Last week, there were a total of 34 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, with a cumulative financing of approximately 120 million USD | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

Organizer: Biscuit, RootData

According to incomplete statistics from RootData, during the period from January 29 to February 4, 2024, there were a total of 34 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a total financing amount of approximately $119.9 million.

From the perspective of track distribution, the projects that received financing were mainly distributed in the DeFi, infrastructure, and gaming tracks, with the DeFi track completing 13 financing rounds in a single week. Popular projects include the liquid staking protocol Puffer Finance, the cross-chain trading and liquidity routing protocol Squid, the crypto investment strategy protocol Doubler, and the open-world RPG NFT game Pixelmon.

In addition, Binance Labs clarified that it did not participate in the latest round of $15 million financing for SkyArk Chronicles, stating that SkyArk Chronicles is a project incubated and invested by Binance Labs through the third phase of its incubator in 2021, which was its first and only round of financing. In response, SkyArk's founder replied that there indeed was $15 million in financing, which was a multi-round financing for token rights and equity. Binance Labs only participated in one token rights financing and held the largest share.

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

I. Infrastructure

1. Ethereum infrastructure team Delegate Labs completes $9 million seed round financing, with participation from Electric Capital and others
The team behind the security protocol Delegate, Delegate Labs, has completed a $9 million seed round financing, with participation from Electric Capital, Arca, Variant, and Arrington Capital. This round of financing will be used to fund the Web3 domain protocol Clusters.

Previously, Delegate launched a multi-chain domain service Clusters in collaboration with the cross-chain interoperability protocol LayerZero. Clusters aims to address issues such as address fragmentation, wallet management complexity, and domain squatting. (Source link)

2. RGB protocol infrastructure Bitlight Labs completes seed round financing, led by Gate Ventures and HV Capital
RGB protocol infrastructure Bitlight Labs announced on social media that it has completed seed round financing, led by Gate Ventures and HV Capital, with participation from MH Ventures, Fundamental Labs, Oak Grove Ventures, Waterdrip Capital, and others.

It is reported that Bitlight Labs expects to launch on the Bitcoin mainnet and Lightning Network within weeks, issuing BIT tokens based on the RGB20 standard, covering the entire Bitlight application ecosystem, with the BIT token Season 1 Airdrop about to start. (Source link)

3. Decentralized cloud computing service provider Exabits.ai completes seed round financing, with participation from Protocol Labs and others
Decentralized cloud computing service provider Exabits.ai announced the completion of seed round financing, with participation from Protocol Labs, Outlier Ventures, Jabre Capital Partners, Valkyrie Fund, Big Brain Holdings, Blockchain Builders Fund, Taisu Ventures, Fortified Ventures, LBank Labs, Paramita Capital, Moonhill Capital, IoTeX, 1nvest, and others, with specific amounts not disclosed.

It is reported that Exabits.ai has also received support from the Stanford Blockchain Accelerator, Harvard Innovation Lab, OV Base Camp, Berkeley Blockchain Xcelerator, and Google Cloud. (Source link)

4. Bitcoin ecosystem composable DID protocol BRC-137 completes $2.5 million seed round financing, with participation from Basics Capital and others
The Bitcoin ecosystem composable DID protocol BRC-137 announced the completion of $2.5 million seed round financing, with participation from Basics Capital, DFG, Gate.io, JSquare, and others. The funds will be used to accelerate the development and growth of the protocol. (Source link)

5. DePIN project Hivello completes $1.5 million financing, with participation from Blockchange and others
The decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) project Hivello announced the completion of a new round of financing of $1.5 million, with participation from Blockchange, Cypher Capital, MH Ventures, Primal Capital, Contango Digital Assets, Candaq, NGC, Blockchain Founders Fund, IDG, and others. Hivello will use the new financing to expand its technical capabilities and accelerate product development. (Source link)

6. Zero-knowledge proof blockchain Gevulot completes $6 million seed round financing, led by Variant
The zero-knowledge proof-focused blockchain Gevulot has completed $6 million in seed round financing, led by Variant, with support from RockawayX, Volt Capital, and Staking Facility, as well as individual supporters such as Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron and Manta Network founder Shumo Chu. Gevulot did not disclose its valuation.

It is reported that Gevulot plans to use the funds to launch its Layer1 blockchain, enabling developers to leverage ZK proofs and delegate computational tasks to advanced hardware operator networks. Gevulot is preparing to launch its developer-centric network (or devnet), which is a restricted test network. The network is being implemented in collaboration with staking verification companies such as P2P.org, Supranational, Staking Facilities, and RockawayX Infrastructure. (Source link)

7. Proof-of-Liquidity protocol Infrared completes $2.5 million seed round financing, led by Synergis
Berachain ecosystem proof-of-liquidity infrastructure Infrared Finance announced the completion of $2.5 million in seed round financing, led by Synergis, with participation from NGC Ventures, Tribe Capital, CitizenX, Shima Capital, Dao5, Signum Capital, Ouroboros Capital, Decima, Oak Grove Ventures, DoraHacks, Tenzor Capital, Alex Shin, Albert Chon, Charles Lu, Mr. Block, Chris Spadafora, DCFGod, and others.

It is reported that Infrared aims to support liquidity staking in the Berachain ecosystem under the Proof-of-Liquidity (PoL) framework. These funds will be used to advance its infrastructure development, including the validator network, PoL vaults, and native liquidity staking tokens (LST) iBGT. (Source link)

II. CeFi

1. Hybrid crypto trading platform Cube.Exchange completes $12 million Series A financing, led by 6th Man Ventures
The hybrid trading platform Cube.Exchange, which integrates traditional finance with blockchain technology, has completed $12 million in Series A financing, led by 6th Man Ventures, with participation from GSR Markets, ParaFi Digital, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, Everstake Capital, and others. According to insiders, the financing structure involves equity with token warrants, with a post-investment equity valuation of $100 million.

Cube is currently in early access mode and is expected to go public in the coming months. Mike Dudas, founder and managing partner of 6th Man Ventures, has joined the Cube board. Cube CEO Bartosz Lipinski stated that they plan to continue collaborating with listed tokens to provide reward pools, with no immediate plans to issue tokens.

According to data from the crypto platform RootData, Cube Exchange completed $9 million in seed round financing in October 2023, with investors including Asymmetry Technologies, Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, LLLP, Everstake, Foundation Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Third Kind Venture Capital, Arche Fund, WW Ventures, and members of the Cube.Exchange management team. (Source link)

III. DeFi

1. Liquid staking protocol Stride completes $4 million strategic financing, led by DBA
Cosmos ecosystem liquid staking protocol Stride announced the completion of $4 million in strategic financing, led by DBA, with participation from 1confirmation, Road Capital, Modular Capital, Imperator, Chorus One, and others. This round of financing aims to promote Stride's development within the Celestia ecosystem. (Source link)

2. Binance Labs announces investment in decentralized liquid staking protocol Puffer Finance
Binance Labs announced its investment in the decentralized liquid staking protocol Puffer. The funds will be used to develop Puffer's open-source technology, nLRP, and new active validation services (AVS), which are part of Puffer's vertical infrastructure, including Layer 2 (L2). Puffer will bring its native liquidity restaking token (nLRT) to BNB Chain users, allowing them to earn Ethereum PoS and restaking rewards. (Source link)

3. DEX project Kodiak Finance completes $2 million seed round financing
Kodiak Finance announced the completion of $2 million in seed round financing, which will enable it to further accelerate the expansion of Kodiak and continue providing native trading products for Berachain. (Source link)

4. Crypto startup Velar completes $3.5 million financing, with participation from Bitcoin Startup Lab and others
Crypto trading startup Velar has completed $3.5 million in financing, with participation from Bitcoin Startup Lab, CMS Holdings, Black Edge Capital, GBV, Cypher Capital, Trust Machines SPV, Transform Capital, Maple Block, and Samara Asset Group.

Velar plans to launch a perpetual swap exchange utilizing the Bitcoin network. The Velar v3 version will support synthetic Bitcoin assets sBTC as collateral and allow leveraged trading, with the v3 version set to launch in the second quarter of 2024. (Source link)

5. Cross-chain protocol Squid completes $4 million financing, led by Polychain Capital
Cross-chain protocol Squid announced the completion of $4 million in strategic financing, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Nomad Capital, North Island Ventures, Maelstrom, Chorus One, XYZ, Breed, Binary Builders, and Typhon Ventures, as well as over 30 angel investors.

The funds will be used to accelerate development for more complex transaction sequence bundling and more efficient asset routing. Meanwhile, the team is integrating with more interoperability networks and plans to bring Squid to more blockchain ecosystems beyond Ethereum and Cosmos. (Source link)

6. Ithaca Finance completes $2.5 million Pre-Seed round financing, led by Cumberland and Wintermute Ventures
Composable options protocol Ithaca Finance has completed $2.5 million in Pre-Seed round financing, led by Cumberland and Wintermute Ventures, with participation from Room40 Ventures, Ghaf Capital Partners, and angel investors including DARMA Capital co-founder Andrew Keys and Axelar co-founder Georgios Vlachos. The protocol has launched on the Arbitrum testnet and will only invite selected participants before a full mainnet launch later this quarter. (Source link)

7. Zeepr secures cornerstone financing led by Celestia incubator, post-investment valuation of $150 million
Zeepr Labs announced the completion of cornerstone financing led by the Celestia ecosystem incubator Cincubator, with a post-investment valuation of $150 million.

It is reported that Zeepr will work closely with Celestia to co-build an on-chain ecosystem. Zeepr's partners include leading public chains and popular projects such as EOS, IOST, Rats, Mice, Suiswap, and Bee Network. (Source link)

8. NAVI Protocol completes $2 million financing, led by OKX Ventures, Hashed, and dao5
The one-stop liquidity protocol NAVI Protocol in the Sui ecosystem announced the completion of $2 million in financing, led by OKX Ventures, dao5, and Hashed, with participation from Mysten Labs, Comma3 Ventures, Mechanism Capital, GeekCartel Capital, Nomad Capital, Coin98 Ventures, Cetus Protocol, Maverick, Viabtc, Assembly Partners, Gate.io, Hailstone Labs, Benqi, and LBank Labs.

NAVI Protocol will use this round of financing to expand its one-stop lending and LSDeFi platform. (Source link)

9. Liquidity aggregation investment strategy protocol Doubler completes seed round financing, led by Youbi Capital
Liquidity aggregation investment strategy protocol Doubler announced the completion of seed round financing, led by Youbi Capital, with participation from Bixin Ventures, Mask Network, Comma3 Ventures, Pivot Labs, Continue Capital, Sanyuan Capital, Waterdrip Capital, DWF Ventures, Gate Labs, Formless Capital, MT Capital, and CatcherVC.

It is reported that Doubler is an open DeFi protocol that uses a martingale strategy to aggregate market liquidity. Its innovative mechanism combines zero-loss hedging with the yield betting demand of demanders and speculators, maintaining high openness and interoperability, providing ample development space for expanding DeFi business. (Source link)

10. Decentralized derivatives trading platform BBO Exchange (BBOX) completes $2.7 million Pre-Seed round financing
Decentralized derivatives trading platform BBO Exchange (BBOX) has completed $2.7 million in Pre-Seed round financing, co-led by Hashed and Arrington Capital, with participation from Consensys, CMS Holdings, Flow Traders, Manifold Trading, Mask Network, Laser Digital (Nomura Group), Arcane Group, Draper Dragon, Vessel Capital, Aulis Venture, Formless Capital, Press Start Capital, One Piece Labs, Keone Hon, Honbo Tang, and others. BBOX is now open for testnet registration.

BBOX was one of the 12 projects in the sixth phase of the Binance Labs incubator, solving the oracle pricing delay issue through an auction mechanism, while BBOX AMM introduced multi-asset support and a market signal-based dynamic management system, aiming to provide higher capital utilization efficiency and income for on-chain traders and liquidity providers. (Source link)

11. Bitcoin DEX project Portal completes $34 million seed round financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, and others
The Bitcoin cross-chain DEX project Portal has completed $34 million in seed round financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Arrington Capital, OKX Ventures, and Gate.io Ventures.

It is reported that Portal is a cross-chain atomic swap protocol based on Bitcoin. Its two main products are a decentralized trading platform and a wallet. The financing structure for this round is a combination of simple future equity agreements (SAFE) and convertible notes. (Source link)

12. Bitcoin L2 over-collateralized stablecoin protocol Bmaker has completed $1.2 million in pre-seed financing
The Bitcoin Layer2 over-collateralized stablecoin protocol Bmaker has completed its $1.2 million pre-seed financing, led by C3u Capital and Tangle Capital; several other capital firms, including Waterdrop Capital, have confirmed their intention to invest in the seed round.

The Bmaker team has developed the first over-collateralized stablecoin protocol on Bitcoin Layer 2, benchmarking against Ethereum's leading MakerDao, aiming to provide more liquidity for the BTC ecosystem. The project will conduct its first multi-chain IDO on February 2 to increase the number of early holders. (Source link)

13. RWA asset aggregation platform TProtocol announces completion of angel round financing, with participation from Summer Ventures and others
The first platform that integrates RWA on-chain, cross-chain, and asset aggregation, TProtocol, announced the completion of angel round financing, with specific amounts not disclosed. This round was participated in by Summer Ventures (through its Summer Everest ecosystem fund), Matrixport Venture, and Spark Digital Capital.

TProtocol stated that this round of financing will accelerate its transformation into a full-chain RWA asset aggregation platform. Currently, TProtocol has connected asset parties such as Matrixdock, Backed Finance, OpenTrade, and TrueFi, making it the largest on-chain RWA asset aggregation platform. More asset parties are being onboarded.

IV. AI

1. Web3 distributed AI training network PublicAI completes $2 million seed round financing, led by IOBC Capital
Web3 distributed AI training network PublicAI has completed $2 million in seed round financing, led by IOBC Capital, with participation from Foresight Ventures, Solana Foundation, Everstate Capital, and several well-known academicians and professors in the AI field. The funds raised will be used to accelerate the launch and commercialization of its training network.

It is reported that PublicAI aims to use blockchain technology to scale the production of massive amounts of high-quality training data to solve all the challenges faced by artificial intelligence to date, allowing all humanity to participate in the co-construction of AI and share its benefits. (Source link)

2. AI-focused Web3 underlying protocol KIP Protocol completes strategic round financing, led by Animoca Ventures
AI-focused Web3 underlying protocol KIP Protocol has completed strategic round financing, led by Animoca Ventures, with participation from B.Army (Vietnam), CSP DAO (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), MQdao, Spicy Capital (Latin America), Skyvision Capital (Hong Kong), and Purechain Capital (UK). The first dApp on KIP Protocol is planned to launch in the first or second quarter of 2024. (Source link)

V. Gaming

1. Web3 game Pixelmon completes $8 million seed round financing, with participation from Foresight Ventures and others
Decentralized game IP system Pixelmon has completed $8 million in seed round financing, with participation from Foresight Ventures, Animoca Brands, Delphi Ventures, Amber Group, Bing Ventures, Bitscale Capital, Cypher Capital, Mechanism Capital, Sfermion, Spartan Labs, VistaLabs, and angel investors including Ray Chan, founder of 9GAG Inc., Kun Gao, founder and former CEO of Crunchyroll, Robbie Ferguson, co-founder of Immutable, Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games, and the founder of Web3 consulting firm Emfarsis. (Source link)

2. Web3 gaming company Saltwater completes $5.5 million seed round financing, led by Deus X and Fourth Revolution Capital
Web3 gaming company Saltwater has completed $5.5 million in seed round financing, led by crypto investment firms Deus X and Fourth Revolution Capital (4RC). This round of financing will be used for team recruitment, investment in new technologies, and expanding the business into new areas.

Previously, Saltwater acquired game developers Maze Theory, Nexus Labs, and Quantum Interactive, who developed games such as "Doctor Who" and "Blood and Truth." (Source link)

3. Web3 gaming platform Yooldo completes $1.5 million financing at a $13 million valuation, with participation from Klaytn Foundation and others
Web3 gaming platform Yooldo has completed $1.5 million in financing at a $13 million valuation, with participation from Bedrock Ventures, Double jump.tokyo, Edimus, Hyperithm, Klaytn Foundation, Manta Network, Neopin, Planetarium, Presto Labs, and Vista Labs.

Additionally, grant sponsors include Aptos Foundation, BNB Chain, Immutable X, and Oasys. The funds raised will be used to improve technology, bring more games to the platform, and develop its community. (Source link)

4. Web3 social game Forgotten Playland completes $7 million financing, with participation from Merit Circle and others
Web3 social game Forgotten Playland announced the completion of $7 million in financing, with participation from Merit Circle, Spartan Group, C² Ventures, and Paper Ventures.

Forgotten Playland claims to aim to redefine social party games, with the platform set to launch in the first quarter of 2024, featuring a series of mini-games. Bump-A-Ball and Jungle Rumble have been confirmed, with more games in development. (Source link)

VI. Others

1. Gamified social platform SoulLand completes million-dollar financing, with participation from Foresight Ventures and others
Gamified social platform SoulLand announced the completion of million-dollar financing, with participating institutions including Foresight Ventures, Redline DAO, Zonff Partners, MEXC, Mandala Ventures Limited, Stratified Capital, Basics Capital, and Onemax Capital.

It is reported that SoulLand is a gamified social subscription platform that addresses the information and social needs of Web3 through the introduction of gamification elements. (Source link)