Compiled by: Mars Finance
According to Mars Finance statistics, from April 6 to April 12, there were 25 investment and financing events in the crypto market, including 7 in the infrastructure field, 3 in the asset management field, 3 in the DeFi field, 2 in the blockchain game and NFT field, and 9 in the Web3 field. The total amount of investment and financing disclosed is approximately US$430 million. (Note: BounceBit, Ritual, Tomo and NuLink did not disclose the amount of financing)
There were five financings worth tens of millions of dollars, including Layer 1 blockchain Monad Labs, Bitcoin L2 network Mezo developer Thesis, Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Auradine, Web3 smart market maker exchange Ubit, and DePIN company Uplink.
Compared with last week, the number of investment and financing transactions in the cryptocurrency market fell slightly this week. In the sub-sectors, the investment and financing amounts this week were concentrated in infrastructure and Web3.
Among VCs, the most active institution this week is Electric Capital, which mainly focuses on infrastructure and DeFi.
infrastructure
Layer 1 blockchain Monad Labs completes $225 million financing, led by Paradigm
Layer 1 blockchain Monad Labs announced that it has completed a $225 million financing round, led by Paradigm, with participation from Electric Capital and Greenoaks. The project intends to challenge competitors such as Solana and Sui.
Cross-chain protocol Mayan completes $3 million seed round of financing, led by Borderless Capital and 6th Man Ventures
The cross-chain protocol Mayan announced the completion of a $3 million seed round of financing, led by Borderless Capital and 6th Man Ventures, with participation from Solana Ventures, Hash3, Big Brain Holdings, and Arrington Capital.
Bitcoin L2 network Mezo developer Thesis completes $21 million Series A financing, led by Pantera Capital
Thesis, the developer of Bitcoin L2 network Mezo, has completed a $21 million Series A financing round, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Multicoin, Hack VC, Draper Associates, etc. It is reported that Mezo utilizes the idle Bitcoin of holders through the "HODL Proof" points plan. The longer the storage time, the greater the "HODL score multiplier" of the contributor. Mezo will be launched together with the tBTC ecosystem developed by Thesis, which allows for "minimum trust" bridges to various ecosystems.
Lumoz Completes $6 Million Pre-A Round of Financing with a Valuation of $120 Million, with Participation from OKX Ventures and Others
Blockchain scaling infrastructure provider Lumoz has completed a $6 million Pre-A round of financing at a valuation of $120 million, with participation from OKX Ventures, HashKey Capital, KuCoin Ventures, Comma3 Ventures, Kronos Ventures, Kernel Ventures and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal.
It is reported that Hong Kong-based Lumoz was founded in March 2022 and is a blockchain expansion infrastructure provider whose zkRollup as a Service (ZK-RaaS) platform can help developers launch their own application-specific zk-Rollups with "just one click".
QuantAMM Completes $1.85 Million Pre-Seed Round of Financing, with 8VC and Others Participating
QuantAMM, an on-chain asset management infrastructure provider, announced the completion of a $1.85 million Pre-Seed round of financing, with participation from 8VC, Mako, Marshland Capital and 369 Capital.
QuantAMM plans to launch its V1 on the Ethereum mainnet and Layer 2 network in the second quarter, and is expected to announce launch partners soon. From 2024 to 2025, QuantAMM will expand its product range to include cross-chain solutions and infrastructure suites tailored for institutional clients.
Decentralized GPU infrastructure GPU.net completes $5.25 million Series A financing, with Momentum 6 and others participating
Decentralized GPU infrastructure company GPU.net announced the completion of US$5.25 million in Series A financing, with participation from Momentum 6, Spicy Capital, Exnetwork Capital, BlackDragon, Crypto Banter, Fusion7 Venture Capital, Alex Becker, EllioTrader and others.
Earlier in August 2023, GPU.Net completed a $500,000 financing round, with investors including Momentum 6 and Alphablockz. GPU.Net aims to meet the computing power requirements of new technologies such as generative AI, Web3 metaverse, cryptocurrency mining, and high-end graphics rendering by providing decentralized GPU infrastructure.
Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Auradine completes $80 million Series B financing, with StepStone Group and others participating
Bitcoin mining machine manufacturer Auradine announced the completion of an $80 million Series B financing round, with participation from StepStone Group, Top Tier Capital Partners, MVP Ventures, Maverick Capital, Celesta Capital, Mayfield Fund and Marathon Digital. It is reported that this round of financing was in the form of a mixture of equity and debt, with a valuation of more than $500 million.
Asset Management
Web3 Institutional Lending and Yield Product Platform OpenTrade Raises $3.2 Million in Seed Round Financing
OpenTrade, a UK-based on-chain institutional lending and yield product platform, has received $3.2 million in seed funding, with a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX) participating in the round. Other investors include CMCC Global, Draper Dragon, Ryze Labs, and Plassa Capital. Jeff Handler, co-founder and chief business officer of OpenTrade, said: To date, OpenTrade's total financing is $4.45 million, and the company intends to use the new financing to develop all its key functional teams.
Singapore Web3 Smart Market Maker Exchange Ubit Completes US$20 Million Series A Funding
Singapore's Web3 smart market maker exchange Ubit has completed a US$20 million Series A financing round. The investor information has not been disclosed yet. It is reported that the new funds will be used to accelerate the development of the exchange ecosystem, promote its technology development, team expansion and global promotion, aiming to create a more attractive social trading experience.
Binance Labs invests in BounceBit
Binance announced that Binance Labs invested in BounceBit to support Bitcoin re-staking and CeDeFi innovation.
DeFi
Lambda Finance Completes $1.8 Million Angel Round of Financing, with Curve Founder and Others Participating
Lambda Finance announced the completion of a US$1.8 million angel round of financing. Investors in this round include Michael (founder of Curve), Hashcow Group, Public Works, Threshold Network, DLC Link, Aladdin DAO, A-team Defi, Curvecap, Yusuke (founder of Napier Finance), Ed (founder of Bitcoin Square) and Chris (core member of Conflux).
Storm Labs Completes $3 Million Funding, Led by Electric Capital
On-chain investment project Storm Labs has completed a $3 million financing round, led by Electric Capital, with participation from Accomplice, Robot Ventures, Daedalus and well-known angel investors in the industry. Storm Labs will use this round of financing to build Cove, an on-chain portfolio manager. Cove allows users to build and manage customized DeFi portfolios without manual operations, solving problems such as losses and rebalancing. Cove Boosties, launched in the first phase, is a Yearn-centric platform that increases annual interest rates and provides early access to Cove's governance tokens. Cove is optimized by Gauntlet and audited by Trail of Bits, Quantstamp, and yAudit.
Blockchain prediction layer Azuro completes $3.5 million financing, SevenX Ventures and others participate
Blockchain prediction layer Azuro announced the completion of $3.5 million in financing, with SevenX Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, Arrington Capital, Polymorphic Capital, Red Beard Ventures, Dewhales and G1 Ventures participating. Azuro supports most sports markets and other games, providing a decentralized platform to support the creation of diverse applications, integrations and products.
NFT/Chain Games
Blockchain game BORED SLOT completes US$10 million in financing, with participation from LD Capital and others
The blockchain game BORED SLOT based on BAYC NFT has completed a US$10 million financing round, with participation from PLUTUS VC and LD CAPITAL.
The new funds will be used to launch an entertainment platform where users can exchange token rewards for participation. BORED SLOT’s parent company is Spin City, and the SPC tokens launched by Spin City will be used first by BORED SLOT.
Web3 game studio Sortium completes over $4 million in financing, led by Signum Growth
Sortium, a Web3 game studio focused on generative AI, announced that it has completed over $4 million in financing, led by Signum Growth, with participation from Cathie Wood's ARK Investment Management LLC, IDG Blockchain, IVC Fund, Polygon and 1881 S Group AG. Sortium will use this round of financing to expand operations and development work.
Earlier in January 2023, it was reported that Web3 entertainment technology developer Sortium completed a seed round of financing of US$7.75 million, with cryptocurrency hedge fund Arca participating in the investment.
Web3
SocialFi project Young Protocol completes Pre-Seed round of financing with a valuation of US$8 million, led by Eureka Meta Capital
Young Protocol, a multi-chain one-click interaction SocialFi project, announced on April 1 that it had completed its Pre-Seed round of financing with a valuation of US$8 million. The specific amount of financing was not disclosed. Eureka Meta Capital led the investment. Young Protocol stated that its community will be launched within April.
DePIN company Uplink completes $10 million financing, led by Framework Ventures
DePIN company Uplink announced the completion of a $10 million financing led by Framework Ventures. It is reported that Uplink aims to reduce dependence on traditional centralized telecommunications providers and incentivize users and businesses to participate in and use the network by rewarding tokens.
Framework Ventures said: "Uplink will prioritize partnerships with large enterprises for initial distribution. In the early stages of DePIN, we believe the best initial adoption may come from enterprise groups that can actively help drive fleet deployment."
AI platform Ritual raises “millions” of dollars in additional funding, with Polychain Capital participating
Decentralized AI network project Ritual has received millions of dollars in additional investment from venture capital firm Polychain Capital, the specific amount of which has not yet been disclosed.
According to previous news, Ritual completed a US$25 million financing round in November 2023, led by Archetype, with participation from Accomplice and Robot Ventures.
HTX Ventures announces strategic investment in Tomo to support SocialFi innovation
HTX Ventures announced a strategic investment in Tomo, a comprehensive Web3 social application. This investment marks HTX Ventures' recognition of Tomo's strategic position in the Web3 field, its belief in SocialFi's transformative potential, and its commitment to broadening and enhancing the impact and ease of use of Web3 technology.
It is reported that as a one-stop social wallet platform, Tomo aims to completely change the way of digital social interaction and content monetization. Tomo recently completed a $3.5 million seed round of financing, led by Polychain Capital.
HTX Ventures is the global investment arm of Huobi HTX, integrating investment, incubation and research to identify the best and most promising teams in the world. Currently, HTX Ventures has supported more than 200 projects across multiple blockchain tracks, some of which have been listed on Huobi HTX trading.
Sapien Completes $5 Million Seed Round with Primitive Ventures and Others
Blockchain AI data labeling startup Sapien announced the completion of a $5 million seed round of financing, with participation from Primitive Ventures, Animoca, Ravikant Capital and Yield Guild Games. Sapien will use the funds to enhance its artificial intelligence to better guide and assist its data labeling, and will also be used to expand Sapien’s blockchain infrastructure to build its manual labeling team.
AI company Mindverse completes $5 million seed round of financing, led by Square Peg
Singaporean AI company Mindverse has completed a $5 million seed round of financing, led by Square Peg. Mindverse will use this round of financing to further research and product development to advance its large-scale personalized model. Mindverse was founded in 2022 by former Meta executives and artificial intelligence researchers. Its flagship products include MindOS Studio and Mebot, the former is an artificial intelligence-native website that helps create personalized chat experiences and interfaces, and the latter is a productivity tool that learns and remembers user ideas and preferences.
Web3 beauty startup Kiki World completes $7 million seed round, with participation from a16z Crypto and others
Web3 beauty startup Kiki World announced the completion of a $7 million seed round of financing, with participation from a16z Crypto, Estee Lauder's New Incubation Ventures, OrangeDao and 2Punks Capital. Kiki World only helps consumers co-create products with the help of Web3 technology, allowing community members to vote on the features they want before beauty products are produced.
NuLink Completes New Round of Financing, DWF Labs Participates in the Investment
Data privacy solution NuLink announced the completion of a new round of financing on the x platform. Web3 investment company DWF Labs participated in the investment and reached a strategic cooperation with it.
On-chain RWA project Zoth raises $2.5 million, led by Blockchain Founders Fund
The on-chain RWA portal project Zoth has completed US$2.5 million in financing, led by Blockchain Founders Fund, with participation from Borderless Capital, Mindativity Capital, YAP Capital, Momentum6, Singularity DAO, Aztlan Capital, Outlier Ventures, Decubate, Wormhole Ecosystem Fund, etc. Zoth is an ecosystem that connects liquidity between TradFi and OnchainFi, aiming to provide sustainable returns supported by RWA and build an RWA ecosystem driven by multi-chain stablecoins to bring native sustainable returns to DeFi. Its first product, Zoth-Fixed Income (Zoth-Fi), is a chain-agnostic institutional-grade platform that provides institutions and qualified investors with access to secure fixed-income assets through stablecoins. Zoth covers a variety of asset classes, including accounts receivable trade financing, treasuries, sovereign bonds and green finance, permissionless DeFi products, etc.
other
Blockchain recruitment company Veremark raises $3 million, led by Samaipata and Stage 2 Capital
Veremark, a London-based blockchain recruitment and background check service company, announced the completion of a $3 million (£2.4 million) financing round, led by Samaipata and Stage 2 Capital, with participation from ACF Investors and Vulpes Investment. Verepass recently launched a blockchain-based "career passport" service, Verepass, which allows job seekers to use it to manage their verified credentials.
It is reported that Veremark was founded in 2019 and conducts background checks on potential employees for companies to examine their qualifications and legal compliance. It can also be used to screen existing employees, business partners, limited partners and founders. (UK Tech) In 2022, Veremark completed $8.5 million (about 7.08 million pounds) in equity financing, led by Stage 2 Capital.