Fluent Labs secured $8M to develop a blockchain solution enabling cross-VM compatibility, improving developer flexibility and reducing ecosystem constraints.
By Temitope Olatunji
Updated
3 mins read
Fluent Labs has secured $8 million in funding, led by Polychain Capital, to develop the first blended execution network in blockchain. The company aims to address a critical challenge faced by blockchain developers: the rigid and limited environments of existing virtual machines (VMs).
The platform wrote on X that current blockchain development requires choosing between environments like the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) or the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), each with its own constraints. EVM chains require developers to use Solidity, while SVM chains rely on Rust. Although Rust is efficient, it lacks Ethereum’s widespread adoption, forcing developers to make trade-offs.
Moreover, these environments don’t allow developers to easily bring in familiar programming languages and tools from traditional Web2 development. This limitation hampers innovation and slows down development, as developers can’t leverage existing software libraries and pre-built code.
Fluent Labs is changing this paradigm with its blended execution model. Developers can now work across multiple VMs in a unified environment. Fluent integrates EVM, SVM, and Wasm. This allows developers to use programming languages like Rust, Solidity, AssemblyScript, and C++. This flexibility allows them to choose the best tools for their work without worrying about compatibility issues. The team stated:
“The Fluent blockchain blends the EVM, SVM, and Wasm, enabling dozens of programming languages like Rust, AssemblyScript, C++, etc. while maintaining compatibility with Ethereum and Solana standards.”
The company’s co-founder and CEO, Dino, said the platform aims to make it easier for people to use apps on different blockchains without changing wallets. Fluent Labs plans to improve performance and reduce costs through support for multiple virtual machine systems. He told The Block:
“Imagine a decentralized exchange, written in Solidity like Uniswap, that can support Solana SPL tokens, allowing users to swap ERC-20 tokens for SPL tokens. Or a user being able to do a flash loan requiring atomic composability between ERC-20s and SPL tokens. These two use cases, along with many others, can exist with blended execution.”
Luke Pearson from Polychain Capital noted that current blockchain environments are constrained by their VMs. He added that Fluent is designed to be more flexible, allowing developers to use the best tools without worrying about compatibility.
The Fluent ecosystem is already growing, with around 60 projects across DeFi, infrastructure, consumer applications, and gaming. Upcoming applications include a fully on-chain quant trading system and a Web3-native Product Hunt, among others.
Fluent Labs’ vision is to simplify blockchain complexity, allowing users to experience applications seamlessly without needing to understand the underlying protocols.
The funding round saw participation from leading companies such as dao5, Symbolic Capital, Primitive, Builder Capital, Public Works, and Nomad Capital. Top investors like Balaji Srinivasan, Mustafa Al-Bassam, Jason Yanowitz, Santiago Santos, Dingaling, Cristian Manea, and Will Price also participated in the round.
Temitope is a writer with more than four years of experience writing across various niches. He has a special interest in the fintech and blockchain spaces and enjoy writing articles in those areas. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in linguistics. When not writing, he trades forex and plays video games.