Highlights of this issue
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 19 blockchain investment and financing events around the world last week (11.4-11.10), with a total funding of over US$73 million, which was a decrease compared to the previous week. The overview is as follows:
- DeFi announced three investment and financing events, among which RWA stablecoin protocol Usual announced the completion of a new round of financing of US$1.5 million, with Comfy Capital participating;
- The Web3 game track announced two investment and financing events, among which Web3 blockchain game A-world announced the completion of a USD 5 million Series A financing round, with IBGTG Capital participating;
- The AI sector announced two investment and financing events. Pond, an AI startup focusing on the cryptocurrency field, raised $7.5 million in seed round financing, led by Archetype;
- DePIN track announced one investment and financing event. MelosBoom completed its Series B financing with a valuation of US$80 million, led by LBank Labs.
- The Infrastructure & Tools track announced 6 financings, among which the crypto startup Vlayer completed a $10 million pre-seed round of financing, with a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX) participating;
- Other blockchain/crypto applications announced 4 financings, among which Web3 shopping application Bion announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing, with TON Ventures participating.
DeFi
RWA stablecoin protocol Usual announced the completion of a new round of financing of US$1.5 million, with participation from Comfy Capital, early crypto project investor echo, and Breed VC founder Jed Breed. The specific valuation data has not yet been disclosed. Usual said that the project plans to launch a token generation event TGE to support its construction of a USD0 stablecoin backed by real-world assets. The protocol raised a strategic round of financing of US$7 million in April this year, with investors including IOSG Ventures, Kraken Ventures, etc., and the total financing has reached US$8.5 million so far.
Solana restaking protocol Fragmetric completes first round of financing, with Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko participating
Solana re-staking protocol Fragmetric completed its Builder round of financing. Investors include Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Solana Foundation Chairman Lily Liu, Jito Labs founder Lucas Bruder, Backpack founder Tristan, Wintermute co-founder Yoann Turpin and others. Fragmetric launched the SANG system: SolanA Network Guard, which provides users with a convenient and fair path to participate in re-staking, and provides security and stability for the Solana network by integrating SOL and LST.
DWF Ventures makes strategic investment in DeFi solution provider XYZ
DWF Ventures announced a strategic investment of an undisclosed amount in XYZ, an innovative startup focused on decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. DWF Ventures’ investment will enable XYZ to strengthen its technical team, enhance product development, and explore strategic partnerships that will help achieve its mission. The funding will also help XYZ scale its marketing efforts, increase user acquisition, and expand its suite of DeFi services to previously underserved markets.
Web3 Games
Web3 blockchain game A-World completes $5 million Series A financing
A-world, a Web3 blockchain game launched by SPF Meta, announced the completion of a $5 million Series A financing round, with major investors including IBGTG Capital and Sketch Venture, and other investors including Soave Swap, AU21 Capital, Skyview Capital, etc. It is reported that A-world, a Web3 blockchain game, is a super metaverse card tower defense battle game based on BNB CHAIN, where players can destroy monsters by building hero towers.
Web3 gaming platform Game Beast completes $2 million seed round of financing
Web3 gaming platform Game Beast announced the completion of a $2 million seed round of financing led by Tido Capital and T Fund, with other participating investors including K300 Ventures, Notch Ventures, Asva Capital, Aza Ventures, and Buzzbridge Capital.
NFT
NFT project Rekt Drinks parent company Rekt completes $1.5 million seed round financing
Rekt Brands Inc. (Rekt), the parent company of the Rektguy NFT project Rekt Drinks and Rekt brand intellectual property, announced the completion of a $1.5 million seed round of financing. The financing was entirely funded by angel investors and the community (no venture capital institutions participated). According to reports, Rekt Brands Inc. is the parent company that owns the Rektguy NFT project Rekt Drinks and Rekt brand intellectual property. The brand originated from the Rektguy NFT series of artist Ovie Faruq (OSF) and has now expanded to consumer products and community equity models. Rekt aims to redefine brand ownership and engagement through its Web3 foundation, innovative products and global community.
AI
Crypto-focused AI company Pond completes $7.5 million seed round led by Archetype
Pond, an AI startup focused on the cryptocurrency sector, raised $7.5 million in a seed round led by Archetype, with other investors including PAKA, Web3.com Ventures, Cyber Fund, Delphi Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Near Foundation, and several angel investors. Pond aims to build a decentralized AI model layer to provide AI support for blockchain. Pond initially developed a user search engine based on on-chain data, and has now expanded to create a complete model ecosystem covering data, model calculation, training, and reasoning. Its products are used in security, recommendation, and DeFi fields. The security model can predict malicious addresses with an accuracy of 0.936; the recommendation model provides personalized suggestions for NFT and DeFi protocols; and the DeFi dynamic rate model helps liquidity providers optimize transaction fees. Pond plans to further expand its crypto AI applications to cover DeFi risk management, internal transaction detection, and more. The company currently has a team of 11 people and is recruiting key positions such as COO and product manager.
Naptha AI, a decentralized, multi-agent AI orchestration platform, announced the completion of a $6 million Pre-Seed round of financing, co-led by Arche Capital and Cyber Fund, with participation from Seed Club Ventures, Polymorphic Capital, GnosisDAO, Halo Capital, etc. According to reports, Naptha AI is a decentralized, multi-agent AI orchestration platform designed for the network economy. Unlike the mainstream AI approach that aims to develop general artificial intelligence (AGI) as a single monolithic entity, Naptha AI envisions AGI as a network of billions to trillions of agents working together. Naptha AI provides developers with a platform for building and deploying large-scale collaborative intelligent agent systems. The platform will allow for decentralized, multi-agent orchestration in a scalable, trustless, and collaborative environment, transforming the narrative of AI from a single entity to a dynamic, interconnected system of entities.
DePIN
MelosBoom has completed its Series B financing, led by LBank Labs, with participation from several well-known Web3 investment institutions, and the project valuation is 80 million US dollars. This round of financing will accelerate the global expansion of the MelosBoom ecosystem, especially in international markets such as South Korea, and promote the application and popularization of DePIN technology. The funds will be mainly used to accelerate the development and promotion of the DeIOE series of products, and further improve the global ecological deployment and hardware market development of the decentralized data life network. The support of LBank Labs will help MelosBoom enhance its influence in the international market, especially its competitive advantages in smart hardware and DePIN ecology.
Infrastructure & Tools
Muneeb Ali, co-founder of Bitcoin Layer2 network Stacks, posted on the X platform: "We have established a new Stacks entity 'Bitcoin L2 Labs', obtained $20 million in financing, and focused on core development. Adriano DiLuzio (formerly a member of Algorand Labs) will serve as CTO and lead the development of Stacks Core and SBTC."
According to the Bitcoin L2 Labs official website, with approximately $20 million in funding, assistance from the Stacks Foundation, and collaboration with various working groups, Bitcoin L2 Labs is building an exclusive base for Stacks core development. Bitcoin L2 Labs will adopt a product-driven approach to enable the ecosystem to launch key features faster and regularly update the progress of core development.
Solidity 2.0 developer Vlayer raises $10 million in pre-seed funding
Crypto startup Vlayer has raised $10 million in pre-seed funding from investors including a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), Credo Ventures, and BlockTower Capital. The company is working on "Solidity 2.0," a new version of Ethereum smart contracts that aims to introduce verifiable data infrastructure. Vlayer plans to introduce four new features to the Solidity language: time travel (executing contracts based on historical on-chain data), teleportation (running contracts across EVM-compatible networks), web proofs, and email proofs (verifying and integrating web pages and email content). Co-founder and CEO Hubert Rachwalski von Rejchwald said the move will make zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) easier to use for Solidity developers. Vlayer is currently in public beta, and the mainnet and tokens are expected to be launched in 2025.
Cytonic, a Layer1 blockchain that uses a 'multi-virtual machine (MultiVM)' design, has completed a seed round of financing of US$8.3 million, led by Lemniscap and Lattice. According to reports, Cytonic was developed by MultiVM Labs and is the first Layer1 blockchain that uses shared storage to run multiple virtual machines (VMs) within the same network layer, solving the challenge of blockchain compatibility. Cytonic is compatible with most blockchains (such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana) and is able to process different types of transactions simultaneously in a single block. Its goal is to simplify on-chain interactions while reducing transaction fees and waiting times when transferring assets between chains.
L1 blockchain developer Pharos completes $8 million seed round led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC
L1 blockchain developer Pharos has raised $8 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed Faction and Hack VC, with participation from SNZ Capital as a strategic investor. Other investors include Reforge, Dispersion Capital, Hash Global, Generative Ventures, MH Ventures, Zion, and Chorus One. Pharos is building a new L1 blockchain specifically targeting fintech use cases such as real-time payments and real-world assets.
Bitcoin L2 interoperability layer Map Protocol receives $1 million in strategic investment
Bitcoin L2 interoperability layer Map Protocol announced that it has received a $1 million strategic investment from blockchain company Gryps. The new funds will be used to promote the functionality of Bitcoin Layer2 solutions. According to reports, MAP Protocol was established in 2019 and uses ZK light client technology as a gateway for developers and users within the Bitcoin ecosystem to promote interoperability between different blockchain ecosystems.
Phi has successfully completed a strategic financing led by Neoclassic Capital to build a decentralized on-chain identity credential system. Neoclassic Capital is led by Steve Lee and Mike Bucella, and supported by a16z partners Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon. This round of financing also includes participation from Decima Fund, Cyber, PAKA Fund, and Incubate Fund. Founded in January 2022, Phi launched its first product, Phi Land, which aims to visualize on-chain activities through ENS. To date, it has minted more than 4.3 million NFTs, attracted 296,000 users and more than 65 protocols. Phi Protocol is based on a community-driven on-chain identity credential system that allows users to create, verify and display on-chain activities, expanding their on-chain social and economic value.
other
AmplifyWorld, a decentralized fan interaction platform, announced that it has received a $1.2 million investment from early-stage venture capital firm Chapel Ventures through a Simple Agreement for Future Tokens (SAFT). The new funds will be used to promote the issuance of its AMPS tokens. According to reports, AmplifyWorld is a decentralized content platform that builds bridges between artists and fans through blockchain technology, providing new ways to connect, monetize and interact. By utilizing AMPS tokens, AmplifyWorld aims to provide artists with a transparent, community-driven ecosystem.
Smart weather data network operator SkyX completes $1 million Pre-Seed round of financing
SkyX, an intelligent weather data network operator, recently announced the completion of a $1 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by EV3, EOT Ventures, and Waterdrip Capital, with participation from Daedalus, J17 Capital, and Opulence. SkyX focuses on building a global local weather data network, and provides consumers, governments, and businesses with solutions for vertical industries such as disaster prevention, travel, energy, and agriculture by laying out intelligent weather data collection equipment and combining dynamic meteorological data big models.
Web3 shopping app Bion completes a new round of strategic financing, with TON Ventures participating
Web3 shopping application Bion announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing, with TON Ventures participating. The specific financing amount and valuation data have not been disclosed yet. Bion mainly uses blockchain technology to enhance the shopping experience and provide value-added services to consumers. The new funds will be used to expand its Web3 shopping platform that provides cash back rewards and enhance its crypto rewards.
Binance Labs Announces Investment in BIO Protocol (BIO)
Binance Labs announced an investment in BIO Protocol (BIO) to accelerate funding innovation in decentralized science (DeSci). BIO Protocol reshapes the way early scientific research is financed and commercialized through blockchain technology, providing a global community for scientists, patients, and investors to collectively fund, develop, and co-own new drugs and treatments. This round of financing will be used to expand the BioDAO ecosystem, provide seed funding for new BioDAOs, and strengthen community and token economic support. BIO Protocol's model is similar to the "Y Combinator of on-chain science", and its BioDAO network covers multiple fields including rare diseases, longevity research, and mental health, aiming to address critical gaps in traditional scientific research funding. BIO currently has seven BioDAOs, and the next batch of projects will focus on the development of therapies to address long-term COVID-19 and rare diseases, as well as research on quantum microscopy.
BIO Protocol is currently conducting the second round of BIO Genesis, providing users with early access to $BIO tokens until the tokens are transferable. Users can redeem $BIO with ETH or DeSci tokens. BIO is committed to building on-chain scientific communities (BioDAOs) through DeFi mechanisms and real intellectual property (IP).
Investment institutions
Hong Kong venture capital group The Z Label announced the completion of a HK$90 million financing round, led by Beyond Ventures. The new funds are intended to be used to create innovative consumer products for the global Generation Z, using new technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, spatial computing, blockchain, etc. to empower its products to find early market fit, while combining technological research and development and collaborating with cross-field companies to promote corporate incubation and industry innovation.
Former ParaFi Capital partner launches private equity fund Inversion Capital
Santiago Roel Santos, formerly a partner at blockchain venture capital firm ParaFi Capital, has announced the launch of Inversion Capital, a private equity fund aimed at acquiring traditional businesses and transforming their operations by adopting crypto. Santos believes that some businesses can solve coordination problems that "manifest as higher operating costs, capital expenditures, or reduced unit economics" by adopting crypto tools. It doesn't matter whether business owners are reluctant to accept cryptocurrencies, because Inversion Capital will not be an investment partner - it will acquire these businesses directly.
