Crypto start-up Alchemy tops $10 billion valuation amid blockchain funding frenzy

Crypto start-up Alchemy tops $10 billion valuation amid blockchain funding frenzy

Crypto start-up Alchemy has nearly tripled its valuation in a matter of months, with the company saying Tuesday it's now valued $10.2 billion after its latest funding round. The $200 million investment was led by Lightspeed and Silver Lake, and Alchemy's previous financing round in late Octobe at $3.5 billion. Earlier investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue and Pantera also participated. It comes amid a flood of venture capital dollars into crypto. Tech investors are looking for winners in what some describe as the future of the internet, or "Web 3." Blockchain funding soared 718% last year, topping $25.5 billion for the first time, according to recent report from CB Insights. "Everyone's looking for a way to get involved in the space, and what they realized was Alchemy is the backbone for all of these things," Alchemy co-founder and chief technology officer Joe Lau told CNBC in an interview. "We still think this is the first inning of Web 3." Web3 has become a blanket term to describe any application built on blockchain — the technology behind cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. Proponents describe it as a better, decentralized version of the internet. But Web3 has also attracted high-profile like