Last week, the cryptocurrency market saw a total of 32 public financing events, with both the financing rounds and total amount significantly increasing | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

RootData
2023-12-18 09:15:54
Collection
Three Bitcoin ecosystem projects have completed financing, namely the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol Tap Protocol supporting OrdFi, the DeFi solution bitSmiley, and the Bitcoin Layer2 network Dovi.

Organizer: Cookies, RootData

According to incomplete statistics from RootData, during the period from December 11 to December 17, 2023, there were a total of 32 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a cumulative financing amount of approximately $324.75 million, showing a significant increase in both the number of financing rounds and the total amount.

From the perspective of track distribution, the projects that received financing are mainly distributed in the infrastructure, DeFi, and social entertainment tracks. Notable projects include Canaan Creative successfully raising a total of $25 million, and the Web3 division LineNext of the instant messaging application Line completing a $140 million financing round led by Crescendo Equity Partners.

In addition, the French investment firm Axeleo Capital announced that its second fund, AXC2, has completed a €73 million financing round, focusing on investing in startups in areas such as next-generation B2B software, artificial intelligence, new data applications, blockchain, and fintech, with individual investment sizes expected to range from €200,000 to €2 million.


*(List of projects with financing greater than $5 million last week, data source: * Rootdata



I. Infrastructure


1. Decentralized infrastructure Hivello completes $1 million financing, Blockchain Founders Fund and others participate
Blockchain Founders Fund's decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) Hivello announced the completion of a $1 million pre-seed financing round. This strategic investment was supported by NGC, Blockchain Founders Fund, Side Door Ventures, IDG, Bing Ventures, MEXC Exchange, XT.com Exchange, Genesis Block, and NxGen. (Source link)

2. NodeKit completes $1.2 million pre-seed financing, developing Avalanche-based Rollup network SEQ
The NodeKit team, focused on the Avalanche network, has completed a $1.2 million pre-seed financing round, led by Borderless Capital, with participation from Avalanche Blizzard Fund, Polygon Ventures, and Wormhole Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund.

NodeKit is currently developing SEQ—a shared sequencer Layer 1 network designed to help Rollup chains launch and decentralize their transaction ordering. SEQ will operate as an independent blockchain or subnet within the Avalanche ecosystem.

It is reported that most existing rollup chains in the Ethereum ecosystem will be compatible with SEQ on the software side, including smart contract rollups (such as ZK and optimistic) and frameworks like OP Stack. Additionally, rollups integrated with SEQ will gain cross-chain interoperability. The design of SEQ will also support various data availability layers, such as Celestia. (Source link)

3. Andalusia Labs completes $48 million Series A financing at a $1 billion valuation, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners
Andalusia Labs, focused on digital asset risk infrastructure (formerly RiskHarbor), has completed a $48 million Series A financing round, approaching a valuation of $1 billion. This round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Mubadala Capital, Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Digital Currency Group.

Alongside raising new funds, Andalusia Labs has also established its global headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Co-founder Raouf Ben-Har stated that the funds will be used for product development and team expansion. To date, the company has raised approximately $51 million. (Source link)

4. Web3 authentication platform Dynamic completes $13.5 million financing, led by a16z and Founders Fund
Web3 authentication startup Dynamic has completed $13.5 million in financing, led by a16z and Founders Fund. Most of the new funds will be used for hiring engineers, with some allocated for marketing. Dynamic Labs was founded by MIT graduates Itai Turbahn and Yoni Goldberg, who serve as CEO and CTO, respectively.

Dynamic Labs aims to provide technology for cryptocurrency and non-cryptocurrency companies to create a seamless login experience powered by digital wallets, with clients including NFT company Doodles and blockchain analytics platform Flooz. Previously, it was reported that Dynamic completed a $7.5 million seed round in 2022, led by a16z. (Source link)

5. Ethereum Layer 2 project Enphyr completes $1 million seed financing at a $10 million valuation, led by Waveslab Ventures
Layer 2 solution Enphyr, built on the Ethereum network, announced the completion of a $1 million seed financing round at a $10 million valuation, led by Waveslab Ventures. (Source link)

6. Bitcoin ecosystem project Tap Protocol completes $4.2 million financing, led by Sora Ventures
The Bitcoin ecosystem project Tap Protocol has completed $4.2 million in financing, led by Sora Ventures, with participation from Cypher Capital, Rw3, Oak Grove Capital, Perock Capital, Kosmos Ventures, New Tribe Capital, Cogitent Ventures, Compute Ventures, MSA Novo, and angel investors including executives from Animoca Brands and Quantstamp. Tap Protocol is a product of the German company Trac Systems, and this financing will support significant growth for the company.

Tap Protocol offers a range of features, including the splitting of inscriptions and enabling DeFi applications on inscriptions. The protocol aims to discover and track ordinals, facilitating OrdFi applications without the need for complex Layer 2 layers. (Source link)

7. Japanese stablecoin technology provider GUGroup completes $2.9 million financing, with participation from B Dash Ventures
Japanese stablecoin technology provider GUGroup has completed a financing round of 420 million yen (approximately $2.9 million), with participation from Japanese investment firm B Dash Ventures. GUGroup also raised part of the funds by selling tokens to some overseas investors.

GUGroup owns the stablecoin issuance solution subsidiary GUCoin Studio, which has launched stablecoin pilot projects with three financial institutions: Shikoku Bank, Fukuoka Financial Digital Bank Minna no Bank, and Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group. GUGroup is also the initiator of the Ethereum-compatible chain Japan Open Chain, which currently includes companies like Sony subsidiary Corgear, NTT Docomo, and Dentsu as validator nodes on the blockchain. (Source link)

8. Web3 data-driven influencer network Aki Network completes Series A financing at a $50 million valuation, led by MARBLEX
Data-driven Web3 influencer network Aki Network has completed Series A financing at a $50 million valuation, with the amount undisclosed.

It is reported that this round was led by the Korean Web3 gaming platform MARBLEX and a Japanese venture capital firm, with participation from Puzzle Ventures and others. Aki Protocol plans to conduct multiple rounds of AKI token airdrops. (Source link)

II. CeFi

1. Digital bank Pave Bank completes $5.2 million financing, led by 468 Capital
Digital bank Pave Bank has completed $5.2 million in financing, led by 468 Capital, with participation from Quona Capital, Financial Technology Partners, BR Capital, w3.fund, Daedalus, and several angel investors.

It is reported that Pave Bank is innovating the concept of programmable currency. Pave Bank obtained its first banking license in Georgia and plans to start attracting customers in the first quarter of next year. (Source link)

2. Institutional-grade crypto trading platform Rulematch completes $14 million financing, with participation from Flow Traders
Institutional-grade crypto trading platform Rulematch, launched by former Credit Suisse private banking executive David Riegelnig, has completed $14 million in financing, with participation from ConsenSys Mesh, Flow Traders, and FiveT Fintech. A new round of financing is currently underway.

It is reported that the platform primarily targets banks and securities firms and has begun trading Bitcoin and Ethereum. It is now open to clients in most EU countries, the UK, and Singapore. (Source link)

3. Canaan Creative completes $150 million preferred stock financing first round, successfully raising $25 million
Canaan Creative announced the completion of the first round of previously announced preferred stock financing, successfully raising a total of $25 million.

On November 27, 2023, Canaan Creative signed a securities purchase agreement with an institutional investor, under which Canaan Creative will issue and sell up to 125,000 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock at a price of $1,000 per share. In the first round of preferred stock financing, Canaan Creative issued 25,000 preferred shares at a price of $1,000 per share and delivered 8,000,000 American Depositary Shares (ADS) through Bank of New York Mellon, each representing 15 shares of Canaan Creative's Class A common stock, with each ADS priced at $0.00000075.

Canaan Creative plans to use the net proceeds from this securities sale for research and development, scaling production, and other general corporate purposes. (Source link)

4. Digital asset exchange GFO-X completes $30 million Series B financing, led by M&G Investments
UK digital asset exchange GFO-X has completed $30 million in Series B financing, led by M&G Investments, and will join the board of Global Futures and Options (GFO) Holdings. This round of financing will fund GFO-X's upcoming product launches. (Source link)

III. DeFi

1. Decentralized derivatives infrastructure EthosX completes $1.8 million new financing round, with participation from Franklin Templeton
Decentralized derivatives infrastructure EthosX announced the completion of a $1.8 million new financing round, with investors including Y Combinator, Franklin Templeton, Ascensive Assets, Emurgo Ventures, Stacker VC, Sudo Research, Token Metrics Ventures, Cogitent Ventures, Asymmetry VC, and Upsparks VC.

EthosX was founded in 2022 by Deepanshu, a former vice president of global derivatives clearing at JPMorgan, and is a selected team in Binance Labs' sixth season MVB accelerator program, primarily providing automated and non-custodial clearing and settlement services for financial derivatives. (Source link)

2. Bitcoin ecosystem DeFi solution bitSmiley completes financing, led by ABCDE and OKX Venture
Bitcoin ecosystem DeFi solution bitSmiley announced the completion of a financing round, led by ABCDE and OKX Venture. It is reported that BitSmiley is the MakerDAO + Compound of the Bitcoin ecosystem, providing a comprehensive solution for Bitcoin DeFi, filling the current gap in the Bitcoin ecosystem for "stablecoin" + "lending" infrastructure. In addition to providing a BTC-over-collateralized compatible BRC20 bitRC20 format stablecoin, BitSmiley also offers peer-to-peer lending based on BRC20. (Source link)

3. Ordinals lending solution Liquidium completes $1.25 million Pre-Seed financing, with participation from Sora Ventures
Bitcoin Ordinals lending solution Liquidium has completed $1.25 million in Pre-Seed financing, with participation from Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Side Door Ventures, Actai Ventures, Sora Ventures, Spicy Capital, and UTXO Management.

It is reported that Liquidium is a P2P lending protocol that operates specifically on the Bitcoin blockchain, allowing users to use native ordinal inscriptions as collateral to lend and borrow native Bitcoin. (Source link)

4. Crypto startup Spielworks completes strategic financing, with participation from The Hashgraph Association
Crypto startup Spielworks, focused on DeFi and gaming, has completed strategic financing, with participation from the Swiss non-profit organization The Hashgraph Association (THA), with the specific financing amount not disclosed.

It is reported that this round of financing will be used to acquire the NFT one-stop platform Atomic Hub, while accelerating the expansion of its Web3 gaming ecosystem using Hedera's high-performance open-source public ledger and reducing transaction costs for blockchain game players. The Hashgraph Association will also provide support for Spielworks in areas such as game business publishing development, commercialization, and future financing. (Source link)

IV. NFT

1. NFT perpetual contract trading platform nftperp completes $3 million Series A financing, led by 1kx
NFT perpetual contract trading platform nftperp announced the completion of $3 million in Series A financing, led by 1kx, with participation from Maven 11, Mechanism Capital, and angel investors Spencer from Spencer Ventures, Gmoney, David Choi from MetaStreet, Nick Emmons from Upshot, and Jonathan Gabler from NFTfi. (Source link)

2. Metagood completes $5 million seed financing, led by Sora Ventures
Blockchain technology and digital asset company Metagood announced the completion of $5 million in seed financing. This round was led by Sora Ventures, with participation from ACTAI Ventures, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Bitcoin Magazine Fund, London Real Ventures, and Peach.xyz.

The new funds will support the development of new technologies and products for Osura, as well as marketing and collaborations with artists. (Source link)

3. Web3 division LineNext of instant messaging application Line completes $140 million financing, led by Crescendo Equity Partners
The Web3 division LineNext of the Japanese messaging application Line has completed $140 million in financing, led by Crescendo Equity Partners, a South Korean private equity firm supported by Peter Thiel. The funds will be used to expand its Web3 platform.

Before this new round of financing, LineNext launched a browser-only beta service on its NFT platform DOSI—a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace. LineNext business head Woosuk Kim stated, "So far, LineNext has focused on evaluating the potential of various Web 3 services, such as NFT platforms, avatar features, games, and entertainment." (Source link)

V. Gaming

1. Blockchain game studio Farcana completes $10 million seed financing, with participation from Polygon Ventures
According to Decrypt, UAE-based blockchain game studio Farcana has raised $10 million in seed funding from investors including Animoca Brands, Polygon Ventures, and Fenbushi Capital to further develop its third-person multiplayer shooter game Farcana. Rarestone Capital, MMPro Trust, Unpopular Ventures, Kapo Capital, Emchain, Hasu Capital, and Dravus Investment also participated in this round of financing.

It is reported that Farcana's gameplay style is somewhat similar to Blizzard's Overwatch, but with smaller maps, walls, and game modes reminiscent of Riot Games' Valorant. Farcana's storyline is set in a near-future world where humanity has left Earth for Mars and discovered a substance called Axelar that grants superpowers. Farcana plans to offer features such as competitions where players can earn Bitcoin, rewarding the top 10% of players. All items in the game will exist as NFTs, and Farcana will use the FAR token for all transactions. (Source link)

VI. Social Entertainment

1. Web3 social platform Seam Social completes $2.5 million seed financing, led by 1kx
Web3 social platform Seam Social has completed $2.5 million in seed financing, led by 1kx, with participation from Seed Club Ventures, Sfermion, F7 Ventures, and Social Graph Ventures. The funds will be used to build the marketplace, attract developers to create new mini-apps, launch a mobile app, and expand the team to create customizable and user-owned social media.

It is reported that the Seam platform was founded in 2022 by former Meta engineer Nick Confrey, allowing users to create custom profiles, add close friends, and share life updates. Seam hosts a marketplace for user-created mini-apps, themes, and templates, where users earn Seam points and can use them to customize their profiles by unlocking mini-apps created by friends. (Source link)

2. Matr1x completes new financing round, fully funded by OKX Ventures
Web3 entertainment platform Matr1x announced the completion of a new financing round (A2+ round), with the specific amount not disclosed. The only investor in this round is OKX Ventures.

According to RootData, the Web3 shooting mobile game Matr1x FIRE announced the completion of $10 million in A-2 financing, co-led by Folius Ventures and SevenX, with participation from ABCDE Capital, Jambo, Initiate Capital, and Find Satoshi Lab (the maker of Stepn and the upcoming Gas Hero game), bringing the total financing amount to $20 million. (Source link)

3. Web3 social platform /Reach completes seed financing, with participation from Seedphrase and others
Web3 social platform /Reach announced the completion of seed financing, with investors including Seedphrase, Zeneca, Pranksy, Gmoney, Dingaling, and Mooncat2878.

The company's co-founders L'anamour and 8an stated that they aim to change the status quo of Twitter as the center of the crypto community. /Reach hopes to leverage social finance innovations to address some of the prominent issues faced by social media platforms. (Source link)

VII. Others

1. Bitcoin cashback platform Lolli completes $8 million Series B financing, led by BITKRAFT Ventures
Bitcoin cashback platform Lolli has completed $8 million in Series B financing, led by BITKRAFT Ventures, with participation from Sfermion, Prisma Ventures of Ulta Beauty, Hypersphere Ventures, Rahul Pagidipati (CEO of ZebPay), 2 Punks Capital, MZ Web3 Fund, Seven Seven Six, Pathfinder Ventures of Founders Fund, Bain Capital Ventures, Serena Ventures of Serena Williams, and Night Media of Logan Paul and MrBeast.

The new funds will be used to launch Lolli's rewards program to business partners such as exchanges, new banks, banks, payment companies, and browsers. (Source link)

2. On-chain security monitoring company Hackless completes $1.2 million private placement financing, with participation from DAO Maker
On-chain security monitoring startup Hackless announced the completion of $1.2 million in private placement financing, with participation from DAO Maker, Insignius Capital, Cosima Capital, DeltaHub Capital, Factial, and Halvings Capital. Hackless primarily provides blockchain security services in the digital asset and DeFi sectors, and the new funds will be used to accelerate the development of its security solutions Wallet Rescue and Sentinel. (Source link)

3. Learn to Earn platform Intract completes $3 million financing, led by Alpha Wave Global
Learn to Earn platform Intract announced the completion of $3 million in financing, led by Alpha Wave Global, BITKRAFT Ventures, and Gumi Cryptos, with participation from Polygon Ventures, Tokentus, MoonPay, and Web3 Studios.

Intract claims to have over 2 million active users, helping users explore new projects in various verticals of Web3. Users are attracted to learn about these projects through activities called "tasks" and are incentivized to complete certain tasks to earn rewards. (Source link)

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