Crypto wallet Braavos said today it has raised $10 million in seed funding to build an all-in-one crypto solution on the Ethereum scaling blockchain StarkNet.

The seed round was led by crypto-focused investment firm Pantera Capital and joined by Brevan Howard Digital, Road Capital, Crypto.com, Maxiport and Starkware.

Founded at the beginning of 2022, Braavos provides a way for users to hold their own cryptocurrency securely on their own devices what is called “self-custody,” with an easy-to-understand user interface. The wallet solution is built atop StarkNet, a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethernet developed by Starkware. It’s designed to address scaling issues for the network, which uses “zero knowledge” rollups to improve transaction speed and lower fees.

The app itself is designed to be simple and easy and runs on a multitude of platforms, including iOS, Android devices and web browsers. It also has multiple plugins that can be loaded into Chrome, Firefox, Brave and Microsoft Edge. As a result, users can get the app wherever they are and start holding their own crypto.

“Crypto today is still too technical and complex for many users — requiring them to deal with seed phrases and security keys, suffer from low error tolerance, and educate themselves on nontrivial [decentralized finance] protocols,” said Braavos Chief Executive Motty Lavie. “Our mission is to eliminate these high-friction hurdles and provide users with the smooth experience they deserve while preserving the core crypto values of decentralization and self-custody.”

The Braavos wallet includes the traditional options for traditional asset self-storage with multiple token options alongside the capability to purchase and swap tokens within a built-in exchange as well. Users can buy tokens with a credit card or Apple Pay, transfer them from their favorite exchange, or swap tokens using an exchange protocol built into the wallet.

To keep wallets as safe as possible, the app uses existing mobile devices’ Trusted Execution Environment functions and biometric identification tools, Lavie told Decrypt. The same security systems store private key seed phrases, which are used as an emergency backup in case of a lost or corrupted wallet, but even if the device is lost or stolen private keys and seed phrases are stored in the phone’s secure enclave architecture.

As part of the roadmap for future features, the team intends to build a “forgot my password” mechanism and add multi-factor authentication to make the wallet feel more like a traditional app.

The additional funds will be put toward expanding product research and development, hiring more team members and pushing forward on marketing campaigns.

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