Last week, there were a total of 17 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, with 8 projects raising over 10 million dollars | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

Organizer: Xiangxiang Xi, ChainCatcher

According to incomplete statistics from ChainCatcher, during the period from March 20 to March 26, 2023, there were a total of 17 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a cumulative financing amount of approximately 235.2 million USD. The number of financing events remained roughly the same as the previous week, but the total amount increased significantly, with 8 financing events exceeding 10 million USD.

In terms of sector distribution, gaming, infrastructure, and CeFi were the popular sectors last week. There were 2 gaming projects with a total financing of 70 million USD; 4 infrastructure projects with a cumulative financing of approximately 64.5 million USD; and 6 CeFi projects with a cumulative financing of approximately 50.5 million USD.

In terms of financing rounds and scales, early-stage projects accounted for the largest share, with 8 financing rounds belonging to seed funding, but 8 financing rounds exceeded 10 million USD. The three projects with the largest financing amounts were independent game developer CCP Games (40 million USD), decentralized internet alternative tomi (40 million USD), and crypto collectible game Aavegotchi (30 million USD).

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

1. Gaming

1. Blockchain game CCP Games raises 40 million USD, led by a16z

According to Venturebeat, CCP Games announced that it has raised 40 million USD to develop a new AAA blockchain game set in the Eve Online universe. Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) led the round, with participation from Makers Fund, Bitkraft, Kingsway Capital, Nexon, Hashed, and others.

CCP Games CEO Hilmar Veigar stated that this funding will enable CCP Games to leverage its R&D team's discoveries to fully develop a new AAA game using blockchain technology. (Source link)

2. Aavegotchi developer Pixelcraft Studios raises 30 million USD in token financing

Metaverse game Aavegotchi's developer Pixelcraft Studios announced on Monday that it has successfully completed a long-term token sale, raising a total of 30 million USD.

It is reported that the Aavegotchi token GHST has been sold through a DAICO (Decentralized Autonomous ICO) since September 14, 2020, without direct participation from venture capital or angel investors. Due to the uncertainty of the DAI stablecoin's stability, AavegotchiDAO voted to terminate the sale.

The funds will be distributed among community participants, with Pixelcraft Studios, the main developer of Aavegotchi, receiving 25%, or 7.5 million USD, and the DAO treasury receiving the remaining 22.5 million USD. All funds will be specifically used for development, marketing, providing liquidity, or protocol rewards. (PRNews)

2. Infrastructure

1. Crypto infrastructure Turnkey completes 7.5 million USD seed round financing, with participation from Sequoia Capital and Coinbase

Crypto infrastructure Turnkey has completed a 7.5 million USD seed round financing, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Variant, and Coinbase.

Turnkey was founded by a team of former Coinbase Custody executives to provide the infrastructure for the crypto industry, which handles trillions of on-chain transactions. Its goal is to become the preferred tool for developers, allowing users to "generate hundreds of wallets and sign thousands of transactions on any chain." (The Block)

2. Middleware platform Particle Network raises 7 million USD, with participation from Animoca Brands

Middleware platform Particle Network announced that it has completed a 7 million USD financing round, with participation from Animoca Brands, Longhash Ventures, GSR Ventures, OP Crypto, HashKey, and ArkStream.

Particle Network was established early last year, and its core product is a login and wallet middleware solution that helps developers integrate user-friendly Web3 authentication solutions into their decentralized applications. (Source link)

3. CeFi

1. Turkish crypto exchange Metatime completes 11 million USD seed round financing

Turkey-based cryptocurrency exchange Metatime announced that it has completed 11 million USD in seed round financing through equity and token sales, with participation from Turkish investment company Yildiz Tekno GSYO and several unnamed angel investors. It is reported that Yildiz invested 150,000 USD to purchase 1% equity in Metatime, with the remaining funds provided by angel investors in the token financing.

Metatime is a cryptocurrency startup based in Istanbul, preparing to launch various products and services, including a cryptocurrency exchange, wallet, NFT marketplace, local blockchain, and stablecoin, which have not yet been launched. (The Block)

2. Crypto trading firm Auros secures 17 million USD financing after terminating temporary liquidation process

Crypto trading firm Auros Global announced that it received a court order last week to terminate the temporary liquidation process, undergo significant debt restructuring, and secured 17 million USD in financing led by traditional high-frequency trading firm Vivienne Court Trading and publicly listed Bitcoin mining company Bit Digital (BTBT).

It is reported that Auros faced liquidity issues last November due to the impact of FTX, with approximately 20 million USD in digital assets trapped on FTX and failing to repay about 18 million USD in DeFi loans. (Source link)

3. Crypto custody wallet Gryfyn raises 7.8 million USD, with participation from Animoca Ventures

Crypto custody wallet Gryfyn has raised 7.8 million USD, with participation from Liberty City Ventures, GameFi Ventures, Lavender Hill Capital Partners, Mind Fund, Animoca Ventures, LeadBlock Partners, Angel Hub, Brinc, and angel investor Gabby Dizon.

It is reported that Gryfyn is a joint venture between Animoca Brands and Hex Trust, aimed at providing a custody crypto wallet. Arnoldo Concepción, co-CEO of Animoca Brands, has been announced as the CEO of Gryfyn. (Source link)

4. Digital asset trading company Crossover Markets completes 6.35 million USD seed round financing, with participation from Wintermute Ventures

Digital asset trading company Crossover Markets has completed 6.35 million USD in seed round financing, with participation from Two Sigma, Flow Traders, Laser Digital, and Wintermute Ventures.
Previous report states that digital asset trading technology company Crossover Markets Group completed seed round financing and is launching a new cryptocurrency trading venue, CrossX, to meet the liquidity needs of institutions participating in the crypto market. (The Block)

5. Web3 investment platform TradeTogether completes 2 million USD seed round financing, led by Orbit Startups

Singapore-based Web3 investment platform TradeTogether announced that it has completed 2 million USD in seed round financing, led by Orbit Startups, a venture capital firm under SOSV.

TradeTogether provides tailored Web3 asset management solutions for qualified investors, institutions, and merchants, allowing clients to diversify investments in token baskets, digital bonds, and other tokenized solutions and Web3 structured products, with partners including UBS, Julius Baer, and Six. (Source link)

4. NFT

1. AI-based Web3 platform OP3N raises 28 million USD in Series A financing, led by Animoca Brands

Web3 AI-based platform OP3N has completed 28 million USD in Series A financing, led by Animoca Brands, with investments from Dragonfly Capital, SuperScrypt, Creative Artists Agency, New Enterprise Associates, Connect Ventures, Republic Crypto, Avalanche's Blizzard Fund, Galaxy Digital, and Warner Music Interactive. Other investors include GSR Markets, The Spartan Group, BRV Capital Management, and NBA player Russell Westbrook. The company is valued at 100 million USD. The new funds will be used for further development of its application and to strengthen its leadership team.

It is reported that OP3N's chat-based product Superapp aims to bridge the gap between Web 2.0 and Web3 by implementing blockchain and decentralized technology into a Web 2.0-friendly interface. The application will be able to add audio, video, and mixed media content to on-chain interactions, allowing users to have a "one-stop" experience.

Additionally, according to crypto data platform RootData, OP3N completed 10 million USD in seed round financing in December 2021, with investors including Goodwater Capital, Soma Capital, 500 Global, WhaleShark, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, and The Sandbox co-founder and COO Sébastien Borget. (Source link)

5. DeFi

1. Market maker DWF Labs invests 20 million USD in Synthetix

The treasury committee of the synthetic asset protocol Synthetix announced via email on Monday that market maker and investment firm DWF Labs purchased 15 million USD worth of Synthetix's native token SNX on March 16, followed by an additional 5 million USD purchase. This investment will make DWF Labs one of the main liquidity providers for the Synthetix protocol.

Previous news reported that DWF Labs reached an agreement with the Synthetix treasury committee to provide liquidity and market making for SNX on centralized and decentralized exchanges. (CoinDesk)

6. Others

1. Carbon credit tracking protocol Carbonable based on StarkNet completes 1.2 million USD seed round financing, led by Ethereal Ventures

According to Coindesk, the carbon credit tracking protocol Carbonable, launched on Ethereum's Layer 2 scaling system StarkNet, has completed 1.2 million USD in seed round financing, led by Ethereal Ventures and La Poste Ventures, with participation from Starkware.

It is reported that Carbonable aims to track the lifecycle of carbon credits, including various stages from project selection to monitoring, issuance, and retirement of carbon credits. (Source link)