Layer 1 developer Pod completes $10 million seed round, led by a16z CSX and 1kx

On January 28th, Layer 1 network developer Pod announced the completion of a $10 million seed round of financing to build a "consensus-free" Layer 1 network with transaction speed comparable to the response time of Google search. This round of financing was led by a16z CSX and 1kx. Participants included Flashbots, Blockchain Builders Fund and Protagonist, as well as several angel investors from Celestia, Babylon and Axelar.
The Pod is expected to go live on the developer network (devnet) in the next few weeks. The testnet will be launched in the third quarter of 2025, and the mainnet is scheduled to go live in Quarter 1 in 2026. Whether the tokens will be launched simultaneously has not yet been decided. The core team of the Pod consists of 5 people and receives technical support from the Common Prefix team.