New Energy (0451) which values the company at almost $1 billion.
Its mainnet is expected to debut in the near future.
