Bitcoin Startup Acinq Raises $1.7 Million to Double Down on Lightning

Lightning isn't just a big hit with developers, the promising bitcoin technology is now attracting a little attention from investors.

Acinq, one of the leading startups working on the lightning network, a top-level layer aiming to boost the number of transactions bitcoin can support, has closed a $1.7 million funding round led by Serena Capital, with participation from Talend co-founder Bertrand Diard, Sebastien Lucas, Alistair Milne and Snapcar founder Yves Weisselberger.

As a result of the funding, Lightning Labs is no longer the only startup solely dedicated to lightning that's been able to rake in money for its efforts.

It has built Eclair, one of three lightning software implementations alongside those by Lightning Labs and Blockstream, as well as Eclair Wallet, the most popular lightning wallet to date.

Acinq is sure to need it, as far as pushing lightning adoption forward, there's still a lot to do.

Now, at least $700,000 worth of bitcoin is now tied up in the lightning network.

Acinq further plans to continue building out mobile and desktop lightning wallets, as well as their recently released "Strike" API, which mirrors that of the popular payment technology Stripe.

Focus on UX. Still, it remains to be seen if this effort can boost the profile of Acinq, considered by some as a more supporting player in the quest to build out lightning, an effort largely associated with startups Lightning Labs and Blockstream, the later of which is famous for selling special stickers for lightning.

What sets Acinq apart, besides residing on a different continent? Padiou believes that of all of these startups, Acinq is the most focused on making lightning technology easy to use.

All in all Padiou thinks that the fact that lightning is attracting enough attention to spur investment is a good sign for the lightning network and cryptocurrency as a whole.