The Graph, a startup that likens itself to Google, but for indexing information that lives on blockchains, has raised $50 million in new funding led by Tiger Global. Also participating in the round announced Thursday were FinTech Collective, Fenbushi Capital, Reciprocal Ventures and Blockwall Digital Assets Fund.
A large amount of connective tissue is needed to make the blockchain-based next generation of the internet, known as Web 3, function properly. The Graph is a protocol for indexing and querying blockchain data using open-source APIs, called subgraphs, that let developers easily access that data. An API, or application programming interface, is a way for two computer programs to interact.
The Graph supports indexing data from 26 different blockchain networks, including Ethereum, NEAR, Arbitrium, Optimism, Polygon, Avalanche, Celo, Fantom, Moonbeam and IPFS. So far, its subgraphs are used by Uniswap, Synthetix, KnownOrigin, Gnosis, Balancer, Livepeer, DAOstack, Audius and Decentraland, according to a press release.
“We expect to see an exponential increase in the data being stored on blockchains, especially given the pace at which the trillion dollar market has been growing over the past year,” John Curtius, a partner at Tiger Global, said in a statement. “The Graph is one of the most important pillars of the decentralized web.”
The Graph’s GRT token was trading at around $0.48 at the time of publication.