December Financing Project Review: 98 financing events in December, with an amount exceeding 909 million USD

Author: Web3 Market Research Institute

Financing Overview

In December 2023, a total of 98 financing events were recorded, an increase of 78 events compared to last month. The infrastructure sector had the most financing events: 30 events; the sector with the highest total financing amount was CeFi, at 210 million.

(source: RootData)

Infrastructure

The infrastructure sector had a total of 30 financing events, with a total financing amount reaching 150 million USD. Among these, 17 events disclosed their amounts:

Key Financing Project Information

Andalusia Labs

Project Introduction: Andalusia Labs is a digital asset risk infrastructure provider with three main digital asset technology solutions: a Layer 2 blockchain named Karak, a cryptocurrency risk management marketplace named Subsea, and a security-focused institutional platform named Watchtower. All of these aim to provide digital asset support for institutions, developers, and consumers through their respective niche markets.

Financing Information: Focused on digital asset risk infrastructure, Andalusia Labs (formerly RiskHarbor) completed a $48 million Series A financing round with a valuation exceeding $1 billion, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Mubadala Capital, Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, and Digital Currency Group.

Dynamic

Project Information: Dynamic is a multi-chain wallet-based authentication and authorization platform that allows developers to leverage wallet-based interaction features in minutes. With Dynamic, developers can implement a simple SDK in one minute and control all authentication, onboarding, and authorization functions from a dashboard. Developers can enable other chains, manage users, introduce complex onboarding processes, use Chainalysis to block OFAC and risky wallets, and more—all without touching code.

Financing Information: The Web3 authentication platform Dynamic announced the completion of $13.5 million in financing, led by a16z and Founders Fund. In June 2022, Dynamic completed a $7.5 million seed round, led by a16z, with participation from Castle Island Ventures, Solana Ventures, Circle Ventures, Breyer Capital, Hypersphere, and Chapter One.

Babylon

Project Information: Babylon is a Layer 1 blockchain founded by Stanford University Professor David Tse. The mission of the project is to bring Bitcoin's unparalleled security to all PoS blockchains without any additional energy costs. The team consists of researchers and experienced developers from Stanford University, as well as seasoned business advisors.

Financing Information: Babylon raised $18 million in a round led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC. Framework Ventures, Polygon Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, OKX Ventures, Finality Capital, Breyer Capital, and Symbolic Capital also participated in this financing.

Shadow

Project Information: Shadow is a developer platform that allows users to have complete control over on-chain event data for any contract. Developers can issue private shadow logs to monitor, test, debug, and run contract analysis. The company's first product allows anyone to enhance any contract with custom events and view features to obtain the precise data they need, and it is currently open for public demonstration. Shadow uses what is called a "shadow fork" to provide a private execution environment designed to reflect the state of the public blockchain in real-time.

Financing Information: Shadow completed a $9 million seed round, led by Paradigm, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Electric Capital, the Ethereum Foundation, Uniswap, and Flashbots.

CESS

Project Information: CESS is a platform that integrates blockchain networks and decentralized storage systems, aimed at supporting global decentralized data services for Web3, including large-scale commercial applications that require high-end security, performance, storage, and data retrieval. Currently, CESS has also revealed plans to issue tokens in the first quarter of 2024 and will collaborate with the Web3 task platform TaskOn to launch activities celebrating the token issuance.

Financing Information: Cumulus Encrypted Storage System (CESS) secured approximately $8 million in financing. HTX Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, DWF Labs, Mentha Partners, Vespertine Capital, Web3 Foundation, Singchain Investment, 7 O'Clock Capital, SolrDAO, FishDAO, OneBlock+, Winkrypto, and Polkadot Ecological Research Institute were among the 13 venture capital firms participating in this investment. The funds will be used to drive technological advancements, expand global operations, and strengthen CESS's position in the decentralized infrastructure space.

DeFi

The DeFi sector had a total of 15 financing events, with a total financing amount reaching 19 million USD. Among these, 9 events disclosed their amounts:

Key Financing Project Summary

Curvance

Project Introduction: Curvance is a decentralized stablecoin lending protocol that initially focuses on LPs from the Curve, Convex, Aura, and Frax ecosystems. Curvance seeks to optimize user yields while maximizing capital efficiency through peer-to-peer lending. Assets like cvxCRV, auraBAL, and yCRV can earn similar or higher APRs than those obtained on their original platforms, with the added ability to collateralize deposits for secure stablecoin loans. The interest rates on these loans are based on several factors, including pool APR, price volatility, token liquidity, and loan-to-value ratios.

Financing Information: Curvance completed a $3.6 million seed round, with investors including Offchain Labs, the developers of Arbitrum, the cross-chain messaging platform Wormhole, and angel investors including Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal. Core contributors from crypto projects like Scroll, Mantle, Eigenlayer, GMX, Curve Finance, Convex Finance, Balancer, Aura Finance, and Pendle Finance, as well as DAOs including Frax Finance, participated.

bitSmiley

Project Introduction: BitSmiley is MakerDAO+Compound for the Bitcoin ecosystem, providing a comprehensive solution for Bitcoin DeFi by addressing the most significant gaps in the current Bitcoin ecosystem—stablecoins and lending infrastructure. In addition to offering bitRC20 format stablecoins over-collateralized by BTC, BitSmiley also facilitates peer-to-peer lending based on BRC20. Furthermore, it has established insurance and CDS derivatives based on a lending framework.

Financing Information: Bitcoin ecosystem DeFi solution bitSmiley announced the completion of a financing round led by ABCDE and OKX Venture.

GameFi

The GameFi sector had a total of 11 financing events, with a total financing amount reaching 110 million USD. Among these, 5 events disclosed their amounts:

Key Financing Project Summary

Poglin

Project Introduction: Poglin is a gaming company led by Jia Shen, a game developer known for creating games like Pokémon Medallion, Battle Cats, and the international version of Disney Tsum Tsum. Gacha Monsters' first self-developed game is Poglin, which will launch its alpha version in Q1 2024, aiming to build Poglin into a multimedia IP encompassing anime, games, Web3, and physical goods, where active users in the ecosystem will be rewarded based on their gaming activities.

Financing Information: Japanese entertainment and gaming startup Gacha Monsters completed $3 million in seed round financing, led by Animoca Brands, with participation from Infinity Ventures Crypto, FBG, and Big Time Games.

Matr1x

Project Introduction: Matr1x is a metaverse brand that plans to build the Matr1x brand through self-developed premium games or collaborations with third parties, game IP development partnerships, and global esports events. Matr1x will showcase its gaming trilogy (Cyber Earth—Mars Colonization—Interstellar Exploration) through three large games with a unified worldview: Matr1x FIRE (first-person shooter), Matr1x WAR (shooter + MMORPG), and Matr1x EVOLUTION (SOC).

Financing Information: Web3 entertainment platform Matr1x completed $10 million in Series A financing, with investors including South Korea's second-largest financial group Hana Financial Investment, HashKey Capital, Amber Group, SevenX Ventures, and others.

Matr1x also stated that it is currently conducting Series A+ financing.

Sleepless AI

Project Introduction: Sleepless AI is an AI-based virtual companion game that utilizes AIGC and LLM to create rich story-based gameplay and organically developing interactions with characters. The project is currently developing three games, with the first being HIM, a virtual boyfriend Otome game featuring unique, immutable, and on-chain SBT characters. Sleepless AI is also the 42nd project to launch in Binance's new coin mining program.

Financing Information: Web3+AI gaming platform Sleepless AI announced the completion of a new financing round led by Folius Ventures, with specific amounts undisclosed.

NFT

The NFT sector had a total of 9 financing events, with a total financing amount reaching 150 million USD. Among these, 6 events disclosed their amounts:

Key Financing Project Summary

LINE NEXT

Project Introduction: LINE NEXT is a company dedicated to developing and expanding the global NFT ecosystem. LINE NEXT consists of two companies, with LINE NEXT Corporation based in South Korea focusing on global NFT platform strategy and planning, while LINE NEXT Inc. based in the United States is dedicated to developing and operating NFT platform businesses. LINE NEXT aims to transform the NFT experience for companies, creators, and users.

LINE NEXT plans to officially launch its global NFT platform DOSI in January 2024, which will integrate with the Japanese NFT market LINE NFT and be launched as a mobile application for global users. LINE NEXT will also provide new solutions to help services and brands directly empower ownership and trading of existing digital products. Additionally, LINE NEXT plans to launch new services on the Finschia chain to accelerate Web3 adoption. These new services include a social application that allows users to communicate based on characters they create, as well as launching new Web3 games utilizing BROWN & FRIENDS characters that anyone can play. LINE NEXT will participate in the Finschia Foundation as a governance member alongside Crescendo.

Financing Information: LINE NEXT, the NFT subsidiary of Japanese social giant LINE, completed $140 million in financing, led by private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners, backed by Peter Thiel. This round of financing will be used to expand its global operations and develop new services.

Previously, LINE NEXT completed $10 million in financing, with investors including SoftBank, Naver, CJ ENM, Shinsegae, LINE Games, YG Plus, Hashed, K Auction, and others.

Mocaverse

Project Introduction: Mocaverse is a metaverse product under Animoca Brands, where Mocas are a group of bold and infinitely creative beings who call Mocaverse home. However, spatial expansion has led to the separation of Mocas, increasing the distance between them tenfold. Additionally, the Mocaverse team is building Web3-native tools to enhance the capabilities of products in gaming, culture, and entertainment verticals, allowing users to create their own digital identities, accumulate reputations, and earn and spend loyalty points.

Financing Information: Animoca Brands' NFT series Mocaverse announced the completion of $11,888,888 in a new financing round, with participation from Block1, OKX Ventures, Foresight Ventures, Polygon Ventures, Dapper Labs, and others.

As of now, Mocaverse's total financing has reached $31.88 million (the previous round was $20 million), and in these two rounds of financing, Animoca Brands raised funds by issuing new ordinary shares at a price of AUD 4.50 per share.

SocialFi

The SocialFi sector had a total of 6 financing events, with a total financing amount reaching 37 million USD. Among these, 4 events disclosed their amounts:

Key Financing Project Summary

Formless

Project Introduction: Formless is a decentralized network and digital space that empowers individuals to connect, create, collaborate, and share in a multi-person digital economy, built specifically for peer-to-peer coordination, shared ownership, and community formation around physical and digital assets.

Financing Situation: In December 2023, Formless completed $2.2 million in seed round financing, with participation from a16z crypto, Contango Digital Assets, Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Beacon Accelerator, WAGMIventures, MH Ventures, Knights Capital, and others.

Medallion

Project Introduction: Medallion provides an exclusive digital hub for artists to promote album releases, tour dates, and merchandise, while selling digital collectibles and sharing exclusive content to deepen connections with fans.

Financing Situation: Web3 fan platform Medallion announced the completion of $13.7 million in Series A financing, co-led by Dragonfly and Lightspeed Faction. This round of funding will be used to introduce new early access opportunities, such as pre-listening to unreleased music and offering presale tickets, as well as other membership benefits like video premieres or new updates. Artists will also be able to sell new exclusive and limited edition digital collectibles/NFTs, such as poster bundles and trading cards.

Tools and Information Services

The tools and information services sector had a total of 9 financing events, with a total financing amount reaching 20 million USD. Among these, 4 events disclosed their amounts:

Key Financing Project Summary

Tres

Project Introduction: Tres is a financial accounting software platform for web3 companies. Tres aims to improve the accounting processes of Web3 companies by collecting digital asset data from various wallets and accounts and aggregating it into its data platform, enabling Web3 companies to more easily monitor, manage, and automate their financial income and expenditures.

Financing Information: Web3 tax startup Tres Finance completed $11 million in Series A financing, led by Lightspeed's new fund Faction, with participation from New Form, Boldstart Ventures, Cyber Fund, and Ambush Capital. This financing brings Tres's total funding to $18.6 million.

CeFi

The infrastructure sector had a total of 5 financing events, with a total financing amount reaching 210 million USD. Among these, 5 events disclosed their amounts:

【Disclaimer】The market has risks, and investment should be cautious. This article does not constitute investment advice, and users should consider whether any opinions, views, or conclusions in this article align with their specific circumstances. Investment based on this is at one's own risk.
Financinga16zInfrastructureNFTGameFiSocialFiWeb3LendingLayer1MusicPoSBitcoinOffchain LabsCross-chainWalletStablecoinMetaverseInsuranceGamingPolygonDataDerivativesDAOElectric