Highlights of this issue
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 21 investment and financing events in the global blockchain last week (2.24-3.2), with a total funding amount of over US$202 million, which increased compared with the previous week. The overview is as follows:
- DeFi announced four investment and financing events, among which RWA blockchain development company Mavryk Dynamics completed a $5.2 million financing, with Ghaf Capital and others participating in the investment;
- The Web3 game track announced one investment and financing event. The social game company ACID Labs announced that it had received $8 million in financing led by a16z speedrun and NFX.
- One investment and financing event was announced in the NFT field. MeebCo, the company behind the NFT project Meebits, completed a $3 million financing, with 1confirmation participating in the investment.
- DePIN track announced one investment and financing event. GEODNET completed a strategic financing of US$8 million, led by Multicoin Capital.
- The Infrastructure & Tools sector announced 5 investment and financing events, among which the crypto technology startup Orochi Network completed a $12 million financing, with Presto Labs and others participating in the investment;
- Five investment and financing events were announced in the Others category, among which the crypto gift card platform Raise completed a $63 million financing led by Haun Ventures;
- Centralized finance announced two investment and financing events. Bitwise completed a $70 million financing, with Electric Capital and others participating in the investment.
DeFi
RWA blockchain development company Mavryk Dynamics announced the completion of a $5.2 million financing led by Ghaf Capital, Big Brain, MetaVest Capital, Cluster Capital, Collective Ventures and Atlas Fund. It is reported that Mavryk Dynamics aims to simplify RWA tokenization and DeFi integration, making digital asset ownership more accessible.
The re-pledge agreement Byzantine Finance has completed a $3 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by Node Capital and Blockwall Ventures, with participation from Lightshift, Masterkey and Kiln Ventures, as well as angel investors from EigenLayer, LayerZero and Ledger. The funds will be used to develop its Byzantine permissionless "aggregation layer", a protocol designed to enable multiple blockchains to share liquidity, status and users without sacrificing sovereignty.
Fixed-rate lending agreement Tenor Labs completes $2.5 million seed round
Fixed-rate lending protocol Tenor Labs announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round of financing, led by cherry.xyz, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Lattice. It is understood that Tenor is a non-custodial, self-executing fixed-rate lending protocol that allows the creation of permissionless markets and efficiently matches borrowers and lenders.
Stablecoin issuer Aegis completes $2 million Pre-Seed financing
Aegis successfully completed a $2 million Pre-Seed round of financing from investors including Dewhales DAO, Profluent Ventures and other well-known angel investors. The company is developing YUSD, the first Bitcoin-backed stablecoin that is completely independent of the fiat banking system, with real-time transparency and a built-in yield mechanism, designed to address the low transparency, high risk exposure and lack of revenue sources of existing stablecoins. YUSD maintains stability by holding BTC and establishing a Delta neutral position, and automatically obtains returns without staking. Users can view the APY calculation method, proof of collateral asset reserves and market positions through the Aegis system for complete transparency. Aegis plans to officially launch YUSD in Q1 2025 and integrate mainstream DeFi protocols, liquidity pools and lending platforms.
Web3 Games
ACID Labs, a social gaming company, raises $8 million in funding led by a16z speedrun and NFX
ACID Labs, a social gaming company that has grown its hit game Boinkers.io to more than 11.5 million monthly active players on Telegram, has raised $8 million in funding led by a16z speedrun and NFX.
NFT
According to 1conformation’s announcement on the X platform, MeebCo, the company behind the NFT project Meebits, has completed a new round of financing of US$3 million, with 1confirmation participating in the investment. The specific valuation information has not yet been disclosed. According to the information disclosed in the relevant announcement, Meebits has not yet issued tokens, but there will be potential plans to issue tokens in the future. 1confirmation added that although the project does not have a clear product direction at present, it will support the return of NFT and build a long-term community.
DePIN
DePIN project Geodnet completes $8 million financing, Multicoin Capital leads the investment
GEODNET, a decentralized network hardware infrastructure company, announced that it has completed a strategic financing of US$8 million, led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from ParaFi and DACM, bringing its total financing to US$15 million. The financing will be used to expand its global real-time dynamic positioning (RTK) network and support the development of a new generation of robots and physical AI.
Solana Ecosystem DePIN Project Shaga Completes $4 Million Financing, Led by IOSG Ventures
Solana Ecosystem DePIN project Shaga announced the completion of a $4 million seed round of financing, led by IOSG Ventures, with participation from Everyrealm, Amber Group, MH Ventures and other institutions. Shaga is committed to breaking through hardware limitations and providing ultra-low latency, high-performance cloud gaming experience, allowing global users to enjoy high-quality gaming content more conveniently.
Infrastructure & Tools
Crypto startup Orochi Network raises $12 million
Crypto technology startup Orochi Network has raised $12 million in funding. The funding includes seed round financing and grants, with participation from Presto Labs, Smape Capital, Anti Capital, Maxx Capital, Bolts Capital, AZA Ventures and Connectico. In addition, the Ethereum Foundation, Mina Protocol, Web3 Foundation and BNB Chain provided grants.
Blockchain asset risk management platform Lockchain.ai completes $5 million Series A financing
Blockchain asset risk management platform Lockchain.ai announced the completion of a $5 million Series A financing round, led by White Star Capital, with participation from Lerer Hippeau, Arrington Capital and Sonic Boom Ventures. Lockchain.ai plans to use the new funds to enhance its ability to detect major events to gain more acute market intelligence, accelerate data discovery and simplify due diligence, build an automated compliance framework that meets regulatory requirements, and launch regulatory compliance automation for MiCA and others. It is reported that Lockchain.ai is a blockchain asset risk management platform that uses generative AI for real-time portfolio risk analysis and monitoring.
Shared security network IMUA announced the completion of a $5 million seed round of financing, led by Draper Dragon, No Limit Holdings, and Paramita Capital, with participation from Reforge Capital, Caladan Capital, Tané Labs, Syntax Capital, MH Ventures, 57 Blocks, and Lecca Ventures. The new funds will be used to develop new technologies to bundle the decentralized security and trust of blockchains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, and Solana and expand them into a service to protect secure transactions on off-chain networks such as AI agents. Currently, the IMUA public testnet is online.
ZKP technology startup Ligero completes $4 million seed round led by Galaxy Ventures and 1kx
ZKP technology startup Ligero has completed a $4 million seed round of financing, led by Galaxy Ventures and 1kx, with participation from Franklin Templeton, Nascent, Anagram, Robot Ventures, Digital Currency Group and ZKV. It is reported that the company started this round of financing in March 2024 and ended in July 2024, with a valuation cap of $20 million. There is currently no plan to launch a token.
Finisterra Labs Completes $3.75 Million Seed Round Led by Haun Ventures
According to Finisterra Labs' announcement, the company has completed a $3.75 million seed round of financing, led by Haun Ventures and participated by Lightshift Capital, for the development of Baselight, a decentralized data market. Baselight is committed to solving data fragmentation, high access costs and unfair profit models, and provides a queryable, computable and monetizable data platform for financial analysts, DeFi developers, AI teams, etc. The team plans to expand the data ecosystem, optimize the analysis engine, and deepen the integration of AI, finance and blockchain to promote data democratization.
Optimum announced the completion of its angel round of financing, with investors including Polychain CTO, founder of DeFiance Capital, Bitget CEO, co-founder of Wormhole, co-founder of Polygon, managing partner of Jump Crypto and other Web3 celebrities. Optimum was co-founded by Professor Muriel Médard, Dean of NEC of MIT Department of Computer Science, Dr. Kishori Konwar and Kent Lin, President of Harvard Blockchain Association. Based on the research results of MIT Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC), Optimum has created the world's first full-chain expansion solution - high-performance memory for the world's computer.
Optimum provides high-performance memory infrastructure for L1/L2 blockchains and node operators, including P2P data communication layer and decentralized memory layer (deRAM), breaking through the blockchain scalability bottleneck and achieving fast data transmission, efficient storage and real-time access. The financing will be used to accelerate product development and bring infrastructure upgrades to the Web3 ecosystem.
other
Consumption:
Crypto gift card platform Raise completes $63 million financing, led by Haun Ventures
Crypto gift card platform Raise announced that it has completed a $63 million financing round, led by Haun Ventures, with participation from Paper Ventures, Selini Capital, GSR and Raj Gokal, co-founder of blockchain Solana. The company declined to disclose the valuation of this financing.
Bybit invests $1 million in agricultural blockchain project EthicHub
According to MarketWatch, cryptocurrency exchange Bybit announced a $1 million investment in EthicHub. It is reported that the investment was facilitated by the Blockchain Goodwill Alliance (BGA). EthicHub mainly uses blockchain to promote financial inclusion and empower small farmers, changing agricultural finance by integrating productive loans, mixed financing and market access.
AI-driven Web3 music production platform MelodAI completes new round of financing, led by LF Labs
AI-driven Web3 music production platform MelodAI has completed a new round of financing, led by LF Labs, with participation from Becker Ventures and Hong Kong investment company Web3link. The specific amount has not been disclosed. The new funds will support its construction of Web3 AI-generated content (AIGC) and AI Agent services.
meme:
Memes Lab Completes $2.3 Million Seed Round, Led by Lemniscap
Memes Lab announced the completion of a $2.3 million seed round of financing, led by Lemniscap, with participation from TVM Ventures, Animoca Brands, OKX Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Kucoin Ventures, GSR, Amber Group, etc. The funds will be used to develop and launch the TON application platform for the creation, trading and distribution of Meme tokens.
MemeMarket, a Meme coin prediction market based on the Solana ecosystem, announced the completion of its angel round of financing. IBC Group, CRYPTO TIMES, and angel investors from Presto Labs Ventures, Republic Crypto Ventures, MEXC Ventures, BitGet, and LFG participated in the investment. The specific amount has not been disclosed yet. The new funds are intended to be used to build decentralized Meme coin prediction tools and "super applications."
Centralized Finance
Bitwise Completes $70 Million Financing, Electric Capital and Others Participate
Bitwise announced that it has completed a US$70 million financing round, with participation from Electric Capital, MassMutual, MIT Investment Management Company, Highland Capital, Haun Ventures, ParaFi Capital and others. The funds will be used to continue to advance its development into a leading crypto asset management company.
Currently, Bitwise manages $12 billion in client assets, has more than 100 employees, and offers more than 30 investment solutions. The company plans to continue expanding its team and launching new products.
Crypto lending platform Lantern Finance announced the completion of $1 million in Pre-Seed financing, with participation from Orange DAO, Supermoon Ventures, Andover Ventures and others. The new funds will support its development of the next-generation cryptocurrency lending platform, allowing users to borrow against digital assets and deposit funds directly into bank accounts.
