Farcaster
Farcaster is a decentralized social network protocol built on Optimism, an Ethereum layer-2, where users own their accounts, data and social graphs. It was created in 2020 by former Coinbase executives Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan and developed by Merkle Manufactory, which raised $180 million from a16z crypto and Paradigm. In January 2026 Merkle sold the protocol, its contracts, repositories, app and the Clanker launchpad to infrastructure provider Neynar and began returning the $180 million to investors; the founders left for stablecoin startup Tempo. Neynar has since sought a new operator.
Acquired
Farcaster has been acquired
This company is no longer available on our private secondary market.
Overview
Company data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.
Founded
2020
Total Funding
$180M
2 rounds
Latest Valuation
$1B
May 21, 2024
Secondary Signals (Note: SetterVC does not verify the accuracy of these)
2 signalsNeynar seeks new operator for Farcaster and Clanker as protocol revenue collapsed from ~$27.88M (Q1) to ~$245,690 (Q3 2026).
Second ownership/operator transition within a year signals ongoing instability and further control change risk.
Neynar acquired Farcaster from Merkle Manufactory; founders Romero and Srinivasan stepped back, $180M raised to be returned to investors.
Equity upside removed; capital returned rather than retained as going concern.
Funding
Funding data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.
Total raised $180M across 2 rounds
Last updated 09-06-2026
Leadership
Dan Romero
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Merkle Manufactory (stepped back January 2026)
Varun Srinivasan
Co-founder, Merkle Manufactory (stepped back January 2026)
Competitors
Competitor list is illustrative and may be incomplete, stale, or erroneous.
Lens Protocol
Decentralized social media protocol built on Polygon enabling user-owned social graphs.
Bluesky
Decentralized social network built on the AT Protocol offering user ownership and portability.
Nostr
Open protocol for decentralized social networking and publishing.
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