Author | Wu talks about blockchain
According to RootData statistics, there were 90 public investment projects by Crypto VC in June, a 41% decrease from the previous month (153 projects in May 2024) and a 3% increase from the previous year (87 projects in June 2023). Note: Since not all financing is announced in the same month, the above statistics may increase in the future. The sub-sectors are classified as follows:
Among them, CeFi accounts for about 4%, DeFi accounts for about 20%, NFT/GameFi accounts for about 18%, L1/L2 accounts for about 11%, RWA/DePIN accounts for about 6%, Tool/Wallet accounts for about 8%, and AI accounts for about 9%.
The total financing amount in June was US$680 million, down 31% from the previous month (US$990 million in May 2024) and up 42% from the previous year (US$480 million in June 2023). The top 10 rounds in terms of amount are as follows:
Robinhood will acquire the global cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp for approximately $200 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2025, subject to customary closing conditions such as regulatory approval. Through this acquisition, Robinhood will significantly expand its global business and introduce institutional business for the first time, covering the EU, UK, US and Asian markets. Bitstamp currently has more than 50 active licenses and registrations worldwide.
Crypto mining company Cleanspark and GRIID Infrastructure Inc. announced a definitive merger agreement under which CleanSpark will acquire all issued and outstanding common shares of GRIID in an all-stock transaction. The total enterprise value of the transaction (including payment and assumption of debt) is $155 million. In conjunction with the signing of the merger agreement, the two companies also entered into an exclusive hosting agreement for all currently available electricity, of which 20 megawatts will be allocated to CleanSpark.
Crypto mining company Hut 8 announced that it has received a $150 million strategic investment from Coatue, and the two parties will work together to build an artificial intelligence infrastructure platform. Coatue agreed to invest $150 million in the company through convertible notes. The annual interest rate is 8.00% (compounded quarterly). The initial term of the note is five years, and the company can choose to extend it for up to three one-year terms.
Polygon's modular blockchain project Avail announced the completion of a $43 million Series A financing round, led by Dragonfly, Founders Fund and Cyber Fund, with participation from SevenX Ventures, Figment, Nomad Capital, Foresight Ventures and others. After this round of financing, Avail's total financing has reached $75 million. Avail is a modular blockchain project that separated from Polygon last year and is building a "Rollup-centric infrastructure."
Rollup deployment platform Conduit announced the completion of a US$37 million Series A financing round, led by Paradigm and Haun Ventures, with participation from Bankless Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Robot Ventures and others.
Stablecoin minting protocol M^0 has completed a $35 million Series A financing round led by Bain Capital, with participation from Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, and GSR. M^0 previously raised $22.5 million in seed funding led by Pantera Capital in early 2023.
Nexus Labs has completed a $25 million Series A financing round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital, with participation from Dragonfly Capital and others. Nexus Labs is committed to building zero-knowledge privacy tools that support technologies such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and cloud computing. It plans to use the new funds to expand the team and develop more products.
MegaETH, a new blockchain backed by Ethereum co-founder Vitalik, raised $20 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly, with participation from Figment Capital, Robot Ventures and Big Brain Holdings, and angel investors including Vitalik, Joseph Lubin, Sreeram Kannan, Kartik Talwar, etc. This round of financing brings MegaETH's fully diluted token valuation to at least $100 million. It is understood that MegaETH is the first real-time blockchain fully compatible with Ethereum, aiming to achieve 100,000 transactions per second (TPS). Its public testnet is expected to be launched in the fall, and the mainnet will be launched before the end of the year.
Blockchain project Ora announced the completion of a $20 million financing led by Polychain, with participation from HF0 and Hashkey Capital. The project aims to integrate AI into decentralized applications (dapps) through "on-chain AI oracle". The funds raised will be used to develop its technology and infrastructure, tokenize AI models and introduce them into the Ethereum ecosystem.
The Sandbox raised $20 million in convertible debt, with a valuation of $1 billion. The financing was led by Kingsway Capital and Animoca Brands, with participation from LG Tech Ventures and True Global Ventures. The funds will be used to promote The Sandbox's decentralized virtual world, enhance creators' revenue opportunities, and expand the metaverse version on mobile devices. It is reported that The Sandbox plans to launch a mobile version in 2025.