Compiled by: Luan Peng, RootData
According to incomplete statistics from RootData, from November 11 to November 17, 2024, there were 18 public investment and financing events in the blockchain and encryption industry, with a total financing of approximately US$134 million.
From the perspective of track distribution, the projects that received financing are mainly distributed in the infrastructure and DeFi tracks. Popular projects include decentralized AI-as-a-service cloud project Heurist, DeFi platform Folks Finance, blockchain game developer Thetan World, and digital asset trading platform Wyden.
In addition, Web3 AI company Eidon completed a $3.5 million seed round of financing, led by Framework Ventures and participated by Cayman Islands venture capital firm cyber.Fund.
(List of projects that raised more than $5 million last week, data source: Rootdata)
1. Infrastructure
Decentralized AI-as-a-Service Cloud Project Heurist Completes $2 Million Pre-Seed Round of Financing, with Amber Group and Others Participating
The decentralized AI-as-a-service cloud project Heurist has completed a $2 million Pre-Seed round of financing, with participation from Amber Group, Contango Digital Assets, Manifold, Selini Capital, Sharding Capital, X Ventures, Zephyrus Capital, Mozaik Capital, Steroids Capital and other institutions as well as multiple angel investors.
According to RootData, Heurist is a Layer2 network for AI model hosting and reasoning based on ZK Stack. It provides serverless access to open source AI models hosted by a decentralized network of computing resources. Its vision is to use blockchain to democratize AI, ensuring accessibility and fair innovation.
Crypto AI startup 0G Labs completes $40 million seed round and receives $250 million token purchase commitment
Zero Gravity Labs (0G Labs or 0GL), a crypto AI startup developing infrastructure for decentralized AI systems, announced $290 million in new funding. This includes $40 million in seed funding raised by the lab and $250 million in token purchase commitments received by the 0G Foundation, the independent governing body of the 0G protocol.
This round of financing was participated by Hack VC, Delphi Digital, OKX Ventures, Samsung Next, Bankless Ventures, Animoca Brands and its co-founder Yat Siu, Polygon and its co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Stanford Blockchain Fund, Abstract VC, Alchemy, Blockdaemon, Foresight Ventures and others.
0G Labs now describes itself as a crypto AI startup, rather than a modular blockchain or data availability (DA) layer. “The previous narrative did not capture our entire mission to make AI a public good,” said Heinrich, co-founder of 0G Labs. “DA is just one piece of the puzzle, as are verifiable inference, training, etc.”
0G Labs is building what it calls a decentralized AI operating system (dAIOS), which is designed to enable the development of on-chain AI applications.
Brazilian blockchain startup Multiledgers completes $1 million in financing, led by Oxygea Ventures and Indicator Capital
Brazilian blockchain startup Multiledgers announced the completion of a new round of financing of US$1 million, led by Oxygea Ventures and Indicator Capital (invested US$475,000 each), and Koyamaki Ventures participated (invested approximately US$50,000). The company plans to use the new funds to help companies create, manage and integrate networks to manage and authenticate information and assets. Its main use case is to manage environmental certificates on the chain to ensure compliance.
Web3 AI company Eidon completes $3.5 million seed round of financing, led by Framework Ventures
Web3 AI company Eidon has raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Framework Ventures and participated by Cayman Islands venture capital firm cyber.Fund. The company intends to use the seed funding to grow its team.
Eidon encourages users to provide data for training AI models. Users can submit new data, such as fine hand movements or object interactions, and others can audit the authenticity of the data through the upcoming blockchain. The first network version of Eidon went live on November 12. The network includes platform applications for data evaluation and collection, as well as open sequencers for record keeping.
ZK full-chain data proof platform Brevis Network completes $7.5 million seed round of financing, led by Binance Labs and Polychain Capital
ZK full-chain data proof platform Brevis Network announced the completion of a $7.5 million seed round of financing, led by Polychain Capital and Binance Labs, with participation from IOSG Ventures, Nomad Capital, Bankless Ventures, HashKey Capital and others.
According to reports, Brevis is a ZK coprocessor or computing network designed to improve the scalability of blockchain through ZK proofs. By enabling complex tasks such as data processing to be performed off-chain and only sending verified proofs back to the blockchain, Brevis seeks to reduce the workload of the blockchain, increase speed and reduce costs.
Filecoin L2 project Akave completes $3.45 million in financing, with Protocol Labs and others participating
Decentralized data storage project Akave has completed a $3.45 million financing round, with participation from Protocol Labs, Blockchange VC, Lightshift, and Blockchain Builders Fund. This round of financing will be used to accelerate Akave’s development in on-chain data management.
Akave has launched the Yucca testnet, open to early testers, for exploring on-chain data storage and programmability. As Filecoin's hot storage Layer 2 solution, Akave provides tools for enterprises, AI companies, and DePIN developers to go beyond traditional cloud storage, build on-chain data lakes, and promote the development of data ownership and new data monetization models.
In addition, the Filecoin L2 project Storacha also announced the launch of its Alpha version network for the Filecoin ecosystem, focusing on high-performance hot storage, mainly for high-demand application scenarios such as games, AI, and DePIN. Founded by core developers of IPFS and Filecoin, Storacha is committed to providing a distributed storage experience comparable to traditional S3.
TON network expansion project TAC completes $6.5 million seed round of financing, led by Hack VC and Symbolic Capital
According to The Block, TON network expansion project TAC has completed a $6.5 million seed round of financing, led by Hack VC and Symbolic Capital, with participation from Primitive, Paper Ventures, Karatage, Animoca Ventures, Spartan Capital, TON Ventures and Ankr. The valuation and structure of this round of financing were not disclosed.
TAC’s testnet phase is expected to launch this week, with the mainnet launch planned for the first quarter of 2025.
According to RootData, TAC is a TON network extension that allows the EVM community to access Telegram’s 950 million users.
Second, Defi
DeFi platform Folks Finance completes $3.2 million Series A financing at a valuation of $75 million
DeFi platform Folks Finance raised $3.2 million in Series A funding, with a valuation of $75 million. This round of financing was led by Borderless Capital, with participation from Algorand Ventures, Mapleblock Capital, Sovo Ventures, etc. Folks Finance's total financing amount reached $6.2 million.
Benedetto Biondi, co-founder and CEO of Folks Finance, said the first $2 million of the round was raised in February, with the remaining $1.2 million raised more recently. He declined to comment on the structure of the round, but said the $75 million reflects both the equity valuation and the fully diluted token valuation (FDV), suggesting that Folks Finance may issue tokens in the future.
According to RootData, Folks Finance is a DeFi platform that provides innovative tools for lending, trading and managing digital assets. Users can deposit assets to accumulate returns, obtain loans by providing collateral, exchange assets through Folks Router, and participate in Algorand governance through gALGO and xALGO assets.
StakeStone, a full-chain liquidity asset agreement, has completed a $22 million financing round, led by Polychain Capital, with strategic investments from Binance Labs and OKX Ventures
According to Bitcoin.com, the full-chain liquidity asset agreement StakeStone announced the completion of a $22 million financing led by Polychain Capital. This financing also includes strategic investments from Binance Labs and OKX Ventures. The seed round was led by SevenX, and Nomad Capital, HashKey Capital, HashKey Cloud, Amber Group, Coinsummer, Bankless Ventures, DAO5, Symbolic Capital, Arcane Group, Quantstamp and others participated. This financing will drive StakeStone to achieve accelerated growth, while expanding its product services and strengthening its influence in key markets.
StakeStone is committed to building the first liquid ETH/BTC asset standard based on a highly scalable staking network that supports a risk-free consensus layer for a variety of native assets. Driven by this round of financing, StakeStone also launched its liquid BTC products, including liquid index BTC - SBTC and interest-bearing liquid BTC - STONEBTC, to enhance the application of native BTC in the EVM ecosystem and other blockchain networks. StakeStone is committed to driving real applications by providing high-utilization liquidity, empowering ecological partners and DeFi protocols such as Berachain, Movement Labs, Monad, Plume Network, Corn, Pendle, AAVE DAO, etc.
StakeStone will also launch a payment product, providing flexible savings account functions based on its interest-bearing liquid ETH asset STONE, and a "buy now, pay later" (BNPL) option to bring users greater transaction flexibility. At the same time, relying on MegaETH's real-time processing capabilities, the product aims to establish a sustainable model that promotes real-world applications and supports large-scale adoption.
"We are very happy to work with the world's top crypto funds to build a new generation of full-chain liquidity infrastructure." Charles K, co-founder of StakeStone, said. "Their expertise and support are crucial to our continued innovation and global adoption of our products. At the same time, through this financing, we will be committed to bringing decentralized finance into the real world. Together with the next generation of high-performance blockchain networks, through RWAFi and PayFi, the number of users served will be greatly increased from 100,000 to tens of millions or even hundreds of millions. Promote the crypto industry to officially enter the era of super applications."
Blockchain embedded asset financing platform Tranched completes $3.4 million financing, led by Speedinvest
Tranched, a London-based blockchain embedded asset financing platform, announced that it has completed a $3.4 million financing round led by Speedinvest, with participation from Andressen Horowitz's Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX) program, Blockwall, Kima and OVNI Capital. Specific valuation information has not been disclosed.
According to RootData, Tranched is an on-chain lending platform that helps the real economy obtain financing in a transparent manner without the need for intermediaries. Tranched can tokenize loans and automate all management and reporting through smart contracts. With a complete security chain, investors can witness the legal, auditing, and cash flow truth become an immutable value chain.
3. Games
Blockchain game developer Thetan World receives strategic investment from Avalanche Blizzard Fund
Blockchain game developer Thetan World announced that it has received a strategic investment from Avalanche Blizzard Fund. The specific investment amount and valuation information have not been disclosed yet. The new funds are intended to support Thetan World in building a high-quality original game ecosystem based on P2E.
It is reported that Avalanche will also provide support for its economic and infrastructure base.
Social competition platform MiniTon announced the completion of its seed round of financing, with Waterdrip Capital and other institutions participating in the investment
Social competition platform MiniTon announced the completion of its seed round of financing. This round of financing was participated by Waterdrip Capital, Alchemy Pay, CGV, Web3Port Foundation, PangDAO Head Ricky, OGBC Innovation Hub Founder Jayden Wei and other parties.
It is reported that MiniTon is a project initiated with the funding of TON Foundation. MiniTon will use this financing to complete the development of the product Alpha version and the testing of core values.
According to Web3 asset data platform RootData, MiniTon is a social competition platform supported by TON that allows users to play fun games and win real prizes.
Crypto gambling platform BetHog completes $6 million seed round of financing, led by 6MV
Crypto gambling platform BetHog has completed a $6 million seed round of financing, led by 6MV, with participation from Will Ventures, Bullpen Capital, Karatage, Advancit Capital and several angel investors Eilers & Krejcik, LLC Honorary Partner Chris Grove and Flutter Entertainment co-founder Josh Hannah.
The company was founded by tech entrepreneurs Nigel Eccles and Rob Jones, who co-founded FanDuel in 2009. FanDuel is a leader in sports betting in the United States, with a 42% market share in 2022.
BetHog is built on Solana, with SOL being the supporting token for its PvP games. BetHog will also accept Bitcoin, ETH, and USDT in other games. After the initial round of funding, BetHog will prioritize investment in product development while expanding its business through strategic partnerships. The company currently has 10 employees.
4. AI
Web3 AI content recommendation system ❜mbd completed a $3 million pre-seed round of financing, led by Mask Network and Polymorphic Capital
Web3 AI content recommendation system ❜mbd completed a $3 million Pre-seed round of financing, led by Mask Network and Polymorphic Capital, with participation from a16z CSX, Forward Research, Social Graph Ventures, and WAGMI Ventures.
❜MBD has built a machine learning recommendation system that pre-trains on-chain data, aiming to provide dynamic, relevant content and actions for each user. ❜MBD's flagship product is a set of machine learning APIs for Web3 developers that aims to provide users with relevant and timely social content, minting, and transactions by integrating on-chain and off-chain data.
V. Others
Digital asset trading platform Wyden completes $16.4 million Series B financing, led by Truffle Capital
Digital asset trading platform Wyden has announced the completion of a $16.4 million (CHF 14.5 million) Series B funding round led by French fintech investment firm Truffle Capital, with participation from new investors such as Postfinance, SBI-Sygnum-Azimut Digital Asset Opportunities Fund, and Fivet Fintech. Existing investor C3 Venture Capital also participated in the round.
According to RootData, a Web3 asset data platform, Wyden ensures optimal execution through market-wide connectivity and end-to-end digital asset orchestration. Seamless integration with major custody, core banking, and portfolio management system providers makes Wyden a leading institutional trading platform covering the entire trading lifecycle of cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
Web3 health technology startup Pulse completes $1.8 million seed round of financing, led by Lemniscap and others
According to Decrypt, Web3 health technology startup Pulse announced the completion of a $1.8 million seed round of financing. This round of financing was jointly led by Collab+Currency and Lemniscap, with participation from Delphi Digital and Lattice Fund. It also attracted some well-known angel investors, including Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Santiago R Santos.
The new funding will advance Pulse’s mission to create digital twins – secure virtual profiles that bring the platform closer to personalized, preventative healthcare. Pulse’s platform solves the healthcare trilemma of balancing privacy, personalization, and prevention, while giving users full control over their data.
Pulse’s digital twin technology brings together wearables, electronic health records, and diagnostic data into a comprehensive, unified health profile. Pulse wearables integrated with the platform track essential health metrics such as heart rate variability, sleep patterns, and blood oxygen levels across more than 50 activities.
Bitwise acquires Ethereum staking service provider Attestant
According to Bloomberg, Bitwise Asset Management Inc. has acquired Ethereum staking service provider Attestant, aiming to expand beyond its core business. The specific terms of the transaction have not yet been disclosed. After the transaction is completed, Bitwise's asset management scale will reach US$10 billion. In addition, 11 employees of Attestant will join Bitwise.
Crypto AML firm Notabene completes $14.5 million Series B funding round led by DRW Venture Capital
Crypto anti-money laundering company Notabene has completed a $14.5 million Series B financing round, led by DRW Venture Capital, with participation from Apollo, Nextblock, ParaFi Capital, Wintermute, CMT Digital, F-Prime, Green Visor Capital, Illuminate Financial, Jump Capital, Signature Ventures and Y Combinator.
Notabene is a startup that helps cryptocurrency trading companies comply with anti-money laundering (AML) rules. Notabene aims to be the SWIFT for crypto trading and its network effect is growing, with 165 companies already using the platform, including some virtual asset service providers (VASPs) such as Copper, OKX and Ramp.
