Highlights of this issue
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 21 investment and financing events in the global blockchain last week (June 24-30), with a total funding amount of over US$284 million. The overview is as follows:
DeFi announced two investment and financing events, among which Berachain liquidity staking protocol Infrared Finance received strategic investment from Binance Labs;
The Web3 gaming track announced three investment and financing events, among which the Web3 entertainment game platform Redacted completed a $10 million financing, led by Spartan Group;
One investment and financing event was announced in the DePIN field. Shaga, a DePIN project on Solana, announced the completion of a $1 million angel round of financing, led by Arca.
The AI sector announced two investment and financing events, among which AI-driven blockchain project Ora completed a $20 million financing, with Polychain participating in the investment;
The Infrastructure and Tools track announced 10 financings, including crypto infrastructure Conduit, which announced the completion of a $37 million Series A financing round led by Paradigm and Haun Ventures;
In other blockchain/crypto applications, two financings were announced, among which crypto miner Hut 8 received a $150 million investment from Coatue Management;
The centralized finance sector announced 1 financing, Crossover Markets completed a $12 million Series A financing, led by Illuminate Financial and DRW Venture Capital
DeFi
Blast Ecosystem Trading Marketplace Fenix Completes $300,000 Seed Round Financing, Led by Orbs
Blast ecosystem trading market Fenix has completed a $300,000 seed round of financing, led by Orbs. Fenix said it will soon deploy the Fenix Liquidity Hub powered by Orbs L3, allowing Blast users to optimize token swap prices by combining on-chain and off-chain liquidity.
Berachain’s Liquidity Staking Protocol Infrared Finance Receives Strategic Investment from Binance Labs
Berachain liquidity staking protocol Infrared Finance has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Binance Labs. Raito Bear, Infrared’s pseudonymous co-founder and CEO, revealed that Binance Labs invested in Infrared as the sole investor in a strategic funding round structured as a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT) earlier this month. Bear declined to comment on the total amount raised to date and the valuation.
Web3 Games
Web3 entertainment and gaming platform Redacted completes $10 million in financing, led by Spartan Group
Web3 entertainment and gaming platform Redacted has completed a $10 million financing round, with Spartan Group co-leading the investment, and other participants including Saison Capital, Animoca Brands and Polygon Ventures. Several Web3 founders, venture capital firms and angel investors also participated in this round of investment. According to reports, Redacted is using blockchain and artificial intelligence to build a product ecosystem to form an entertainment data circle where Web3 users can play games, trade, watch and get rewards. With the support of RDAC tokens, Redacted is supporting its entertainment and gamification products through data protocols, which will provide users with a better and more targeted experience and bring business opportunities to Web3 companies and Dapps.
P2E golf game GolfN completes $1.3 million seed round of financing
GolfN launched a "Play and Earn (P2E)" golf game after completing a $1.3 million seed round of financing. This round of financing was participated by CitizenX, Fourth Revolution Capital (@DeFi_Dad), Nom (@TheOnlyNom) and Joe McCann (Asymmetric Financial), etc., aiming to promote the development and market expansion of GolfN. The game combines blockchain technology, allowing players to enjoy the golf game while earning cryptocurrency rewards through in-game activities.
Cross-chain e-sports metaverse game Elfin Metaverse completes strategic round of financing, Manta Foundation participates in the investment
The cross-chain e-sports metaverse game Elfin Metaverse has completed a strategic round of financing, with Manta Foundation participating in the investment. The specific amount of financing has not been disclosed yet. Elfin Metavers is also the successful applicant for Manta's $50 million ecological fund.
DePIN
Solana Ecosystem DePIN Project Shaga Completes $1 Million Angel Round of Financing, Led by Arca
Shaga, a DePIN project on Solana, announced the completion of a $1 million angel round of financing, led by Arca, with other participating investors including Skybridge, Aurory, Quotient Ventures, and Marin Ventures. Well-known investors such as Helium founder Amir Haleem, Solana co-founders Stephen Akridge and Anatoly Yakovenko also participated in the investment. Shaga is committed to creating a low-latency cloud gaming world, and with the support of these senior investors, it will promote the realization of its vision.
AI
AI-driven blockchain project Ora completes $20 million in financing, with Polychain and others participating
AI-driven blockchain project Ora has completed a $20 million financing round, with participation from Polychain, SevenX Ventures, HF0 and Hashkey Capital. It is reported that the blockchain project was founded in 2022 and aims to integrate AI into decentralized applications through its "on-chain AI oracle". The new funds will enable the project to continue to develop its technology and infrastructure to tokenize AI models and introduce decentralized AI into the Ethereum ecosystem.
Decentralized AI network Allora Labs completes $3 million strategic financing
Allora Labs, a decentralized artificial intelligence network, has completed a $3 million strategic financing round, with participation from Archetype, Delphi Ventures, CMS Holdings, ID Theory, and DCF God. This round of financing brings Allora's total financing to $35 million. Allora Network is a decentralized artificial intelligence network and an L1 blockchain built on the Cosmos stack. Formerly known as Upshot, it was renamed Allora in February this year and shifted from an NFT evaluation platform to a decentralized artificial intelligence network.
Infrastructure & Tools
Crypto Infrastructure Conduit Completes $37 Million Series A Funding, Led by Paradigm and Haun Ventures
Conduit, an encryption infrastructure, announced the completion of a $37 million Series A financing, led by Paradigm and Haun Ventures. Institutions such as Bankless Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Credibly Neutral and Robot Ventures, as well as dozens of angel investors such as Hayden Adams and Tim Beiko participated in the investment. The Series A financing will help it continue to expand Ethereum, making it as easy as possible to deploy, expand and build customizable and reliable Rollups for users. According to reports, Conduit Rollup has a TVL of more than $1.2 billion, and has processed 20% of transactions on Ethereum, and expanded gas usage to more than 15 times the capacity of Ethereum L1. Conduit works with some of the most innovative encryption teams, including Aevo, Zora, Mode, friend.tech, etc. This year, Conduit has promoted the development of the Rollup architecture, working with partners such as Degen and Proof of Play to build an affordable, high-throughput L3.
MegaETH developer MegaLabs completes $20 million seed round of financing, Dragonfly leads the investment, Vitalik and others participate
MegaLabs, the developer of the new blockchain MegaETH, announced the completion of a $20 million seed round of financing, led by Dragonfly, with participation from Figment Capital, Robot Ventures, Big Brain Holdings and other companies. Angel investors in this round of financing include Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, ConsenSys founder and CEO Joseph Lubin, EigenLayer founder and CEO Sreeram Kannan, ETHGlobal co-founder Kartik Talwar, Helius Labs co-founder and CEO Mert Mumtaz, Santiago Santos, Hasu and Jordan Fish (also known as Cobie).
Decentralized oracle network developer AnchorZero completes $8 million seed round
AnchorZero, a decentralized oracle network developer, announced the completion of an $8 million seed round of financing, led by Bain Capital Crypto and Spark Capital, with participation from Ethereal Ventures, Mischief Fund, Pascal Capital, Robot Ventures, and Sarah Meyohas. AnchorZero is a blockchain technology company that specializes in developing decentralized cross-chain oracle networks, providing secure and reliable price feed data services for smart contracts, allowing access to external data of smart contracts on multiple platforms. In addition, they also provide Web3 tax planning solutions.
Covalent Network Completes $5 Million Strategic Financing
Covalent announced the successful completion of a $5 million strategic financing to drive market growth in the second half of 2024. This round of financing was led by RockTree Capital, with participation from well-known Asian investors CMCC Global, Moonrock Capital and Double Peak Group. Covalent Network is committed to becoming the leading modular data infrastructure layer, solving two key challenges of blockchain: ensuring long-term data availability and providing verifiable structured data for AI use through the Ethereum Wayback Machine. This repository of structured data enhances decentralized AI training and reasoning, reducing bias in AI models. Since blockchain transaction data is often subject to deletion, Covalent's EWM provides a critical long-term data solution.
Chain abstract intent engine ENSO completes $4.2 million financing
Chain abstract intent engine ENSO announced the completion of $4.2 million in financing, with investors including Ideo Ventures and Hypersphere and more than 60 angel investors. The new funds will support their launch of the Cosmos-based L1 blockchain this year and continued product development. It is reported that in May this year, ENSO announced the launch of the Enso Intent Engine, a decentralized shared network state used to build tradable data in all blockchain frameworks, bringing the intent-centric future into reality.
Decentralized proof-of-stake network NovaNet completes $3 million seed round
The decentralized proof network NovaNet announced the completion of a $3 million seed round of financing, led by Finality Capital, with participation from Arrington Capital, Avalanche Foundation, Builder Capital, Caballeros Capital, WhaleEpic Ventures, etc., and is committed to building the world's first zero-knowledge proof incentive layer suitable for various scenarios. According to reports, NovaNet is a peer-to-peer network that incentivizes zero-knowledge proofs everywhere. NovaNet runs on zkVM based on the NIVC paradigm and supports on-demand routing to optimize memory and performance. NovaNet is not L1 or traditional L2 because its main goal is not to expand Ethereum, and the smart contracts used for orchestration reside on Ethereum as flexible smart contracts. But without validator lock-in, NovaNet validators can run multiple chains on Ethereum, Avalanche, Solana, Internet Computer Protocol, and even traditional web2 servers.
Bitcoin startup Rebar completes $2.9 million seed round to build MEV products
Bitcoin analysis startup Rebar has completed a $2.9 million seed round of financing, led by 6th Man Ventures, with participation from ParaFi Capital, Arca, Moonrock Capital and UTXO Management. The new funds will be used to build the first Bitcoin-based MEV product. It is reported that the startup is building an alternative to public memory pools that allow miners to better organize transactions. In addition to private memory pools that have been deployed on chains such as Ethereum, which protect information from preemptive MEV robot attacks by avoiding broadcasting information to the entire network, Rebar also plans to build data products and dashboards.
Modular blockchain XProtocol completes $800,000 in strategic financing, bringing total financing to $5.2 million
XProtocol, a modular blockchain focused on entertainment, announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing of $800,000, bringing its total financing to $5.2 million. Previously, Saison Capital, Dragonfly, and zVentures participated in the seed round of financing. This round of strategic financing introduced founders and funds such as Cogitent Ventures and Zephyrus Capital that are deeply involved in the Web3 entertainment ecosystem. According to reports, XProtocol Superchain focuses on entertainment, games, and AI applications, providing scalable infrastructure and developer-friendly platforms for cooperative projects. It is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), can directly migrate Ethereum projects and provide powerful tools for developers. XProtocol nodes will contribute to the decentralization of the XProtocol network. Node operators are expected to receive rewards for participating in the network consensus process.
Cryptocurrency trading solution TDMM completes seed round financing, Blockchain Founders Fund participates
Crypto trading solution TradeDog Market Management (TDMM) announced the completion of its seed round of financing, with participation from Blockchain Founders Fund (BFF) and well-known Wall Street investor Anthony Scaramucci. The specific amount has not been disclosed. TDMM mainly provides crypto income and investment exit services to institutional clients, involving liquidity, funds and inventory management in the fields of Defi, GameFi and infrastructure.
Pudgy Penguins’ parent company acquires on-chain creator platform Frame and will develop a new Layer 2 network
Igloo Inc., the parent company of the NFT project Pudgy Penguins, has acquired the on-chain creator economy platform Frame. The terms of the transaction have not been disclosed, and the Frame team will now join Igloo. The acquisition aims to develop a Layer 2 network Abstract Chain designed for on-chain culture and community, empower builders, and introduce innovative economic mechanisms on the chain.
other
Crypto mining companies:
Crypto miner Hut 8 receives $150 million investment from Coatue Management to build AI-related infrastructure
Hut 8, a North American Bitcoin mining company, announced that it has reached a definitive agreement with a fund managed by Coatue Management, LLC (“Coatue”), pursuant to which Coatue agreed to invest $150 million in the company through convertible notes (“Notes”), and the two parties will work together to build the next-generation AI infrastructure platform.
Energy low carbon:
Blockchain-based carbon removal startup Net Zero raises $5.5 million in seed funding
Carbon removal startup Net Zero has completed a $5.5 million seed round of financing, with investors including Oilinvest, VARO Energy and SilviCarbon. The funds will be used to support its global expansion and launch a new product suite, including the real-world asset-backed token "Carbon Removal Token". According to reports, the company provides carbon removal solutions and is committed to promoting the transition to a sustainable, carbon-neutral future. The company is committed to combining nature and technology to achieve sustainable development. It focuses on blockchain to enable secure and transparent carbon credit trading and focuses on global nature-based carbon removal. Carbon Removal Token is a verifiable tool. CRT is developed on the Ethereum blockchain to provide verifiable proof of environmental impact, enhance credibility and responsibility. Through CRT, users can purchase carbon removal and climate action to achieve accessibility.
Centralized Finance
Crypto trading platform Crossover Markets completes $12 million Series A financing, led by Illuminate Financial and DRW Venture Capital
Ultra-low latency cryptocurrency trading platform Crossover Markets has completed a $12 million Series A funding round led by Illuminate Financial and DRW Venture Capital. Existing investors include Flow Traders, Laser Digital, Two Sigma, Wintermute, and retail brokers such as Exness, Gate.io, GMO, Pepperstone, Trademax and Think Markets. Crossover Markets focuses on providing independent market data and liquidity pools, which is different from the traditional central limit order book model. The company's CEO Brandon Mulvihill said that this model is beneficial to both liquidity providers and demanders. Illuminate Financial founder Mark Beeston will join the board of directors. Crossover Markets processed more than $3.15 billion in transactions in the first quarter of this year.
Institutional Funds
Solana-focused startup accelerator Colosseum raises $60 million to invest in early-stage projects
Colosseum, a startup accelerator focused on Solana, announced that it has raised $60 million for its fund to invest in early-stage projects. The fund, which has been oversubscribed, will focus on pre-seed investments in startups selected by the winners of the Solana Hackathons. The accelerator sees hackathons as a "melting pot" for crypto innovation and company formation. It held its first Solana hackathon earlier this year, which attracted more than 8,000 participants, according to the statement. To date, Colosseum has funded 11 companies and deployed $250,000.
Bitget and Foresight Ventures launch $20 million TON ecosystem fund
Bitget announced a $20 million TON Ecosystem Fund in partnership with Foresight Ventures, which aims to support early projects based on the open network (TON) and promote innovation and development of the TON ecosystem. The establishment of the TON Ecosystem Fund by Bitget is another move following the launch of the Telegram Signal Bot in May. As an on-chain extension of the Bitget ecosystem, the Bitget Wallet has completed the integration of the TON mainnet and added support for TON Connect, allowing users to connect to TON-related DApps. In addition, Bitget Wallet has also launched a Tap2Earn zone, which brings together various Tap2Earn projects within the TON ecosystem.
