Highlights of this issue
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 23 blockchain investment and financing events around the world last week (December 2-8), with a total funding of over US$135 million, which was basically the same as the previous week. An overview is as follows:
- DeFi announced 6 investment and financing events, among which the blockchain platform Haven1 completed a private placement financing of US$4.6 million, with Animoca Brands and others participating in the investment;
- Web3 game track announced one investment and financing event. Playgama, a technology platform focusing on HTML5 game publishing, completed a $3 million financing, led by The Open Platform (TOP) and s16vc;
- Five investment and financing events were announced in the AI field. Among them, Earos, a Web3 artificial intelligence agency headquartered in Singapore, announced the completion of a $10 million Pre-Seed financing led by Lemon Ltd.
- The Infrastructure & Tools track announced three financings, among which Union Labs, a blockchain interoperability project developer, completed a $12 million Series A financing round, led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and Longhash Ventures;
- In other blockchain/crypto applications , two financings were announced. Spexi, a blockchain-based drone image network, announced on its official website that it had completed a $11.5 million Series A financing round, led by Blockchange Ventures.
- The centralized financial sector announced five investment and financing events, among which Brighty, a Swiss digital financial platform that supports crypto card payments, raised $10 million from Futurecraft Ventures in a round of financing.
DeFi
Blockchain platform Haven1 has completed a $4.6 million private placement, with participation from Animoca Brands and KuCoin Ventures. The funds are intended to enhance Haven1's blockchain infrastructure. According to reports, the project is committed to improving decentralized finance and tokenized real-world assets, and the platform reports that it has more than 475,000 users on its test network.
Lending agreement Suilend completes $4 million financing, led by Robot Ventures
Decentralized lending protocol Suilend announced the completion of $4 million in financing, after raising $2 million in February. This round of financing was led by Robot Ventures, with participation from several venture capital firms and angel investors. Suilend founder Rooter said the financing will help the team maintain operations in a possible long-term bear market and ensure sufficient funds for the next four years. Suilend is the second largest DeFi protocol on the Sui chain, with a total locked volume (TVL) of nearly $470 million, and is also the largest lending protocol on the chain. In addition, Suilend plans to launch its new token SAVE in the next few days, while continuing to expand its core product suite, including the recently launched liquidity staking token project and the upcoming automated market maker (AMM).
DeFi infrastructure provider SuperFi Labs completes $2.5 million in Pre-A financing
DeFi infrastructure provider SuperFi Labs announced the completion of a $2.5 million Pre-A financing, led by Linklogis, with participation from SNZ, Taiko and ByteTrade. Generative Ventures previously provided seed funding for it. According to reports, SuperFi Labs is a DeFi innovation laboratory that aims to attract more users to decentralized finance by providing real-world asset (RWA) products on the asset side and DeFi solutions on the funding side. Its projects include Sake Finance, a liquidity protocol on Soneium, and AgentFi, a platform that utilizes smart on-chain agents. In addition, SuperFi is working with Linklogis to develop an RWA platform to enhance the channels for decentralized supply chain finance.
DeFi.app Completes $2 Million Seed Round, Led by Mechanism Capital
DeFi.app has completed a $2 million seed round of financing, with a valuation of $100 million. The round was led by Mechanism Capital, with participation from Selini Capital, North Rock Digital and about 50 angel investors. The financing was completed through a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT) structure, reflecting the fully diluted valuation of DeFi.app's yet-to-be-launched native token HOME. DeFi.app aims to be the "Robinhood of DeFi" and is committed to simplifying decentralized financial transactions while maintaining self-custody of assets. Users can conduct one-click transactions across chains, access decentralized derivatives markets and income opportunities, and waive gas fees without bridging or KYC verification. Founder Greer revealed that the platform's public beta will be launched this month, and the mainnet and HOME tokens are expected to be released in the first half of next year. In addition, DeFi.app plans to airdrop tokens and expand the team.
Liquidity solution SecondSwap announced the completion of a $1.2 million seed round of financing, with participation from GSR and Animoca Ventures, E4 Capital, Yellow Capital, BCW Group, HGEN DAO, ARC Community, Nonco, and Libra Capita. The funds will be mainly used to expand SecondSwap's market functions. According to reports, SecondSwap provides an automated over-the-counter market for assets with poor liquidity. It supports token diversification, risk management, and transparent transactions through smart contracts. It is currently testing the network on Ethereum and plans to expand to multiple chains. SecondSwap's mainnet will be launched in January 2025.
Decentralized protocol Prosper completes strategic round of financing, with Metalpha and others participating
Decentralized protocol Prosper announced the completion of a strategic round of financing, with Metalpha, Waterdrip Capital, BIT Mining and Satoshi Protocol participating, and the specific amount has not been disclosed. Prosper aims to tokenize institutional-level Bitcoin hash rate into full-chain RWA to unleash the potential of Bitcoin. Earlier news, Animoca Brands announced that it would increase its holdings of Prosper tokens PROS through the open market.
Web3 Games
Playgama, a technology platform focusing on HTML5 game distribution, announced the completion of a new round of financing of US$3 million, led by The Open Platform (TOP) and s16vc, with participation from FJ Labs, The Games Fund, TON Ventures, Velo Partner and Unlimit CEO Kirill Evesas. The new funds will be used to expand its platform as a service (PaaS) ecosystem and game distribution platform, and provide monetization tools, quality assurance and game management solutions. Andrey Klebanov, executive partner of The Open Platform, said that Playgama can help developers seamlessly publish their games as Telegram applets and browser-based experiences, thereby creating opportunities to explore financial technology innovations.
AI
Web3 AI Agent Earos Completes $10 Million Pre-Seed Funding
Earos, a Web3 AI agent company based in Singapore, announced the completion of a $10 million Pre-Seed financing led by Lemon Ltd. It is reported that Earos is a platform that uses digital twin technology to tap the potential of AI Agents. It is currently building a decentralized AI ecosystem (Digital Twin Earth) that integrates the AI Agent model layer, allowing global nodes to collaborate in AI model training, deployment and verification. Developers can also create and deploy their own AI agents. It is reported that the project will use tokens to reward participants who provide computing power, verify AI agent workstations, and run nodes.
Crypto AI company GAIB completes $5 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by Hack VC
GAIB, a crypto AI startup focused on GPU tokenization, has completed a $5 million Pre-Seed round of financing. The round was led by Hack VC, co-led by Faction VC and Hashed, and other investors include Spartan, Animoca Brands, MH Ventures, Aethir, Near Foundation, etc. GAIB aims to provide more liquidity and accessibility for AI computing by tokenizing GPU assets. GAIB has completed prototype development, will launch a pilot project this month, and plans to launch Alpha products and platform tokens in the next two months. The platform will support multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, etc. GAIB, headquartered in Singapore, currently has 19 employees and plans to further expand the team to promote R&D and marketing.
Generative AI storytelling startup Sekai announced that it has raised $3.1 million in a seed round led by Hashed. According to reports, Sekai aims to use Story Protocol to turn storytelling into a "multi-person experience", allowing aspiring storytellers to use its platform to co-create with others with the help of generative AI. At the same time, Sekai hopes to provide creators with the ability to protect the intellectual property of their creations and profit from them.
Decentralized AI investment strategy analysis platform OpenPad AI completes $2 million in financing
OpenPad AI, a decentralized AI investment strategy analysis platform, announced the completion of a $2 million financing round, led by Basics Capital, with participation from Protein Capital, Spicy Capital, Green Arrow Adventures, VivaTech Ventures, Brinc, Boba Network, Avalon Wealth Club, Coin Bold, TechFarm, etc. According to reports, OpenPad AI is a data-driven investment strategy platform that uses decentralized AI analysis, combining blockchain technology with artificial intelligence. Users can access investment strategies, project ratings, and real-time market insight analysis while maintaining control over their data.
Scrypted Completes $1.5 Million Funding to Develop Web4 Autonomous AI Agents and Inori Network
AI and Web3 startup Scrypted announced the completion of a $1.5 million seed round led by Palm Tree Crew Crypto and participated by a16z crypto CSX. The funds will be used to develop fully decentralized autonomous AI agents (AVBs) and the Inori network, ushering in the "read-write-own-act" Web4 era. The Inori network aims to provide decentralized computing, storage, communication and financial infrastructure for AI agents, driving their transformation from current passive tools to self-managed digital life forms, and applied to social, gaming and financial fields. Scrypted plans to help build a decentralized AI ecosystem through open source AI development tools ArtemisML and SDK, and explore technologies such as decentralized consensus mechanisms to further promote the realization of Web4.
Infrastructure & Tools
Blockchain interoperability developer Union Labs completes $12 million Series A funding
Union Labs, a blockchain interoperability project developer, announced the completion of a $12 million Series A financing round, led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and Longhash Ventures, with participation from Borderless Capital and angel investors from Polygon, Celestia, Movement and Berachain communities. This round of financing will be used to expand the team, promote partner integration and ecosystem construction. Union's core product is a modular zero-knowledge interoperability layer designed to simplify the flow of assets between the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems. Its mainnet is scheduled to go live in early 2025, and it is also committed to solving the cross-chain limitations of the Bitcoin ecosystem and promoting the development of Bitcoin L2 and multi-chain DeFi.
BLIFE Protocol, a decentralized ecological protocol based on Bitcoin, announced the completion of a $7 million financing. Investors include UTXO Management, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, NewTribe Capital, Cypher Capital Group, Digital Consensus Fund, PG, OIG Capital, Animoca Brands, LondonReal Ventures, Citizen Capital, B2C2, Aspen Digital, GSR Ventures, Delta Blockchain Fund, and G20 Group. According to reports, BLIFE is a decentralized ecological protocol based on the Bitcoin blockchain that aims to integrate Web3 applications and cultural experiences. It provides BLIFE.ID, a digital identity system that connects Bitcoin wallets and protects exclusive .BLIFE domain names, allowing access to decentralized applications, social networks, and markets. The ecosystem is powered by BLIFE tokens, which facilitate transactions and interactions between various digital platforms.
Bitcoin and ZK Infrastructure Company Fiamma Completes $4 Million Seed Round
Bitcoin and ZK infrastructure company Fiamma has completed a $4 million seed round of financing, led by Lightspeed Faction and L2IV, with participation from Astera Ventures, Contribution Capital, Sats Ventures, Chapter One and FoundersHead. The investment also includes participation from major strategic investors in the Bitcoin infrastructure field, such as BOB (Build on Bitcoin), and various angel investors such as the founders of Satlayer and Daedalus. Fiamma is a Bitcoin and ZK infrastructure company dedicated to transforming Bitcoin into a dynamic programmable asset. It is unlocking the real use cases of Bitcoin, turning it into a dynamic asset and the foundation of a decentralized Internet and financial system. Fiamma's products include the Bitcoin Bridge Fiamma Bridge and the Bitcoin ZK verification layer Fiamma Layer powered by BitVM2.
other
Spexi, a blockchain-based drone image network, announced on its official website that it has completed a $11.5 million Series A financing round, led by Blockchange Ventures, with participation from Moonshots Capital and Protocol Labs. Spexi has currently developed a blockchain-based "Fly to Earn" network to help drone market participants use Spexi's autopilot software to capture standardized ultra-high-resolution aerial data and receive rewards. It also combines drone-captured images with the lower-cost blockchain image integrity preservation capabilities. It is reported that its business currently covers Canada, the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Web3 communication platform Dechat receives $1 million in strategic investment
Web3 communication platform Dechat received a strategic investment of US$1 million from Mindspace Solutions. According to reports, DeChat is an open Web3 communication protocol with a user base mainly in Japan and the Middle East. It enables users to chat, discover and trade digital assets seamlessly within and across applications. DeChat is designed to use blockchain technology to ensure privacy and security, and its features include encrypted group communications, push notifications, and a decentralized ID system that supports a variety of media types.
Centralized Finance
Multi-asset investment platform Public completes $135 million D-2 round of financing, led by Accel
Public, a multi-asset investment platform, announced the completion of a $135 million Series D-2 financing round, of which $105 million was equity financing and $30 million was debt financing, led by Accel. Since its launch in 2019, Public has grown from a "social stock trading app" to a comprehensive investment platform supporting five major asset classes (including cryptocurrencies), with a profitable core brokerage business and billions of dollars in deposits per year. Its AI assistant Alpha is used by more than 90% of users, facilitating a quarter of interactions to complete transactions within 3 hours, and the average user profit has increased for three consecutive years. The company plans to expand to more asset classes and AI functions.
(Note: Public’s D-2 round of financing is not included in last week’s total financing)
Brighty, a Swiss digital financial platform that supports crypto card payments, raised $10 million from Futurecraft Ventures in a round of financing. According to reports, Brighty was founded in 2021 and integrates cryptocurrency and fiat banking services to provide users with a seamless digital banking experience. This personal finance app combines traditional digital banks with the functionality of stablecoins and decentralized finance. The platform provides European IBAN accounts and issues physical and digital VISA cards as well as Ethereum, Tron, Polygon and Arbitrum hosting addresses. Users can exchange cryptocurrencies for euros, dollars, pounds and other currencies, send money to friends and family, or make online and offline purchases.
Interlace, a global card issuance and digital asset management platform in Singapore, announced the completion of a $10 million B1 round of financing, led by Bitrock Capital, with participation from senior people from top financial technology companies such as Klarna and Robinhood. This round of funds will be used to expand the team, strengthen services, and promote market expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, the United States and the United Kingdom. To date, Interlace has issued more than 4.5 million cards, cooperated with more than 100 partners, and processed more than 60 million transactions each year.
HUB2 Completes $8.5 Million Series A Funding, Aims to Become the “Stripe of French-speaking Africa”
HUB2, a fintech company headquartered in Côte d'Ivoire, has completed a $8.5 million Series A financing round, led by TLcom Capital, a pan-African early-stage investment institution, with participation from FMO, Enza Capital, Bpifrance, and Thunes founder Eric Barbier. HUB2 is committed to providing a unified payment infrastructure for French-speaking Africa, simplifying mobile payments, bank transfers, card payments, and cryptocurrency transactions, and achieving payment interoperability through a single API. Founder Ashley Gauzere said the company hopes to solve the problem of payment fragmentation in French-speaking Africa and has currently served 55 fintech companies including Wave, Orange, and MTN. This year, HUB2's transaction volume is expected to reach 1 billion euros, a significant increase from 70 million euros in 2022. In the future, the company plans to launch cross-border payments and stablecoin-based remittance services, and expand its market coverage in Africa.
Decentralized technology company Binary Holdings completes $5 million strategic financing
Decentralized technology company Binary Holdings announced that it has received a $5 million strategic investment from ABO Digital. According to reports, decentralized technology company Binary Holdings is headquartered in Dubai, UAE, with a global user base of 169 million, and is committed to creating an open, interoperable network for digital commerce. The company plans to launch the digital bank Millenia in the second quarter of 2025.
Digital asset management platform LSP.Finance completes $1 million seed round of financing
LSP.Finance, a digital asset management platform, has completed a $1 million seed round of financing, with a valuation of $33 million. This round of financing was led by Cryptogram Venture (CGV), WAGMi Ventures, K24 Ventures, CatcherVC, XLink Labs and LandScape Capital. According to reports, LSP.Finance is a user-centric digital asset management platform that provides a one-stop solution for high liquidity and seamless blockchain interaction.
Investment institutions
Pantera Capital raises $20 million to invest in Telegram-related blockchain TON
Crypto hedge fund and venture capital firm Pantera Capital has raised $20 million to invest in TON's cryptocurrency Toncoin, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The venture capital firm raised money from at least 29 investors in two different funds, according to the filing. The first official sales of both funds took place in July. Pantera Capital began contacting investors in June. The minimum amount to participate in the investment is $250,000. Pantera Capital's two new funds for Toncoin build on its early investment in a cryptocurrency associated with Telegram announced in May. The company called the investment the "largest" in its 21-year history, but did not disclose the specific size.
