This week, there were a total of 29 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, a slight increase compared to previous weeks | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

Organizer: Xi Angxiang

According to incomplete statistics from ChainCatcher, during the period from February 13 to February 19, 2023, there were a total of 29 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a cumulative financing amount of approximately $21.98 million. The number of financing events and the total amount have slightly increased compared to previous weeks, indicating a slight easing of market sentiment.

From the perspective of sector distribution, infrastructure, gaming, and DeFi are the popular sectors this week. There were a total of 11 infrastructure projects with a cumulative financing of approximately $15.35 million; 4 gaming projects with a cumulative financing of approximately $2.33 million; and 4 DeFi projects with a cumulative financing of approximately $1.3 million.

In terms of financing rounds and scales, early-stage projects accounted for the largest share, with 17 financing rounds ranging from $1 million to $10 million, and 13 financing rounds classified as seed rounds. The three projects with the largest financing amounts are digital asset infrastructure provider Taurus, blockchain and IoT-driven agricultural supply chain solution Grainchain, and high-performance Layer 1 blockchain Monad.

(This week's projects with financing amounts between $10 million and $100 million, data source: Rootdata)

1. Infrastructure

1. Agricultural blockchain technology company GrainChain completes $29 million financing

According to Ledgerinsights, Texas-based GrainChain announced a $29 million financing round. This includes $10 million from Overstock, which provided Series A and B funding for GrainChain through Medici Ventures. The Medici fund is now managed by Pelion Venture Partners on behalf of Overstock, which has committed to reinvest an additional $10 million from its own funds. Cougar Capital from Brigham Young University is one of the other funding participants. To date, GrainChain's total financing has approached $40 million.

Many of GrainChain's tens of thousands of users are small farmers in the U.S. or Latin America. The GrainChain system automatically collects data through IoT and mobile applications that can work offline. GrainChain provides a set of solutions for farmers and buyers, most of which are based on blockchain and smart contracts. This includes tracking data from seed to harvest, inventory management, logistics, and transaction management. (Source link)

2. Zero-knowledge proof hardware startup Cysic completes $6 million seed round financing, led by Polychain Capital

According to The Block, zero-knowledge proof hardware startup Cysic has completed a $6 million seed round financing, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Hashkey, SNZ Holding, ABCDE, A&T Capital, and Web3.com Foundation. Co-founder Leo Fan stated that the seed round financing concluded in December 2022. The funds will be used to expand the team and continue developing hardware solutions.

Cysic aims to provide hardware acceleration solutions for ZK proof protocols and already has 12 ecosystem partners, including Scroll, Nil Foundation, and Hyper Oracle. (Source link)

3. Web3 messaging platform Salsa completes $2 million Pre-Seed round financing and launches beta version

Web3 messaging platform Salsa has completed a $2 million Pre-Seed round financing, led by IDEO CoLab VC and Inflection.xyz, with participation from Superscrypt and angel investors Nader Al-Naji, Liam Horne, Dan Romero, Balaji Srinivasan, Henri Stern, Khan Tasinga, Patricio Worthalter, and Gmoney. This funding will help Salsa expand its newly launched mobile application to brands seeking crypto-native ways to engage audiences.

The Salsa mobile application is now in beta, helping users discover and connect with relevant people and brands. Additionally, Salsa has partnered with POAP to support the creation and claiming of POAP within its application, directly integrating with the POAP mobile app. (Source link)

4. Web3 communication project Sending Labs completes $12.5 million seed round financing, led by Insignia Venture Partners

According to The Block, Web3 communication project Sending Labs has completed a $12.5 million seed round financing, led by Insignia Venture Partners, MindWorks Capital, and Signum Capital, with participation from K3 Ventures, LingFeng Innovation Fund, UpHonest Capital, and Aipollo Investment. This financing round began last August, and the valuation has not been disclosed. The funds will be used to accelerate integration with other Layer 1 and Layer 2 solutions, with plans to add Avalanche and Arbitrum, as well as non-EVM chains like Solana and Sui. Remaining funds will also be used to develop industry-specific SDKs and launch a community ambassador program.

Sending Labs has also launched beta versions of two flagship products: the crypto chat platform SendingMe and the software development toolkit SendingNetwork for crypto application developers to build social features. (The Block)

5. Aura Network completes $4 million Pre-A round financing, led by Hashed and Coin98

Cosmos ecosystem NFT blockchain Aura Network has completed $4 million in Pre-A round financing, led by Hashed and Coin98, with participation from GuildFi, Istari Ventures, and K300 Ventures. The funds from this round will be used to continue driving the development of the Aura Network ecosystem. (Source link)

6. Digital identity verification platform Dentity completes seed round financing, led by Blockchange Ventures and AARP

Digital credential and ID verification platform Dentity has announced the completion of its seed round financing, led by Blockchange Ventures and the nonprofit organization AARP. Dentity leverages Web3 technologies, including blockchain, to ensure consumer privacy when verifying and storing identity information.

The Dentity web application provides verification capabilities for multiple use cases, including bank-grade KYC, social account verification, financial account verification, and credential verification. (Source link)

7. Blockchain interoperability protocol Orb Labs completes $4.5 million financing, led by Bain Capital Crypto

Blockchain interoperability protocol Orb Labs has announced the completion of $4.5 million in financing, led by Bain Capital Crypto, with participation from Shima Capital, 6th Man Ventures, Aves Lair, Newman Capital, Modular Capital, and SevenX Ventures.

Orb Labs plans to launch the cross-chain messaging protocol Earlybird, allowing developers to choose the most effective security model for their applications based on factors such as use case, cost, and speed. Orb Labs is also developing another product, MagicLane, which is an efficient, secure, and composable full-chain token and messaging platform built on Earlybird, providing developers with a shared security model that allows easy use of Earlybird without complex security configurations. (Source link)

8. EVM-compatible blockchain project Monad Labs completes $19 million seed round financing, led by Dragonfly Capital

EVM-compatible blockchain project Monad Labs, founded by former Jump Trading research head Keone Hon, has completed $19 million in seed round financing, led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Placeholder Capital, Lemniscap, Shima Capital, Finality Capital, and angel investors Naval Ravikant, Cobie, and Hasu.

The Monad blockchain is set to launch on the testnet in the coming months, with plans to deploy to the mainnet later this year. Monad will adopt a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and will be compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). In April 2022, Keone Hon announced his departure from Jump Trading to establish the EVM-compatible project Monad. (Source link)

9. Digital asset infrastructure company Taurus completes $65 million Series B financing, led by Credit Suisse

Swiss digital asset infrastructure company Taurus has completed $65 million in Series B financing, led by Credit Suisse, with participation from Arab Bank Switzerland and Investis.

Taurus focuses on providing digital asset services such as custody and tokenization for financial institutions in Europe. The company completed $11 million in Series A financing in April 2020. Taurus plans to open offices in Paris and Dubai in the coming months and then expand into Southeast Asia and the Americas. To this end, Taurus plans to increase its workforce from 60 to around 100 this year. (The Block)

10. "Rollup as a Service" platform Caldera raises $9 million, led by Sequoia and Dragonfly

Web3 infrastructure provider and "Rollup as a Service" platform Caldera has announced that it has raised $9 million in two rounds of financing, led by Sequoia Capital and Dragonfly, with participation from Neo, 1kx, Ethereal Ventures, and other angel investors. The funds will be used for hiring, partnerships, and integration.

Caldera enables anyone to launch and run dedicated, high-performance Layer 2 blockchain Rollups and operate lightweight, highly customizable blockchains while sharing Ethereum's security. By providing each application with its own "application Rollup," Caldera offers dedicated channels for application transactions, fundamentally reducing transaction costs and allowing projects to mitigate the risks of fee spikes and network disruptions. (Source link)

2. Gaming

1. Blockchain game Million on Mars completes $3.5 million seed round financing, led by Great South Gate

According to VentureBeat, blockchain game Million on Mars has completed $3.5 million in seed round financing, led by Great South Gate and Widus Partners, with participation from Solana Labs. The financing will support its blockchain-based space simulation, adding more systems and virtual environments to the game. The game can run on the Solana and Wax blockchains. (Source link)

2. Web3 game studio Unagi completes $5 million seed round financing, led by Sisu Game Ventures

Web3 game studio Unagi has completed $5 million in seed round financing, led by Sisu Game Ventures, with participation from Sfermion, Signum Capital, and 2B Ventures. The financing will be used to increase its team size from 25 to 40 to ensure new partnerships and enhance marketing efforts.

Previously reported, Unagi received $4.2 million from Binance Labs. The total financing amount is now $12.3 million. (Source link)

3. YGG completes $13.8 million financing, with participation from a16z Crypto and DWF Labs

According to Tech in Asia, gaming guild Yield Guild Games (YGG) has raised $13.8 million through a token sale, with participation from DWF Labs and a16z Crypto. YGG co-founder Gabby Dizon revealed that YGG will use the new funds to further develop its soulbound reputation tokens. (Source link)

3. DeFi

1. Crypto index startup Alongside completes $11 million financing, led by a16z

According to TechCrunch, crypto index platform Alongside has completed $11 million in financing, led by a16z, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Franklin Templeton Investments, Village Global, Not Boring Capital, and several angel investors.

In January of this year, the startup launched its first product, the Alongside Crypto Market Index (AMKT), allowing people to access the entire crypto asset market through a single token. (Source link)

4. Social Entertainment

1. Social gaming metaverse Phi completes $2 million seed round financing, led by Chapter One and Delphi Digital

The social gaming metaverse Phi has announced the completion of $2 million in seed round financing, led by Chapter One and Delphi Digital, with follow-on investments from Polygon Ventures, Mask Network, Next Web Capital, GBV Capital, and individual investors including Stani Kulechov, Anthony Sassano, Ryan Sean Adams, and David Hoffman.

Phi is an immersive social gaming world focused on on-chain activities, gamifying the blockchain itself and enabling easy visualization of "on-chain identities." It encourages people to interact with various Web3 protocols, providing positive feedback for all protocols and accelerating the overall network effect of the Web3 ecosystem. Its goal is to accelerate the mass adoption of the entire Web3 ecosystem by providing casual touchpoints in social, gaming, and art. (Source link)

2. Decentralized social platform Zion raises $6 million in financing, led by XBTO Humla Ventures

Miami-based decentralized social platform Zion has completed $6 million in financing at a valuation of $53 million, led by XBTO Humla Ventures, with participation from Kingsway Capital, Bitcoiner Ventures, UTXO Management, and investors including Tony Robbins, Aaron Rodgers, Aubrey Marcus, Mark Moss, Cory Klippsten, Robert Breedlove, Shawn Stevenson, Dan Held, Griffin Johnson, Anthony Pompliano, and Donald Park.

The Zion protocol aims to allow creators to own their communities while users can control their online identities. It is based on Jack Dorsey's Block's Web5 standard and the Bitcoin Lightning Network. The waitlist for Zion's v2 application has over 60,000 users. Zion claims to have served over 3,000 creators while processing over 120,000 transactions between creators and fans using the Lightning Network. (Source link)

5. Tools

1. Blockchain tool provider Modular Cloud completes $1.7 million Pre-Seed round financing, co-led by Maven 11 and Blockchain Capital

According to The Block, blockchain tool provider Modular Cloud completed $1.7 million in Pre-Seed round financing last year, co-led by Maven 11 and Blockchain Capital, with participation from NFX, the Celestia Foundation, and Eclipse. The funds will be used to build a block explorer for modular blockchains and hire staff. Currently, Modular Cloud is operated solely by its two co-founders. (Source link)

6. NFT

1. NFT derivatives DEX NFEX completes $3 million financing, led by ABCDE Capital

NFT derivatives DEX NFEX has completed $3 million in seed round financing, led by ABCDE Capital, with participation from Amber Group and Firestone Ventures. (Source link)

7. Others

1. Web3 security company Stelo Labs completes $6 million seed round financing, led by a16z

According to TechCrunch, Web3 security company Stelo Labs has completed $6 million in seed round financing, led by a16z. The funds will be used to expand the team and its products, moving beyond the Google Chrome extension to meet user needs.

Stelo Labs launched the Stelo extension last September to help users protect their wallets from scams and phishing attacks. Stelo currently supports Ethereum and hopes to expand to other EVM-compatible chains in the future. (Source link)

2. Blockchain cybersecurity platform Ironblocks completes $7 million financing

According to The Block, blockchain cybersecurity platform Ironblocks has completed $7 million in seed round financing, co-led by Collider Ventures and Disruptive AI, with participation from Samsung Next, Quantstamp, and ParaFi. Individual investors include former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan and Simplex co-founder Nimrod Lehavi. Ironblocks' co-founders Or Dadosh and Assaf Eli previously worked on the Bancor team, and Ironblocks aims to support activity checks across multiple protocols or applications. (Source link)