Mezo, Thesis' BitcoinFi Project, Completes $7.5M Strategic Round lead by Ledger Cathay Fund

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Jul 26, 2024, 12:00 ET

Ledger Cathay Fund's investment on BitcoinFi with Mezo commits to supercharging the evolution of the global Bitcoin Finance ecosystem
Strategic investment plus prior funding led by Pantera Capital brings Mezo's total amount raised to $30M

NEW YORK, July 26, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Thesis, one of the longest-standing venture studios funding and building brands on Bitcoin, today announced its strategic funding round led by Ledger Cathay Fund, Ledger and Cathay Innovation's early-stage venture fund, for Mezo, its permissionless Bitcoin Economic Layer. This brings total funding for Mezo to $30M following its launch in April 2024. Other investors in the strategic round include ArkStream, Aquarius Fund, Flowdesk, GSR, Origin Protocol and Bybit ecosystem project, Mantle's EcoFund.

Mezo will use this investment to accelerate technology development and grow the BitcoinFi ecosystem. This includes focus on integrating other ecosystem partners, like the recently announced integration of yield protocol, Acre, and wallet partners to enable a fulsome BitcoinFi experience, like the recently announced ability for Mezo users to "log in" with Bitcoin using both hardware wallets and web wallets like Unisat, OKX, and Xverse. Ledger plans to integrate Mezo directly into its suite of products with further details on integrations to be disclosed in the near future.

Matt Luongo, CEO of Thesis & Founder of Mezo, commented on today's news: "Ledger Cathay Fund's support for Mezo is a strong testament that BitcoinFi is the future of ownership, that Mezo is the leader in building the technology behind this future. Today is a tremendous milestone in our work with investors and peers to expand the Bitcoin network, bringing on-chain a circular economy that empowers people worldwide to put BTC to work."

Mezo, built by Thesis, amplifies Bitcoin's infrastructure by facilitating cheap, efficient transactions. In turn, it preserves the Bitcoin network's foundational principles, including security, dedication to open-source development, and a BTC-first HODL mentality. Distinct from other Bitcoin L2s, Mezo provides users access to applications usable in the real world. Features include Thesis-built tBTC, which allows for trust-minimized bitcoin bridging to numerous ecosystems, plus staking with stBTC, supported by Acre, Thesis' recently launched Bitcoin-in, Bitcoin-out staking platform.

Mezo serves as a venue for users to maximize Bitcoin's full potential beyond being a store of value. Users can leverage applications to transact securely with Bitcoin without roadblocks like fragmented user experience and high gas fees. To date, Mezo has $124.5M in total volume locked and 2,152 Bitcoin deposited in the protocol.

Thesis, one of the longest standing Bitcoin builders, founded in 2013, has supported multiple brand launches of projects within the Bitcoin ecosystem including Mezo, Acre, tBTC, and Fold - who recently announced its plans to go public as the first pureplay financial services company powered by Bitcoin.

Investor Quotes:

Pascal Gauthier, Chairman and CEO of Ledger: "At Ledger, we are Bitcoiners and we believe Bitcoin is the event. But the landscape of Bitcoin is changing. People want to do more with their Bitcoin, and we need to not only support these new developments in Ledger products, but actively support the future of Bitcoin development. We are therefore thrilled to invest in Mezo, a groundbreaking Bitcoin project that we believe will significantly impact the Bitcoin ecosystem. This investment signals our confidence in Thesis and their project, Mezo, based on their long standing track record of building successful brands in the Bitcoin ecosystem."

Marguerite de Tavernost, Investment Director at Ledger Cathay Fund: "We really believe in Mezo's unique vision to supercharge Bitcoin to become an economic layer. Thanks to all the synergies created by their Thesis incubator, Mezo can be the core element of this ecosystem, and create network effects from their decentralized bridge with tBTC to their consumer app with Fold. We were truly impressed by this unique positioning, combined with the very impressive execution capabilities of the Mezo team."

David Toh, Managing Partner of Mirana Ventures, Mantle EcoFund's operator: "Investing in Mezo perfectly aligns with Mantle's vision of supporting and scaling innovations in the Bitcoin ecosystem. We have confidence in Mezo and the synergistic projects led by the Thesis team. We look forward to fostering Mezo's growth through potential strategic collaborations with projects within the Mantle ecosystem, such as Ignition ($FBTC) and Mantle LSP (Mantle's Liquid Staking Protocol)."

About Ledger Cathay Fund:

Ledger Cathay Fund is an early-stage venture fund that provides capital to emerging startups in the Web3 ecosystem, while delivering at the same time unique value added to founders. The fund invests at Seed and Series A in companies across the globe both in equity and tokens.

The fund is the alliance of market leader Ledger for digital assets custody and of global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation. This initiative provides founders with the benefits of the industry support of Ledger together with the long-term investment practice of Cathay Innovation.

About Ledger:

Celebrating its 10 year anniversary in 2024, Ledger is the world leader in Digital Asset security for consumers and enterprises. Ledger offers connected devices and platforms, with more than 6M devices sold to consumers in 180 countries and 10+ languages, 100+ financial institutions and commercial brands. Over 20% of the world's crypto assets are secured by Ledger.

Ledger is the digital asset solution secure by design. The world's most internationally respected offensive security team, Ledger Donjon, is relied upon as a crucial resource for securing the world of Digital Assets. With over 14 billion dollars hacked, scammed or mismanaged in 2023 alone, Ledger's security brings peace of mind and uncompromising self-custody to its community.

Don't buy "a hardware wallet." Buy a LEDGER™ device.

LEDGER™, LEDGER LIVE™, LEDGER RECOVER™, LEDGER STAX™, LEDGER FLEX™ and LEDGER FREE FROM COMPROMISE™ are trademarks owned by Ledger SAS

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About Mezo:

The market has been dominated by technology-first approaches that often overlook the economic needs of users. As the world's first Bitcoin Economic Layer, Mezo introduces a pivotal shift, designed to amplify Bitcoin's infrastructure while adhering to its foundational principles to serve its holders. Mezo is Bitcoin native, facilitating cheap and fast transactions for a variety of relevant use cases. This not only enhances the network's resilience but also ensures it serves the broader economic ambitions of Bitcoin holders. Mezo is the place where we can unlock the full potential of Bitcoin. This is your invitation to create your own economy. Learn more about Mezo's initiatives and unique features on their blog here.

About Thesis:

Thesis is a venture production studio, funding and building brands on Bitcoin. Thesis has supported multiple successful brands including the launch of Mezo -- a new leading Bitcoin L2 -- as well as Acre, tBTC, Fold, among others. Thesis has also garnered investments from leading Venture Capital firms including a16z, Polychain Capital, ParaFi, Fenbushi and more. To learn more, please visit: https://thesis.co/

Media contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Thesis