Which early projects are top crypto venture capital firms betting on recently? | 4.1-4.15

Organizer: Cookies, Chain Catcher

In this article, Chain Catcher will introduce early projects recently backed by leading crypto venture capital firms (April 1-15), including basic information, official websites, related reports, etc., to help readers further understand potential projects for the future.

1. Fractal

On April 2, the game NFT marketplace Fractal, founded by Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, completed a $35 million seed round financing, led by Multicoin Capital and Paradigm, with participation from a16z, Animoca, and Coinbase.

Fractal is a Solana-based marketplace that will serve as the primary market for game companies to issue NFTs for the first time, as well as a secondary market for transactions between players. It plans to integrate other blockchain networks in the future. The first batch of game partners includes over a dozen Web3 games, such as The Sandbox and P2E games Genopets and SynCity.

Fractal's mission is to create an open platform for the free trade of digital goods. The project also plans to create infrastructure for emerging use cases of NFTs, such as lending/scholarship models in some games.

Official website: https://www.fractal.is/

Related article: 《https://fractal.medium.com/introducing-fractal》

2. Kikitrade

On April 4, Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency social investment platform Kikitrade completed a $6 million financing round, co-led by AppWorks and Media Asia, with Audeo Ventures also participating.

Kikitrade provides a cryptocurrency investment platform and an "interactive and educational" in-app community with social and gaming elements, incubated by the Asia Blockchain Group Everest Ventures Group (EVG), with Animoca Brands as the second-largest shareholder. Since its trial phase in October 2020, the project has surpassed 100,000 users.

The platform allows users to buy, hold, and sell cryptocurrencies with a low barrier to entry while also establishing an educational community where like-minded individuals can share their trading strategies and experiences.

Official website: https://www.kikitrade.com/

Related article: 《Kikitrade Official Blog》

3. Polemos

On April 4, the P2E gaming guild Polemos completed a $14 million seed round financing, led by Framework Ventures and Delphi Digital, with participation from QCP, GoldenTree, and IOSG, achieving a post-investment valuation of $100 million.

Polemos focuses on NFT gaming and plans to develop a GameFi learning management system, a decentralized guild asset exchange, and a player analytics platform for education, tracking, analysis, and management of players. The company aims to lay the groundwork for players in developing countries by teaching gaming skills or providing them with initial resources such as tokens and game items.

Polemos uses a Discord server as the main guild hub, conducting daily activities, interactive discussions, and regular giveaways in Discord channels. An upcoming learning progress management system will start from the novice level to the Hoplite level. Hoplite currently accounts for 15-20% of the entire community and will enjoy benefits unavailable to regular members.

Official website: https://polemos.io/

Related article: 《Polemos Whitepaper》

4. Strata

On April 6, the token issuance and management protocol Strata completed a $1.5 million seed round financing, led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures and Alameda Research.

The protocol, founded by software developer Noah Prince, provides users with a no-code solution to issue and sell tokens, as well as to offer tokens in exchange for donations. Strata Bounties is a simple way to crowdfund for events or tasks on-chain. Anyone can deposit funds on Bounties. If the token is created for SOL, users need to deposit SOL. After the deposit, users will receive tokens equivalent to their deposit, representing their contribution.

Strata aims to make it easier for developers to issue tokens on Solana and become the standard for social tokens and joint curves, concentrating resources and building incentive models around social token networks. These composable token mechanisms will not only drive the creator economy but also open up a new collaborative economy, compounding the value of social token networks. Additionally, Strata provides a software development kit, allowing users to flexibly adjust token attributes.

Official website: https://strataprotocol.com/

Related article: 《Hello World, Meet Strata》

5. Bridge Network

On April 7, the cross-chain communication protocol Bridge Network completed a $3.8 million financing round, with participation from FTX Ventures, MEXC Global, and others.

Bridge Network is building a cross-chain super dApp to enable seamless transactions between blockchain ecosystems. The Cross-Chain Protocol (CCP) aims to become a one-stop shop for all major cross-chain activities by providing users with the tools they may need to transact in a multi-chain world.

The Bridge Network platform features token bridging, NFT bridging, cross-chain swaps, and is addressing challenges such as fragmented user experiences, centralized cross-chain protocols, and asset scalability. The project is incubated by TDeFi in collaboration with a range of strategic partners, investors, and advisors. The mainnet is planned to launch in the second quarter of 2022.

Official website: https://www.bridgenetwork.com/

Related article: 《How to participate in the $BRDG Presale》

6. Taki

On April 7, the Solana ecosystem social network Taki completed a $3.45 million seed round financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, FTX, and others.

Taki is a token-powered social network that combines user tokens with social media features to incentivize and reward activities beneficial to the Taki community. Content creators and users can earn daily income by participating in community conversations.

Users earn crypto tokens TAKI by commenting and liking posts, and provide additional rewards for those who create posts that engage others. All users can create their own cryptocurrency on the Taki platform to facilitate deeper engagement and potentially increase income as their popularity grows.

Official website: https://taki.app/

Related article: 《Taki Whitepaper》

7. Lovo

On April 7, AI voice NFT startup Lovo announced the completion of a total of $6.5 million in Pre-A round financing, led by Hashed, with participation from PKO Investments and angel investors such as Yat Siu (founder of Animoca Brands).

Lovo aims to provide Web3 users with AI voice packs in NFT form for use in games, applications, and even Discord. CEO Choi views voice NFTs as items in games, similar to how characters currently change their outfits in virtual worlds. While voice changers have existed in gaming circles for years, Lovo offers a more humanized and unique alternative.

In January, Lovo launched 8,888 Voiceverse NFTs, which sold out quickly, with each NFT containing a unique voice created from recordings authorized by 100 real voice actors, with creators earning royalties each time the NFT is traded.

Official website: https://www.lovo.ai/

Related article: 《4 Facts About AI Voice You Should Know》

8. Joyn

On April 8, the Web3 creator collaboration platform Joyn raised $3.5 million in its seed round financing, led by IOSG Ventures and GBV Capital, with participation from ConsenSys, Axia8 Ventures, and others. This round of financing will be used to scale the platform and fund community development. Joyn is currently preparing to launch its closed alpha, where the first collaborative project will be incubated.

Developed by Chestr Labs, Joyn is a creative hub that allows for open co-creation to share, refine, and remix ideas. At its core, it provides creators with the tools and community support needed for projects from concept to launch, allowing any creator to become a project producer on the platform.

Joyn offers creators project management blueprints, Web3 technical solutions, and talent, team, and community incubation services. Creators and community members can co-create, share, and develop their works on the Joyn platform. Additionally, the platform provides solutions such as minting, marketing, and project support.

Official website: https://www.joyn.xyz/

Related article: 《Introducing the Joyn Community》

9. Shrapnel

On April 11, the shooting-based blockchain game Shrapnel, built on Avalanche, completed a $7 million financing round through token sales, with participation from Dragonfly and Three Arrows Capital.

Shrapnel is an AAA FPS game where skill-based competition, creative modification tools, and true digital ownership are supported by blockchain technology, aiming to provide players with a competitive first-person multiplayer experience. Shrapnel offers rich player creation tools that combine combat, creation, management, and connection.

Official website: https://www.shrapnel.com/

Related article: 《Catching Up With SHRAPNEL》

10. Vovo Finance

On April 12, the Ethereum Layer 2 structured product protocol Vovo Finance secured $2 million in seed round financing, led by IOSG Ventures, with participation from imToken, Kyber Network, and others.

Vovo Finance aims to establish DeFi structured products on Arbitrum, addressing risks of centralized options vaults or liquidity shortages, limited options restricted to Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and a limited variety of structured products, while expanding other functionalities, including risk levels, market biases, lock-up periods, and token deposits.

Vovo Finance launched the first PPP in the DeFi space: Principal Protected Product. This product can earn yields from Curve and engage in high-leverage trading on GMX. Future products based on GMX token GLP and a series of yield-enhancing products will be launched.

Official website: https://vovo.finance/

Related article: 《Announcing Vovo: Structuring Money Legos for Customizable Yield》

11. Blast Royale

On April 13, the NFT blockchain game Blast Royale announced the completion of a $5 million seed round financing, led by Animoca Brands and Mechanism Capital, with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Polygon, and others.

The project is a new generation of video games where players compete against each other in a "last standing" battle royale survival match. Additionally, players' meta inventories will affect the quality of items carried in the match. Players are rewarded based on their performance, time invested, and overall effort.

The platform will launch a testnet by the end of the second quarter of this year, allowing users to equip NFTs for their characters and participate in the battle royale, earning "Craft Spice" to enhance their gear.

Official website: https://blastroyale.com/

Related article: 《Blast Royale Whitepaper》

12. Core Loop

On April 13, the sandbox MMO Core Loop announced the completion of a $4 million seed round financing, led by a16z, with participation from Alchemy Ventures, CoinList, and others.

Core Loop is a next-generation sandbox MMO with a player-driven economy and blockchain integration, where players can slay massive raid bosses and conquer territories in a vibrant, ever-changing world. The team is innovating in many different areas, including designing an AI-driven dynamic world, where the game's economy will be player-driven, allowing participants to truly own the assets they create/earn and potentially make a living in the game long-term.

Official website: https://coreloop.ai/

Related article: 《Investing in Core Loop》

13. Elumia

On April 14, the Solana ecosystem P2E blockchain game Elumia announced the completion of a new round of financing, led by Alameda Research and Animoca Brands, with participation from Guilds YGG SEA, GuildFi, and others.

Elumia is a P2E massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that offers players various challenges through multiple world regions, deep multiplayer dungeons, and player-versus-player combat. Owning characters, equipment, land, and buildings will greatly alter dynamics and engagement.

Elumia has also launched a virtual world, Elumia City, allowing players to own land and place and customize their buildings, which can be bought and sold on the Elumia marketplace. Elumia plans to launch its first Alpha version in the second quarter of 2022.

Official website: https://www.elumia.io/

Related article: 《Introduction to ELUMIA》