Pharos Network, a layer-1 blockchain built to bring real-world assets (RWA) onto chain, has closed a $44 million Series A that the company says values it at roughly $1 billion — a milestone reached as the project prepares to launch its mainnet.
The round attracted a mix of traditional finance and crypto investors, including Sumitomo Corporation’s venture arm, SNZ Holding, Chainlink and Flow Traders, plus several unnamed institutions Pharos described as “giants in global finance.” The financing follows an earlier $8 million seed round co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC, and a recent strategic investment from GCL New Energy that previously put the startup near the $1 billion mark.
Pharos bills itself as an “asset-native” network engineered for regulated financial activity at scale. Its architecture relies on parallel processing to handle high transaction throughput, and it includes compliance-focused features — such as audit trails and identity checks — intended to meet institutional needs for transparency and regulatory controls. The team is targeting a tokenization market it pegs at $50 trillion, citing growing interest from sectors like bonds, energy projects and private credit.
The broader tokenization trend has momentum but is still nascent: data show total real-world assets onchain at about $24.3 billion, up from roughly $14 billion at the start of the year. Pharos pointed to robust testnet metrics — millions of users and unique addresses — and highlighted a partnership with energy firm GCL tied to solar-backed assets. The company acknowledged, however, that pre-launch network figures are frequently driven by incentive programs and can be difficult to verify independently.
With the mainnet launch expected soon, Pharos is positioning itself to capture institutional demand for regulated, high-throughput infrastructure for tokenized assets. Investors are betting that offering compliance-ready tooling and scalable performance will help bridge traditional finance and blockchain-based markets — but real adoption will hinge on live network performance, regulatory clarity and verified activity once the mainnet is live.
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