Pharos Network, a layer 1 blockchain focused on real-world tokenized assets, said it raised $44 million in a Series A round led by a mix of traditional financial and crypto investors.
The backers include Sumitomo Corporation’s venture arm, SNZ Holding, Chainlink and Flow Traders, along with unnamed financial institutions that the firm described as “giants of global finance.” The funding comes as interest grows in bringing assets such as bonds, energy projects and private credit onto the blockchain rails.
Pharos says it is building an “asset-native” network designed to handle regulated financial activity at scale. Its system uses parallel processing to support high-volume 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. While far from this number, the tokenization space has grown, with data showing that total real-world assets on the chain now stand at $24.3 billion. That’s up from $14 billion at the beginning of the year.
Pharos also pointed to activity on its test network, which it said includes millions of users and unique addresses, and a partnership with energy firm GCL linked to solar-backed assets. Common in pre-launch networks, these numbers are often driven by incentives and are difficult to independently verify.
The raise follows an earlier seed round in which the firm raised $8 million. That round was led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC. It also comes after a recent investment from GCL New Energy (0451) that valued the company close to 1 billion.
Its mainnet is expected to debut in the near future.
