Last week, there were a total of 25 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

According to incomplete statistics from ChainCatcher, between April 19 and April 25, there were a total of 25 public financing events in the blockchain industry, primarily focused on the DeFi and NFT sectors. Among them, investment institutions such as NGC, AU21, Block Dream Fund, and LD Capital were the most active. Additionally, Tiger Global participated with $25 million in the Series B financing of the Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber; this week also saw a billion-level financing, with Digital Asset completing $120 million in Series D financing for its smart contract language DAML.

1. DeFi

1. DeFi lending protocol NAOS Finance completes $5.1 million private round financing

On April 19, DeFi lending protocol NAOS Finance announced the completion of its latest round of private financing of $5.1 million. Participating institutions include The Spartan Group, Lemniscap, CMS, Huobi DeFi Labs, HashKey, Genesis Block Ventures, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, AU21 Capital, among others. Additionally, individual investors in this round include Quantstamp CEO Ma Huadong and Fosun Group co-founder Liang Xinjun.

NAOS Finance aims to allow off-chain borrowers to access funds through DeFi protocols and provide risk exposure to lenders through KYC and insurance pools, connecting DeFi and off-chain assets. NAOS currently covers over $250 million in real-world assets provided by Fortune 500 companies, publicly listed companies, and multinational corporations.

2. Synthetic asset protocol Duet completes Pre-Seed round financing led by OmniLAB Foundation

On April 19, synthetic asset protocol Duet completed its Pre-Seed round financing led by OmniLAB Foundation, with the amount undisclosed. OmniLAB is the company behind the Bitcoin Layer 2 protocol OmniLayer, dedicated to building a sustainable ecosystem around blockchain projects.

The Duet protocol is a multi-chain synthetic asset protocol based on algorithmic mixed collateral, supporting the migration of traditional assets to high-growth crypto assets. Its vision is to establish a parallel world governed by DAO that allows for the seamless conversion between low-liquidity traditional assets and crypto assets, enabling users to complete global asset allocation with just one digital wallet.

3. Decentralized leveraged trading platform Lever.Network completes $600,000 seed round financing, led by NGC and others

On April 20, decentralized leveraged trading platform Lever.Network completed $600,000 in seed round financing. NGC Ventures, ArkStream, LD Capital, and AU21 jointly led the investment, with participation from DAOMaker, YBB, DFG, and others. Additionally, Lever.Network plans to launch an IDO soon.

Lever.Network is an AMM-based leveraged trading brokerage platform in DeFi, allowing users to conduct leveraged trading of spot and other assets, enhancing asset utilization efficiency in DeFi.

4. Stablecoin zero-slippage exchange protocol Smoothy completes $2.4 million private financing, with participation from Hashkey and others

On April 20, stablecoin zero-slippage exchange protocol Smoothy announced via Twitter that it had completed $2.4 million in private financing, with participation from Hashkey, DeFiance Capital, AscendEX, Spark Digital, X21, and others. Additionally, Smoothy SMTY will be publicly sold from April 22 to April 27 on BSCPad, DAOMaker, Paddle.finance, and Paid Ignition.

Smoothy.finance features a liquidity pool for low-cost, zero-slippage trading, maximizing yield.

5. Injective Protocol completes $10 million token financing, with participation from Mark Cuban and Pantera

On April 21, decentralized derivatives trading protocol Injective Protocol announced the completion of $10 million in token financing, with participation from Mark Cuban, Pantera Capital, BlockTower, Hashed Ventures, CMS Holdings, QCP Capital, and others. The team stated that this round of financing sold locked tokens at a valuation of over $1 billion, with a lock-up period of one year.

Injective Protocol is the first fully decentralized trading protocol based on the Ethereum network, integrating verifiable delay functions (VDF) to avoid transaction cheating and bad trades by eliminating sequential conflicts within the same block.

6. DEX aggregation platform and tools DexGuru completes $1 million seed round financing

On April 21, decentralized trading aggregation platform and tools DexGuru announced the completion of $1 million in seed round financing, led by ParaFi Capital, with participation from Lemniscap, The LAO, Divergence Ventures, BitScale, and individual investors such as Kyber Network.

DexGuru stated that the financing will be used to develop a Web3 trading platform to help traders analyze data across major EVM-compatible blockchains. DexGuru combines analysis and research tools with trading execution capabilities, assisting traders in analyzing permissionless real-time data for each on-chain market within a fully integrated UI.

7. Decentralized liquidity protocol Tokemak completes $4 million financing, led by Framework

On April 21, Cointelegraph reported that decentralized liquidity protocol Tokemak completed $4 million in financing, led by Framework Ventures, with participation from Electric Capital, Coinbase Ventures, North Island Ventures, Delphi Ventures, and ConsenSys. Tokemak plans to use this financing to launch on the Ethereum mainnet by the end of Q2 2021.

Tokemak stated that it is building a liquidity aggregator aimed at enhancing liquidity for new projects.

8. DeFi asset management protocol DePlutus completes $1 million seed round financing, led by Bixin Ventures

On April 22, decentralized asset management protocol DePlutus (PLUT) completed $1 million in seed round financing, led by Bixin Ventures, with angel investors including executives from Goldman Sachs on Wall Street participating.

The DePlutus protocol is a next-generation DeFi asset management protocol based on on-chain operations and is designed to implement exclusive Token (DF Token) functionality for on-chain funds. DePlutus aims to build infrastructure in the asset management field, ushering users into the era of on-chain funds. DePlutus has passed a code audit by SlowMist Technology and has completed its launch on the Ethereum mainnet.

9. Computing power coin 2.0 track project BEST completes private round financing, with participation from DuckDAO and others

On April 22, computing power coin 2.0 track project BEST announced the completion of private round financing, newly attracting investments from DuckDAO, 4SV (Four Seasons Ventures), Crypto Differ, among others, with specific investment amounts undisclosed. So far, BEST has successfully secured investments from multiple institutions, including AU21, Infinity Labs, Hotbit Labs, and 7 O'Clock Capital.

BEST is a new computing power token system jointly created by mining companies such as Weisi Mining and Tunnel Miners, and is the first hybrid computing power Token (BTC + ETH), connecting the entire mining ecosystem.

10. DeFi index provider Phuture completes $1.5 million seed round financing, led by Ascensive Assets

On April 23, DeFi index provider Phuture completed $1.5 million in seed round financing, led by Ascensive Assets, with participation from NGC Ventures, SevenX Ventures, Moonrock Capital, Origin Capital, Waterdrip Capital, and Bitcoin.com CEO Danish Chaudry. The funds raised will support Phuture's upcoming version, as well as initial team expansion and project promotion.

After its launch, Phuture will provide an "open design" concept for creating DeFi investment strategies, which will include a unique, scalable, aggregated index architecture that allows real-time rebalancing between multiple price indices, supporting users in building, creating, and investing in indices in a Web 3 environment.

2. NFT & Chain Games

1. NFT portfolio management platform NFTBank.ai completes $1.4 million financing, with participation from Hashed and others

On April 20, NFT portfolio management platform NFTBank.ai completed $1.4 million in seed round financing, with investment institutions including Hashed, Digital Currency Group, and 1kx.

NFTBank.ai is an NFT portfolio management platform that currently supports NFTs on the Ethereum and Polygon (formerly Matic) networks and plans to integrate Klaytn, Flow, and ImmutableX, aggregating NFT assets from projects such as The Sandbox and Axie Infinity.

2. Polkadot ecosystem NFT trading platform NFTMart completes $1.5 million private round financing

On April 20, Polkadot ecosystem NFT trading platform NFTMart announced the completion of $1.5 million in private round financing, with participation from PAKA, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, Signum, LD Capital, Bixin Ventures, Spark Digital Capital, Capital (Koi Capital), 7 O'Clock Capital, and Crypto Pavilion.

NFTMart is developed based on Substrate and is a decentralized NFT trading market consisting of two parts: the first part is the open NFT public chain nftmart.network, primarily used for issuing NFTs and on-chain data trading; the second part is nftmart.io, which provides users with user-friendly trading solutions, allowing them to easily and quickly create or trade NFTs.

3. Space adventure game Infinite Fleet publisher Exordium raises $500,000 through STO

On April 21, Exordium, the publisher of the Bitcoin-based space adventure game "Infinite Fleet," raised $500,000 through STO, with Polyient Ventures as the investor. In January, Exordium secured $1 million in financing led by Tether, and in August 2020, raised $3.1 million through STO and investor investments.

Infinite Fleet is developed by Pixelmatic, a game company founded by Blockstream CSO Samson Mow, which initially focused on developing mobile social games.

4. Fantasy sports platform TradeStars completes $1.67 million strategic financing

On April 23, Ethereum-based fantasy sports platform TradeStars announced the completion of $1.67 million in strategic financing, led by AU21 Capital, Block Dream Fund, and LD Capital, with participation from Sfermion, Taureon, Spark Digital Capital, Morningstar Ventures, NGC Ventures, and Krypital Group.

TradeStars is an Ethereum-based Fantasy Sports platform that supports a DeFi gamification system through a fragmented NFT marketplace.

3. Others

1. EpiK Protocol completes $5 million institutional round financing

On April 19, decentralized knowledge graph and data collaboration network EpiK Protocol announced the completion of $5 million in institutional round financing, with participating institutions including GSR Matrix Fund, ChainUP Capital, Spring Fund (1475), Consensus Lab, Arcanum Capital, K24 Ventures, RedBlock, CatcherVC, and 7 O'Clock Capital.

EpiK Protocol is a decentralized, co-built, shared, and beneficial secure and trustworthy knowledge graph collaboration platform. Its knowledge graph data collection application "Knowledge Continent" will undergo public testing this Wednesday, organizing global community members to co-build a large-scale open knowledge graph database in a gamified manner.

2. Polkadot ecosystem distributed trusted computing infrastructure ZeroHybrid Network completes seed round financing

On April 19, Polkadot ecosystem distributed trusted computing infrastructure ZeroHybrid Network announced the completion of seed round financing, with the investment amount undisclosed. Participating institutions include BlockSync, CMS Holdings, Exnetwork Capital, JRR Group, Lancer Capital, Vega Ventures, YBB Foundation, and Zentech Capital.

ZeroHybrid Network aims to build a trusted computing blockchain network across multiple architectures. By constructing a trusted computing environment on entities with computing capabilities such as PCs, servers, and mobile devices, it uses Substrate to realize a blockchain network that spans multiple ends and architectures, uniting computing-capable devices from all corners of the globe into a global trusted computer.

3. Singapore fintech company STACS raises $3.6 million to develop blockchain platform for financial institutions

On April 20, Singapore-based fintech company Hashstacs (STACS) announced that it has raised $3.6 million in pre-Series A financing. This round was led by Wavemaker Partners, which focuses on Southeast Asian enterprises and deep tech companies, with participation from the Singapore government-supported blockchain startup project Tribe.

It is reported that last year, STACS participated in the Tribe project alongside the Monetary Authority of Singapore's blockchain-based multi-currency payment network plan Project Ubin.

4. Zero-knowledge privacy application platform Aleo completes $28 million financing, led by a16z

On April 21, zero-knowledge proof-based privacy application platform Aleo announced the completion of $28 million in financing, led by a16z, with other investors including Placeholder VC, Galaxy Digital, Variant Fund, Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, and Slow Ventures.

Aleo is a fully private application platform that uses blockchain and zero-knowledge proof cryptography to provide a new web experience, enabling developers to create private applications even if they are not experts in blockchain or cryptography.

5. Centralized storage platform Filebase completes $2 million seed round financing, led by Multicoin

On April 21, decentralized storage platform Filebase announced the completion of $2 million in seed round financing, led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Version One Ventures and Messari co-founder Ryan Selkis.

Currently, the Filebase platform supports Sia, Skynet, and Storj networks, and plans to expand to Filecoin and Arweave networks by the end of 2021. Additionally, Filebase stated that it hopes to integrate technologies such as AI and machine learning to automate storage workloads and help optimize costs and performance.

6. Digital asset custody institution First Digital Trust (FDT) completes $2.15 million financing

On April 22, digital asset custody institution First Digital Trust secured $2.15 million in financing, led by private investors including Asian venture capital firm Nogle. According to Crunchbase, the company's total financing has now exceeded $7 million, having raised $5.2 million in two rounds of financing in March.

The company stated that the funds will be used to launch the first debit and credit card track, allowing its digital asset clients to seamlessly accept card payments. At that time, the company will accept digital asset payments in over 100 currencies, providing instant settlement, custody, and compliance. FDT is the only qualified custodian in Asia capable of holding both traditional and digital assets simultaneously.

7. Smart contract language DAML company Digital Asset completes $120 million Series D financing

On April 22, open-source smart contract language DAML company Digital Asset announced the completion of over $120 million in Series D financing, with investors including 7RIDGE and Eldridge. Digital Asset stated that it will use the funds to expand its team by 50% this year and enhance its product portfolio through new interoperability protocols that enable seamless interaction of data between blockchains and traditional databases, creating an interoperable data network across record systems.

Digital Asset uses the open-source smart contract language DAML to help enterprises design, create, and run the next generation of distributed ledger applications, aiming to create a globally interconnected economic network.

8. DAOSquare completes angel round financing, led by HashKey Capital

On April 22, Web3.0 incubator DAOSquare completed angel round financing, with a valuation of $40 million, led by HashKey Capital, with investment institutions including Alameda Research, NGC Ventures, CMS Holdings, Amber Lab, LD Capital, Spark Digital Capital, and others.

DAOSquare was born from the well-known Ethereum community MetaCartel in the West, dedicated to building an incubator for the Web3 era, aiming to become the Y Combinator of the Web3 era. DAOSquare is about to launch its incubator MVP, and the first global incubation program has already started, with the first batch of incubated projects to be announced soon. Additionally, the incubation fund (VentureDAO) will also be launched shortly.

9. Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber completes $25 million Series B financing, with Tiger Global as the sole investor

On April 22, Indian cryptocurrency exchange CoinSwitch Kuber completed $25 million in Series B financing, with Tiger Global as the investor, bringing its post-financing valuation to $525 million. CoinSwitch Kuber stated that the financing will be used to expand its platform, team, and user base from a technical and security perspective, as well as for brand building and increasing awareness of cryptocurrencies. Tiger Global previously invested $500 million in Coinbase in October 2018.

According to previous reports, CoinSwitch Kuber completed $15 million in Series A financing in January this year, led by Ribbit Capital and Paradigm, with participation from Sequoia Capital India and others.

10. Serverless application deployment platform ArGo completes $1.3 million seed round financing

On April 23, blockchain-based serverless application deployment platform ArGo announced the completion of $1.3 million in seed round financing at a valuation of $12.5 million, led by Ascensive Assets, with participation from Alpha chain, Onchain Capital, Moon Whale, Master Ventures, X21 Digital, and some angel investors.

ArGo is a serverless application deployment platform based on the Arweave protocol, allowing web applications to be deployed to Arweave.

11. Securitization and investment platform Cadence completes $12.5 million financing and rebrands as Percent

On April 24, securitization and investment platform Cadence rebranded as Percent and announced the completion of $12.5 million in Series A financing, led by White Star Capital and B Capital, with existing investors Revel Partners, Recharge Capital, and Fantail Ventures also participating in this round of investment.

Percent stated that after securing funding, it will expand its team and accelerate the development of its platform and infrastructure.