• Abu Dhabi’s $280 billion global sovereign fund, Mubadala Capital, has participated in the $48 million Series A funding round raised by the US-based blockchain startup Andalusia Labs, along with other VCs including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Digital Currency Group. Other existing investors include industry giant Coinbase, Proof Group, Nima Capital, Naval Ravikant, and others.
• Founded in 2021 by Drew Patel and Raouf Ben-Har, Andalusia Labs provides risk management infrastructure for digital assets.
• Andalusia Labs, now valued at $1 billion, will expand its footprint by establishing its global headquarters in Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM).
• Andalusia Labs intends to utilise the funds to accelerate product development, enhance institutional partnerships, and continue global expansion.

Press release:

Andalusia Labs, formerly known as RiskHarbor,  the global leader in risk management infrastructure for digital assets, has successfully raised $48 million in a Series A funding round, positioning the company’s equity valuation north of $1 billion. Prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm Lightspeed Venture Partners led the round with participation from Mubadala Capital, the asset management subsidiary of Mubadala Investment Company, a $280 billion global sovereign investor headquartered in Abu Dhabi, and existing investors Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Digital Currency Group. Other existing investors include industry giant Coinbase, Proof Group, Nima Capital, Naval Ravikant, and founders, general partners, and executives from leading global organisations.

In conjunction with the round, Andalusia Labs announced the establishment of its global headquarters in Abu Dhabi’s Financial Centre, Abu Dhabi Global Markets. For Andalusia Labs, this strategic move underscores the company's commitment to expanding its global footprint and highlights Abu Dhabi as a leading financial hub for digital assets that nurtures growth and fosters innovation through its progressive regulatory structure, unique connectivity to eastern and western markets, and being home to some of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds, providing strong access to institutional capital.

“Andalusia Labs is addressing one of the most significant challenges in the blockchain industry today," said Ravi Mhatre, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. "Financial institutions and blockchain companies grapple with the absence of robust risk management technologies to safeguard their assets. Raouf, Drew, and their team are the first to fill this gap by delivering mission-critical risk management infrastructure that not only paves the way for wider institutional adoption by an order of magnitude, but also empowers developers to create novel applications that are inherently safe and secure from day one. Lightspeed is excited to partner with them as they aim to bring their infrastructure to every institution, developer, and consumer in the industry.”

Andalusia Labs is a collection of leading technology solutions addressing the security challenges prevalent in the blockchain industry including Karak, a revolutionary risk management infrastructure for digital assets; Subsea, a pioneering risk management marketplace for digital assets; and Watchtower, an institutional security platform for digital assets.

In response to the escalating security concerns and financial risks within the blockchain industry, Andalusia Labs is dedicated to providing secure environments for institutions, developers, and consumers. 

Karak is a Layer 2 blockchain introducing a novel risk management infrastructure for blockchain, Web3, and global financial services, prioritising financial security while upholding the highest standards of security, scalability, and affordability. Amalgamating risk management, restaking, and AI infrastructure, Karak represents a new approach to securing a wide array of financial products and services for blockchain, Web3, and global financial services.

Subsea natively built on the Karak blockchain, is the world's leading risk management marketplace for digital assets and pioneers a completely automated, transparent, and impartial invariant detection mechanism to secure users against digital asset risks, hacks, and attacks. Subsea has secured over $1 billion in digital assets and built 100+ integrations with different blockchains and financial applications.

Watchtower is an institutional security platform for digital assets. Unlike current market models that lack realism, Watchtower is creating realistic market simulations in real time with real data for the first time. Currently, Watchtower is in private beta. The combination of Subsea and Watchtower built on the Karak blockchain will provide the foundational risk management and security required to build a safe environment for the industry. 

By creating innovative technologies focused on protecting the financial interests of billions of people and promoting industry collaboration, Andalusia Labs aims to create the industry's security standards, instill confidence and resilience across the blockchain and Web3 industry, and help integrate this transformative technology into global financial services worldwide. 

Andalusia Labs intends to utilise the funds to accelerate product development, enhance institutional partnerships, and continue global expansion. The team is rapidly expanding and hiring across finance, business development, AI, cryptography, distributed systems, and security engineering, among many other roles.

"Blockchain is still in the very early innings, and we’re thrilled to have partners like Lightspeed and Mubadala who share our commitment and vision for building the premier risk management infrastructure for the world," said Raouf Ben-Har and Drew Patel, founders of Andalusia Labs. "This funding will enable us to continue developing the best-in-class products for our users that will unlock the potential of digital assets and drive innovation in global financial services around the globe."

“We’re honored to build our partnership with Raouf, Drew and the Andalusia Labs team. The opening of their global headquarters in Abu Dhabi will catalyze their global scaling efforts and strategically position the company for unparalleled growth. We look forward to supporting them on the next chapter of their journey in shaping the future of blockchain and Web3 parametric risk management,” said Shaun Lee, partner at Mubadala Capital.