Arch Labs, the team behind the Bitcoin-native application platform Arch, has secured $7 million in a seed funding round.

Leading the round was Multicoin Capital, making this investment a notable move for the venture capital firm in the Bitcoin sphere. Other contributors to the round included Portal Ventures, OKX Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, CMS Holdings, and Tangent, as announced by Arch on Thursday.

The fundraising efforts for this round commenced in March and swiftly concluded in April due to an overwhelming level of interest from investors, shared Matt Mudano, co-founder of Arch, with The Block. The round's structure involved a simple agreement for future equity (SAFE) with token warrants; however, Mudano refrained from disclosing the valuation details.

What sets Arch apart is its claim to be the first Bitcoin-native application platform, enabling "bridgeless" trading directly on the Bitcoin blockchain. Mudano stressed that Arch differs from Bitcoin Layer 2 networks, as it does not require users to bridge assets to a side chain, thus avoiding compromises in custody and trust assumptions.

ArchVM, the platform's virtual machine, is constructed entirely in Rust, a language familiar in projects like Solana, which enhances accessibility compared to Bitcoin script. Developers can deploy applications seamlessly on Arch, and users can engage with these applications regardless of their Bitcoin wallet choice, without the need for bridging assets or specialized wallets.

The transition to Arch is already underway for various projects within the Bitcoin ecosystem, with over 20 projects in stealth mode across stablecoins, decentralized exchanges, borrow/lend markets, and more, building on Arch's development network.

The next steps for Arch include the launch of a public development network, followed by the mainnet release anticipated in the latter half of this year. Alongside this, the Arch Foundation plans to bolster support for the Bitcoin ecosystem through forthcoming hackathons and grant initiatives.