Last week, there were a total of 14 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, with both the number of financing deals and the total amount significantly decreasing | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

整理：Cookies, RootData

According to incomplete statistics from RootData, between July 3 and July 9, 2023, there were a total of 14 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a cumulative financing amount of approximately $49.15 million. The total number and amount of financing events this week have significantly decreased, reaching a new low for the year.

From the distribution of sectors, infrastructure was the popular sector last week, with a total of 5 infrastructure projects receiving financing, amounting to approximately $11.1 million.

In terms of financing rounds and scales, early-stage projects accounted for the majority, with a total of 6 seed round financings. The most impactful financing was the $3 million seed round financing completed by the programmable privacy solution Ola, and the Layer1 project Shardeum completed a $5.4 million strategic financing at a valuation of $248 million.

*（List of projects that completed financing last week, data source: * Rootdata）

I. CeFi

1. Thai cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub completes $17.8 million financing

Thailand-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitkub has agreed to sell 9.22% of the company to local game publisher Asphere Innovations for $17.8 million. This round of financing will be used to expand digital asset services in Thailand.

2. Digital asset service platform VersiFi completes seed round financing and partners with Hunting Hill Group

Digital asset service platform VersiFi has completed seed round financing, but the amount has not been disclosed. This financing was co-invested by Hunting Hill Group. In addition, Hunting Hill Group will provide valuable strategic guidance and support to VersiFi, becoming an active participant in the VersiFi platform.

II. Infrastructure

1. Programmable privacy solution Ola completes $3 million seed round financing, led by Web3.com Ventures and Foresight Ventures

The programmable privacy and scalability solution Ola has completed $3 million in seed round financing, co-led by Web3.com Ventures and Foresight Ventures, with participation from Token Metrics Ventures, J17 Capital, Skyland Ventures, LD Capital, CatcherVC, and others. It is reported that Ola plans to launch a Beta testnet in the third quarter and release a public testnet by the end of 2023.

2. Web3 DID credit protocol Getaverse completes $2.5 million financing

Web3 DID credit protocol Getaverse has completed $2.5 million in seed and institutional round financing, receiving investments from several well-known VC firms including Starry Sky Capital, LD Capital, YBB Foundation, ChainUp Capital, Hotcoin Global, AC Capital, IBG, Polkafund, Catcher VC, and BlockACE.

Getaverse, incubated by KuCoin Labs, aims to create a growth-oriented credit protocol based on Web3 DID for digital certification systems, providing credit value for building a blockchain society. Web3 projects can access and retrieve data through Getaverse's open API interface, including DEX, NFT, DeFi, GameFi, and other ecological applications.

3. Decentralized data storage startup Hello completes €170,000 Pre-Seed round financing, with participation from Casti Ventures

Decentralized data storage startup Hello has announced the completion of €170,000 ($183,000) in Pre-Seed round financing, with participation from Esade BAN, Casti Ventures, Bcombinator, and several European angel investors. The new financing will be used for product development and other strategic execution.

It is reported that Hello is an early-stage decentralized Web3 ecosystem, including applications, networks, and infrastructure based on blockchain technology, decentralized storage, and distributed databases. It aims to provide a sustainable, scalable, efficient, and user-controlled data storage method to address the limitations of traditional systems.

4. Digital identity ecosystem Aspecta receives strategic financing from Spartan Group

The AI-driven digital identity ecosystem Aspecta has received strategic financing from Spartan Group, with the amount undisclosed. Spartan will work with Aspecta to accelerate the development of the digital identity and developer ecosystem. Previously, Aspecta secured $3.5 million in seed round investment from globally renowned venture capital funds including ZhenFund, HashKey Capital, Foresight Ventures, and SNZ Holding.

5. Layer1 project Shardeum completes $5.4 million strategic financing at a valuation of $248 million, with participation from Amber Group and others

Layer1 project Shardeum has announced the completion of $5.4 million in strategic financing, with participation from Amber Group, Galxe, J17 Capital, TRGC, Jsquare, Bware Labs, Tané Labs, Hyperithm Group, and Luganodes. According to a representative from Shardeum, the company's latest valuation is $248 million, and this round of financing was initiated in March of this year, originally aiming to raise $5 million.

According to the crypto data platform RootData, Shardeum completed $18.2 million in seed round financing last October, with investors including Spartan Group, Big Brain Holdings, Jane Street, and Foresight Ventures.

III. Social

1. Decentralized social project Bluesky completes $8 million seed round financing, led by Neo

Decentralized social project Bluesky has announced the completion of $8 million in seed round financing, led by Neo, with participation from Joe Beda, co-founder of Kubernetes, Bob Young from Red Hat, Amjad Masad from Replit, Amir Shevat, Heather Meeker, and others.

The new funds will be used to expand the team and manage the increasing operational and infrastructure costs. At the same time, Bluesky has launched a paid service in partnership with domain registrar Namecheap to provide domain purchasing and management services.

2. Metaverse company GigaSpace completes new round of strategic financing, with participation from Find Satoshi Lab, the parent company of STEPN

Hong Kong-based metaverse company GigaSpace has announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing, with participation from Find Satoshi Lab, the parent company of STEPN, and the Web3 venture capital fund ProDigital Future Fund. The specific amount of this financing has not been disclosed. This round of financing will be used to promote the development of STEPN City, and Find Satoshi Lab will provide strategic guidance and resources to drive GigaSpace's growth and market share.

This round of financing serves as a foundation for the next round of strategic financing, with GigaSpace aiming to raise $3 million this year, and ProDigital Future Fund will lead the new round of strategic investment. GigaSpace will use these funds to accelerate business expansion.

IV. Tools

1. Crypto data analysis tool CryptoQuant's parent company completes $6.5 million Series A financing, led by Atinum Investment

The parent company of crypto data analysis tool CryptoQuant, Team Blackbird, has completed $6.5 million in Series A financing led by South Korea's Atinum Investment. It is reported that this financing brings the company's total financing to $9.5 million, with previous investments from Galaxy Interactive and Mirae Asset Capital.

V. AI + Web3

1. Data intelligence company Web3Go completes $4 million financing, led by Binance Labs, with participation from HashKey Capital and others

Blockchain startup Web3Go has completed $4 million in seed round financing. Binance Labs led the round, with participation from HashKey Capital, NGC Ventures, Shima Capital, IVC, LIF, Big Brain Holdings, and Archerman Capital.

Web3Go has launched the Data Intelligence Network (DIN) service, which opened for registration on July 5. This service is based on Crypto's AI-native digital asset rights confirmation solution, leveraging AI and big data infrastructure, allowing users to utilize on-chain and off-chain datasets, knowledge bases, and AI to create various types of AI-native digital assets. These digital assets include trading information streams, trading strategies, trading assistant bots, as well as entertainment, education, and social-type intelligent assistants; at the same time, the network uses blockchain to confirm the rights of AI-native digital assets.

2. Crypto startup SuperSight completes $1 million financing, with participation from Animoca Brands

Crypto startup SuperSight has announced the completion of $1 million in pre-seed financing, with participation from Blockchain Founders Fund, Animoca Brands, Druid Ventures, Emurgo, Next Gen Web 3, Vayner Fund, and others. It is reported that SuperSight is building a large language model (LLM) specific to cryptocurrency to simplify the process of discovering crypto data.

VI. Others

1. Digital asset transfer solution Bequest Finance completes $2.75 million financing, led by Nyca Partners

The digital asset transfer project Bequest Finance, focused on trusts and estates, has completed $2.75 million in financing, led by Nyca Partners. Bequest Finance stated that it has also received support from Mark Cuban and other fintech-focused companies.

Bequest claims to provide an innovative non-custodial digital asset management solution that simplifies the transfer of digital assets in trusts and estates. Additionally, with Bequest, estate planners can compliantly add digital assets to their clients' estate lists.

2. Multi-chain crypto app store Magic Square completes new round of strategic financing, with participation from EMURGO Ventures

Multi-chain crypto app store Magic Square has completed a new round of strategic financing, with participation from EMURGO Ventures, the venture capital arm of Cardano developers. The specific amount has not been disclosed.

ChainCatcher previously reported that the multi-chain crypto app store MagicSquare is planning to complete $4.4 million in a new round of token financing at a valuation of $120 million, with participation from Crypto.com.