peaq has raised $18.0M in total across 2 funding rounds.
peaq's investors include Cross Culture Ventures, First Round Capital, Franklin Templeton Investments, Generative Ventures, Troy Carter, 3one4 Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Digital Currency Group, Fifth Wall, Master Ventures Investment Management, monashees, Hans Tung.
peaq is a Berlin-based technology company building a layer-1 blockchain platform that powers the Machine Economy, enabling decentralized applications (DePINs) for IoT devices, robots, AI agents, and smart infrastructure.[1][5] It develops a scalable DAGchain (directed acyclic graph hybrid) combined with blockchain technology to handle billions of microtransactions with high speed (up to 60k TPS on testnet, targeting 100k+ in production), predictability, and low costs, solving traditional blockchain limitations for real-world machine coordination.[1][2][4] peaq serves developers, enterprises, and users in industries like automotive, energy, and robotics by providing the peaq blockchain as the compute layer, meOS (Machine Economy OS) for standards, and tools for tokenized machine ownership and peer-to-peer interactions, with over 60 apps, 5M+ onchain users/machines, and presence in 22 industries.[5][4]
Founded in 2017 (with some sources noting a 2020 relaunch), peaq has raised $3.9M from investors like MN Capital and CoinList, achieving early traction through enterprise pilots like decentralized EV charging with Audi.[1][2][3][4]
peaq emerged from an enterprise blockchain development studio in Berlin, where founders including Leonard Dorlöchter (co-founder) identified limitations in closed blockchain systems during pilots with companies like Audi for decentralized electric vehicle charging.[4] The idea crystallized around creating an open, scalable platform for the Internet of Things (IoT) and emerging Economy of Things (EoT), blending blockchain with DAG technology to enable hyperconnected, decentralized transactions.[1][2][3]
Key team members include Max Thake (Marketing), Sara Bruszt (UI/UX and CEO of related Swapr App), and Oxana Shurawski (HR), with a world-class engineering focus on industry challenges.[2] Pivotal moments include a €750K raise in 2020 for automotive blockchain, €2.5M in 2021 to expand into EoT, and early adoption of Substrate framework from Parity/Polkadot for modular scaling.[3][4] This evolution shifted peaq from enterprise tools to a public layer-1 blockchain launched to support the machine economy.[1][5]
peaq rides the DePIN and Machine Economy trend, where IoT devices (already outnumbering humans) evolve into autonomous economic actors via AI, robots, and tokenized assets—projected to handle trillions in value through decentralized energy, mobility, and infrastructure.[4][5] Timing aligns with Web3 scaling advances (e.g., Substrate) and regulatory pushes for open data standards, countering Big Tech centralization amid rising machine-to-machine interactions (50B+ devices soon).[4]
Market forces like EV adoption, renewable energy grids, and AI agent proliferation favor peaq's high-throughput, low-cost model, enabling entrepreneurship via passive income from shared assets.[4] It influences the ecosystem by standardizing machine coordination, fostering 60+ apps across industries, and promoting open Web3 alternatives to proprietary platforms.[5]
peaq is positioned to lead the machine economy as DePIN scales to production (100k+ TPS mainnet soon), with focus on seamless onboarding for enterprises and billions of devices.[4] Trends like AI-robot integration, tokenized real-world assets, and user-owned infrastructure will accelerate growth, potentially expanding to 100+ apps and multi-industry dominance.[5]
Influence may evolve toward ecosystem orchestration, powering peer-to-peer economies that replace centralized models—unlocking passive income streams amid job automation, if scalability and adoption hold.[4] This builds on peaq's foundation as the scalable blockchain for a hyperconnected world.[1][5]
peaq has raised $18.0M across 2 funding rounds. Most recently, it raised $15.0M Series A in March 2024.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 1, 2024 | $15.0M Series A | Cross Culture Ventures, First Round Capital, Franklin Templeton Investments, Generative Ventures, Troy Carter | |
| Jan 1, 2022 | $3.0M Seed | 3one4 Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Digital Currency Group, Fifth Wall, Master Ventures Investment Management, monashees, Hans Tung, Chris Larsen |
