Last week, the cryptocurrency market saw a total of 42 public financing events, reaching a new high in the number of financing deals in nearly a year | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

Organizer: Cookies, RootData

According to incomplete statistics from RootData, during the period from February 26 to March 3, 2024, there were a total of 42 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a total financing amount of approximately $160 million.

From the distribution of sectors, the projects that received financing were mainly concentrated in the infrastructure and DeFi sectors, with popular projects including the ZK-EVM Layer 2 network Taiko, cryptocurrency exchange Backpack, full-chain Rollup network Initia, modular blockchain Avail, and more.

*（List of projects that raised more than $5 million last week, data source: * Rootdata）

Last month, the cryptocurrency market disclosed a total of 135 financing events, with a total amount of approximately $700 million, an increase of 14.4% compared to 118 events in January. The top three projects by financing amount were the Ethereum restaking protocol EigenLayer ($100 million), Layer 1 blockchain Flare Network ($35 million), liquid staking protocol Ether.Fi ($27 million), and modular blockchain Avail ($27 million). HashKey Capital was the most active investor in February, disclosing a total of 7 investments.

I. Infrastructure

1. Polygon modular blockchain project Avail completes $27 million seed round financing, led by Founders Fund and Dragonfly, with participation from Seven X and others
Polygon modular blockchain project Avail announced the completion of a $27 million seed round financing, led by the venture capital firm Founders Fund, founded by Peter Thiel, and Dragonfly, with participation from SevenX Ventures, Figment.Nomad Capital, and several angel investors.

It is reported that Avail was spun off from Polygon in March 2023, led by Polygon co-founder Anurag Arjun. This round of financing will be used to develop three core products: its data availability solution (DA), Nexus, and Fusion. The first iteration of Nexus is expected to launch in 2024, while Fusion Security will be ready in 2025. (Source link)

2. Layer 1 network Initia completes $7.5 million financing, led by Delphi Ventures and others
Layer 1 blockchain Initia has completed $7.5 million in financing, with this round led by Delphi Ventures and Hack VC, and participation from Nascent, Figment Capital, Big Brain, and A.Capital. Angel investors include pseudonymous crypto trader Cobie, DCF God, Split Capital co-founder Zaheer Ebtikar, Fiskantes, WSB Mod, and Celestia COO.

It is reported that Initia is currently operating on a closed testnet. Some projects have already built DeFi applications on the testnet and plan to officially launch after the incentivized testnet goes live in early April. Once any issues are resolved, the project will launch its mainnet, with a preliminary plan to launch in the second quarter. (Source link)

3. Full-chain ledger protocol Cycle Network announces completion of first round of million-dollar financing, led by Vertex Ventures
The trustless full-chain ledger protocol Cycle Network announced the completion of its first round of million-dollar financing, with specific amounts not disclosed. Vertex Ventures, a subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, and Summer Ventures led the round, with participation from LTP, Super Chain Capital, GSG Digital, and others.

It is reported that Cycle Network has launched a solution to address interoperability issues in the blockchain space, introducing a trustless method of interacting with information through its innovative fully distributed ledger technology (ODLT), solving the fragmentation problem of blockchain networks. (Source link)

4. Web3 data flow and infrastructure company Validation Cloud completes $5.8 million financing, led by Cadenza Ventures
Web3 data flow and infrastructure company Validation Cloud announced the completion of $5.8 million in its first external financing round, led by Cadenza Ventures, with participation from Blockchain Founders Fund, Bloccelerate, Blockwall, Side Door Ventures, Metamatic, GS Futures, and AP Capital.

It is reported that Validation Cloud has built a proprietary system architecture that includes several significant breakthroughs for Web3. The result is a fast, scalable, and intelligent global platform that provides users with staking, node APIs, and data. (Source link)

5. Bitcoin staking chain BounceBit completes $6 million seed round financing, led by Blockchain Capital and others
The Bitcoin-native staking chain BounceBit has completed $6 million in seed round financing, led by Blockchain Capital and Breyer Capital, with participation from CMS Holdings, Bankless Ventures, NGC Ventures, Matrixport Ventures, DeFiance Capital, OKX Ventures, and HTX Ventures, as well as angel investors including Anchorage Digital co-founder and CEO Nathan McCauley, Brevan Howard portfolio manager Ashwin Aiyappan, and EigenLayer chief strategy officer Calvin Liu.

According to the crypto data platform RootData, BounceBit is a native BTC staking chain that secures itself through staking Bitcoin and BounceBit tokens. (Source link)

6. DePIN company Geodnet completes $3.5 million financing, led by North Island Ventures
DePIN company Geodnet has completed $3.5 million in financing, with this round led by North Island Ventures, and participation from Modular Capital, Road Capital, Tangent, and Reverie.

It is reported that Geodnet is a community-based decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) where anyone can connect to the network by installing and operating what are called "satellite miners." (Source link)
7. ZK-native blockchain protocol QED completes $3 million financing, led by Arrington Capital
ZK-native blockchain protocol QED announced the completion of $3 million in financing, led by Arrington Capital, with participation from Starkware, Draper Dragon, Blockchain Builders Fund, Lbk Labs, Paper Ventures, Valhalla Capital, Edessa Capital, and Anagram Ltd. Many well-known venture capital firms and enterprises participated. QED aims to revolutionize Bitcoin by combining the scalability of zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs with the liquidity and security of Bitcoin (BTC).

It is reported that QED aims to address many shortcomings currently present in Web3, including the challenges of building on blockchain, scalability issues, and poor user experience. As the world's first horizontally scalable blockchain, it benefits from more network nodes to increase throughput and allows any Web2 developer to write QED smart contracts using popular programming languages like Javascript and Python. (Source link)

8. DePIN project MXC announces completion of $10 million financing, led by JDI Ventures
Tokenized asset issuance company Open Asset completed 2.3 billion Korean won (approximately $1.916 million) in seed round financing, with participation from Hana Ventures, Korea Investment Partners, and Mashup Ventures.

Open Asset is advancing a solution that enables financial institutions to adopt blockchain and trade tokenized assets, participating in the tokenized securities issuance infrastructure project of "Korea Investment ST Friends," a tokenized securities consulting agency for Korean investment securities. (Source link)

9. Layer1 blockchain 5ireChain receives million-dollar investment from Gotbit Hedge Fund
Hedge fund Gotbit Hedge Fund announced a million-dollar investment in Layer1 blockchain 5ireChain. The latter will use this round of financing to deepen ecosystem innovation. Previously, 5ireChain announced the launch of a $10 million grant program, "5ireGrantsProgram," focusing on projects in areas such as multi-chain, EVM compatibility, and real-world assets (RWA). The program will start on March 1, providing up to $100,000 in funding support for participating projects. (Source link)

10. L2 network Taiko completes $15 million Series A financing, led by Hashed and others
The zkRollup-based Ethereum Layer 2 network Taiko announced the completion of $15 million in Series A financing, led by Lightspeed Faction, Hashed, Generative Ventures, and Token Bay Capital, with participation from Wintermute Ventures, Presto Labs, Flow Traders, Amber Group, OKX Ventures, GSR, WW Ventures, and others. According to the crypto data platform RootData, Taiko has completed a total of $37 million in financing through three rounds. (Source link)

II. CeFi

1. Cryptocurrency exchange Backpack completes $17 million Series A financing at a $120 million valuation, led by Placeholder VC
Cryptocurrency exchange Backpack has completed $17 million in Series A financing at a $120 million valuation, led by Placeholder VC, with participation from Wintermute, Robot Ventures, Selini Capital, Amber Group, and others.

It is reported that Backpack is headquartered in Dubai and also provides a cryptocurrency wallet and an NFT series called Mad Lads. The company's CEO and co-founder Armani Ferrante was an early employee at Alameda Research. Another co-founder, Can Sun, was the former legal counsel for FTX. Among the company's 40 employees, five were former FTX employees. (Source link)

2. Institutional-grade staking platform ContributionDAO completes $2.8 million seed round financing, led by KXVC
Institutional-grade staking platform ContributionDAO announced the completion of $2.8 million in seed round financing, led by KXVC, the venture capital arm of Thailand's largest commercial bank, Kasikorn Bank (KBank), with participation from Axelar, Monad, Connext, and other angel investors. The new funds will be used to develop new institutional-grade staking solutions and help projects expand into the Southeast Asian blockchain market.

In addition, ContributionDAO is building a community infrastructure suite called ProofSquare.xyz, providing smart automation and virtual assistants to help manage global communities. (Source link)

III. DeFi

1. Liquid restaking protocol ether.fi completes $27 million financing, led by Bullish and CoinFund
Liquid restaking protocol ether.fi announced the completion of $27 million in financing, with this round led by Bullish and CoinFund, and participation from Amber Group, BanklessVC, OKX Ventures, Selini Capital, Consensys, Foresight Ventures, Relayer Capital, and others. (Source link)

2. DEX project Ring Protocol completes pre-seed round financing, with participation from Manifold Trading and others
DEX project Ring Protocol announced the completion of pre-seed round financing, with participants including Manifold Trading, Continue Capital, Synergiscap, mox Capital, CL207, DefiSquared, and Bored Chili.

It is reported that Ring Protocol is the winning project in the Layer2 network Blast ecosystem application competition BIG BANG, and its Ring Swap allows liquidity providers to earn swap fees and yields by staking base assets and/or RWA. (Source link)

3. DeFi protocol Zest Protocol completes first round of financing, led by Youbi Capital
DeFi protocol Zest Protocol has completed its first round of financing and will launch on the Blast mainnet, with this round led by Youbi Capital, though the specific financing amount has not been disclosed.

Zest Protocol's DeFi product launched on the Blast Layer2 platform aims to provide high-yield collateralized stablecoin solutions. It separates the yield of Blast ETH from price fluctuations in a special way and has launched two innovative products: zUSD (a stablecoin providing leveraged yield on Blast ETH) and mirrorETH (on-chain leveraged Ethereum derivatives with no funding fees).

In addition, Zest Protocol will open the genesis pool pre-deposit on the Blast mainnet today, allowing users to earn Blast yields, Blast Points, and Zest Points. (Source link)

4. Lending protocol Scallop raises $3 million, led by THE CMS and 6MV
Sui ecosystem lending protocol Scallop announced on social media that it has completed $3 million in strategic financing, led by THE CMS and 6MV, with participation from KuCoin Labs, 7UpDAO, Side Door Ventures, Oak Grove Ventures, Signum Capital, Blockchain Founders Fund, Cypher Capital Group, Mysten Labs, Kyros Ventures, and others.

Scallop is the money market of the Sui ecosystem. By emphasizing institutional-grade quality, enhanced composability, and strong security, Scallop aims to build a dynamic money market that offers high-interest lending, low-fee borrowing, AMM, and asset management tools, providing SDKs for professional traders. (Source link)

IV. Gaming

1. Web3 gaming user-generated content company PlayMakers completes $1.5 million financing, led by RockawayX
Web3 gaming user-generated content startup PlayMakers announced the completion of $1.5 million in Pre-Seed financing, led by RockawayX, with participation from major angel investors including Sébastien Borget, Vincent Hart de Keating, and Hugues Ouvard.

It is reported that PlayMakers provides developers with a perfect and easy-to-implement solution to collect, curate, and integrate player creations, turning players into creators in Web3 games. (Source link)

2. NFT gaming company READYgg completes $4 million financing, with participation from Delphi Digital and others
NFT infrastructure startup READYgg announced the completion of $4 million in financing, with participation from Delphi Digital, NeoTokyo, Merit Circle, Momentum6, Purechain Capital, and others, though the valuation has not been disclosed. READYgg CEO David Bennahum stated that the new funds will be used to help expand the startup's business development efforts to cover more regions of the world.

It is reported that READYgg provides developers with tools to implement NFTs, cryptocurrency wallets, and other technologies in games. The company is also preparing to launch its own RDYX cryptocurrency token later this year to reward early users, provide governance for holders, and enable cross-platform and cross-game transactions within the ecosystem. (Source link)

3. NFT gaming platform Imaginary Ones completes new round of financing, with participation from Animoca Brands and others
NFT project Imaginary Ones announced that it has completed a new round of financing, with participation from Cypher Capital Group, Animoca Brands, MH Ventures, Illuminati Capital, Andromeda Capital, and others.

Imaginary Ones stated that this round of financing will accelerate its efforts to become a leading WEB3 entertainment group focused on gaming, content, and merchandise. (Source link)

V. AI

1. AI-focused blockchain platform Talus Network completes $3 million financing, led by Polychain Capital
AI-focused blockchain platform Talus Network has completed $3 million in its first round of financing, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from dao5, Hash3, TRGC, WAGMI Ventures, and Inception Capital. Additionally, angel investors from major tech and blockchain companies such as Nvidia, IBM, Blue7, Symbolic Capital, and Render Network have contributed to support the team's mission to democratize AI on the blockchain.

It is reported that Talus Network is an innovative blockchain platform focused on decentralized artificial intelligence. The network leverages the powerful capabilities of Move, emphasizing security, speed, and enhanced developer experience. By nurturing a diverse ecosystem of intelligent agents for decentralized applications, Talus Network aims to empower users in a fair and accessible manner through technology. (Source link)

VI. Tools

1. Web3 tax company Haven Intelligence Systems launches Pre-Seed round financing at a $5 million valuation
Web3 tax software startup Haven Intelligence Systems has launched its Pre-Seed round financing at a $5 million valuation, with its financing amount reaching the target cap of $200,000. It is reported that the company's "Keeper" Web3 tax solution can address the complexities of crypto transactions, helping users accurately and efficiently fulfill their crypto tax obligations. (Source link)

2. Anti-witch network Humanity Protocol completes strategic financing, with participation from Hashed and others
Humanity Protocol has completed strategic financing, with participation from over 20 institutions including Hashed, CMCC, Cypher Capital, Foresight Ventures, and Mechanism Capital, though the specific financing amount has not been disclosed.

It is reported that this round of financing will be used to accelerate the development and deployment of Humanity Protocol, improving its scalability, efficiency, and user accessibility in preparation for the upcoming testnet launch. (Source link)

3. On-chain data analysis platform Octav announces completion of $4 million strategic financing
On-chain data analysis platform Octav announced the completion of $4 million in strategic funding led by high-net-worth individuals in the crypto space, though specific participants have not been disclosed. This investment will be used to expand the marketing team and accelerate the decentralization and open-source data process.

According to the crypto data platform RootData, Octav announced the completion of $2.65 million in seed round financing last September, with investors including Nascent, Polymorphic Capital, Parallel Studio, and individual investors such as Markc Zeller, strategic head of Aave, and former CEO of Sushiswap 0xMaki.

Octav is a free and editable data analysis platform for interpreting users' DeFi investment activities, including cost basis, profit and loss (P&L), and exportable reports. (Source link)

VII. Others

1. Web3 traffic aggregation marketing platform LinkTo completes seed round financing, with participation from Adaverse and others
Web3 traffic aggregation marketing platform LinkTo announced the successful completion of seed round financing, with investment institutions including Adaverse, Ruby Capital, Warrior Wealth Fund, BitValue Capital, and Block Infinity Limited.

It is reported that LinkTo aims to address the core challenges of advertising and marketing in the current Web3 ecosystem, including improving advertising efficiency, ensuring marketing transparency, and optimizing user engagement. By introducing advanced traffic technology and AI algorithms, LinkTo aims to provide brands and advertisers with a platform that can accurately target and effectively reach their target audience while ensuring data security and user privacy. (Source link)

2. Singapore Web3 development tools company BuildBear Labs secures $1.9 million financing
Singapore Web3 development tools company BuildBear Labs has secured $1.9 million in financing, led by Superscrypt, Tribe Capital, and 1kx, with participation from Iterative, Plug-N-Play, and angel investors Kris Kaczor and Ken Fromm.

It is reported that the company plans to use this funding to accelerate the development of its flagship platform, providing developers with testing and validation solutions to create secure decentralized applications. BuildBear Labs offers a platform specifically designed for dApp development and testing, providing developers with the ability to create custom private testnet sandboxes across multiple EVM and EVM-compatible blockchain networks. Its key features include a private faucet for unlimited local and ERC20 token minting, enabling developers to efficiently build and test dApps. (Source link)

3. Decentralized reputation protocol development team Karma3 Labs completes $4.5 million financing, with participation from HashKey
The development team of the decentralized reputation protocol OpenRank, Karma3 Labs, announced the completion of $4.5 million in financing, led by Galaxy and IDEO CoLab Ventures, with participation from Spartan, SevenX, HashKey, Flybridge, Delta Fund, Draper Dragon, and Compa Capital.

It is understood that OpenRank primarily enhances user trust in Web3 through ratings and recommendations, and the new funds will be used to drive product adoption and help launch the initial version of the protocol for developers to use. (Source link)

4. Crypto security company Silence Laboratories completes $4.1 million new round of financing, led by Pi Ventures and others
According to Techcrunch, crypto security startup Silence Laboratories announced the completion of $4.1 million in a new round of financing, led by Pi Ventures and Kira Studio, along with angel investors. The recent financing brings the company's total funding to $6 million. The startup will use this funding to expand its team and strengthen its R&D channels.

It is reported that Silence Laboratories is a startup that builds infrastructure using multi-party computation (MPC) to help enterprises protect data privacy and security. The company offers two products using MPC technology: Silent Shard and Silent Compute. Silent Shard has been audited by the security audit firm Trail of Bits, allowing enterprises and users to limit the risk of exposing sensitive private keys and implement advanced authorization rules. Silent Compute enables enterprises to collaboratively process information without disclosing their private data to third parties. (Source link)