A blockchain start-up dubbed the "world computer" has raised $102 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz and crypto hedge fund Polychain Capital, among others.
The start-up, Dfinity, will use the money to hire employees and fund other initiatives, founder and chief scientist Dominic Williams told CNBC. Dfinity is trying to build a decentralized cloud computing network that could displace the current giants in cloud services.
While blockchain-related start-ups in Silicon Valley pop up every month, Dfinity is one that the venture capital community has been closely watching. Some experts say Dfinity will one day rival Amazon Web Services.
Competition is already fierce in the cloud computing sector as Amazon dukes it out with Salesforce and Microsoft. Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixon told CNBC that Dfinity, while it has the potential to disrupt the cloud space, is still in its early stages.
Dixon said scalability, or the ability to support a growing network, is the main issue blockchain faces, and he thinks Dfinity can solve this problem.
Other notable Dfinity investors include SV Angel, Village Global and Aspect Ventures.