Last week, there were a total of 34 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, with a surge in financing in the BTC ecosystem, social, and gaming sectors | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

Organizer: Cookies, RootData

According to incomplete statistics from RootData, during the period from March 24 to March 31, 2024, there were a total of 34 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a total financing amount of approximately $270 million.

From the perspective of track distribution, financing events in the Bitcoin ecosystem, social networking, and gaming sectors surged. Among them, 9 Bitcoin ecosystem protocols completed financing, setting a new weekly financing record, including Bitcoin L2 networks BEVM, Bitlayer, and BOB; the Bitcoin native DA layer project Nubit; stablecoin protocol Satoshi Protocol, etc. Popular projects in the gaming sector include the NFT card game Parallel, the blockchain game Illuvium, and the Solana-based gaming public chain Mirror World.

Paradigm continues to remain active. After announcing its investment in the decentralized proof-of-stake network Succinct last week, Bloomberg cited informed sources reporting that the social network Farcaster developer Merkle Manufactory is about to complete a round of financing led by Paradigm, with a valuation of approximately $1 billion. Dan Romero, former Vice President of Coinbase and co-founder of Merkle, confirmed on March 29 that the startup is in the process of financing but did not disclose the amount.

*（List of projects with financing greater than $10 million last week, data source: * Rootdata）

I. Infrastructure

1. Bitcoin L2 project BEVM announces completion of seed round and part of Series A financing of tens of millions of dollars, post-investment valuation reaches $200 million
Bitcoin Layer2 project BEVM announced that it has completed seed round and part of Series A investment, with an investment amount reaching tens of millions of dollars. Investors include nearly 20 institutions such as RockTree Capital, Waterdrip Capital, Arkstream Capital, ViaBTC Capital, Satoshi Lab, Web3port, Cogitent Ventures, MH Ventures, Mapleblock, Electrum Capital, Zephyrus Capital, Lotus Capital, 7UPDAO, TimeTells, etc., with a post-investment valuation of $200 million.

The funds will be used to develop the Bitcoin ecosystem based on the Taproot consensus. BEVM will launch "BEVM-Stack" (BTClayer2 as a service) to help developers launch BTClayer2 with one click. In addition, BEVM will also develop the DBFX (decentralized Bitcoin foreign exchange) protocol to seamlessly connect native BTC to any DeFi protocol on any chain. (Source link)

2. Nubit completes $3 million Pre-Seed round financing, with participation from OKX Ventures and others
The first Bitcoin native DA layer project Nubit has completed $3 million in Pre-Seed round financing, with participation from dao5, OKX Ventures, Primitive Ventures, and others. This round of financing is a key step for Nubit to establish the first Bitcoin native data availability layer and aims to promote the construction of the Bitcoin ecosystem. (Source link)

3. Decentralized gaming data ownership protocol BlockGames completes $6 million financing, led by Newman Group and Sfermion Capital
Decentralized gaming data ownership protocol BlockGames announced the completion of two rounds of financing totaling $6 million, led by Newman Group, 32-Bit Ventures, Cypher Capital, and Sfermion Capital, with participation from Maven Capital, Susquehanna, Aptos, Mapleblock, Cumberland, Based VC, Devmons, Estoty, Aquanow Ventures, Founderheads, 432 VC, Presto Labs, and others.

In addition, angel investors from the gaming and technology industries also participated, including Jiho (co-founder of SkyMavis), Brett Borget (co-founder of SandBox), Brett Beller (former founder of Drizly, legal advisor at Coinbase), Luke Wagman (founding member of CoinMarketCap), Joseph Mahon, Alan Rutledge, Alex Becker, and others. (Source link)

4. Bitcoin ecosystem decentralized finance layer ALEX completes $10 million strategic financing, led by Spartan Capital
The Bitcoin ecosystem decentralized finance layer Automated Liquidity Exchange (ALEX) has completed $10 million in strategic financing, led by Spartan Capital, with participation from CMS Holdings, DACM, DWF Labs, Foresight Ventures, G-20 Group, Ouroboros Capital, Summer Capital, Cultur3 Capital, and EVG.

It is reported that ALEX is creating a Bitcoin-specific decentralized finance layer through Layer2, cross-chain bridges, oracles, and other infrastructure. ALEX plans to use the new funds to continue developing its financial layer on Stacks. (Source link)

5. Farcaster developer to complete financing led by Paradigm, valuation reaches $1 billion
Bloomberg cited informed sources reporting that the social network Farcaster developer Merkle Manufactory is about to complete a round of financing led by Paradigm, with a valuation of approximately $1 billion. Dan Romero, former Vice President of Coinbase and co-founder of Merkle, confirmed on March 29 that the startup is in the process of financing but did not disclose the amount.

According to RootData data, Merkle completed $30 million in financing in July 2022, led by a16z Crypto, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Multicoin Capital, and others. (Source link)
6. Reya Network developer Reya Labs completes $10 million financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and others
The company Reya Labs, which develops the modular L2 Reya Network, announced the completion of $10 million in financing. Investors include Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute, Fabric Ventures, Framework Ventures, Brevan Howard Digital, Amber Group, and Robot Ventures.

It is reported that Reya Network aims to create liquidity, capital efficiency, and performance for DeFi traders and liquidity providers, and plans to use this new funding to promote its liquidity generation activities (LGE) in April. The first DEX on the network, Reya Perps DEX, is about to launch. (Source link)

7. DePIN Layer1 protocol Peaq completes $15 million financing, led by Generative Ventures and Borderless Capital
DePIN Layer1 protocol Peaq has completed $15 million in financing, led by Generative Ventures and Borderless Capital, with participation from Spartan Group, HV Capital, CMCC Global, Animoca Brands, Moonrock Capital, Fundamental Labs, TRGC, DWF Labs, Crit Ventures, Cogitent Ventures, NGC Ventures, Agnostic Fund, Altana Wealth, and others.

It is reported that this funding will be used to expand the Peaq ecosystem, which consists of over 20 DePINs, covering areas such as multi-chain machine IDs, AI agents, and data validation. The protocol is expected to conduct a public offering and token listing in the coming weeks, with its mainnet planned for launch in May. An incentive program aimed at supporting the development and adoption of DePIN on Peaq is also planned, including gamified challenges that provide rewards to participants.

According to the crypto data platform RootData, in June 2022, Peaq announced the completion of $6 million in seed round financing, led by Fundamental Labs, with participation from HashKey Capital, GSR Markets, Delta VC, Mulana, Cypher Capital, GravityX, Waterdrip, Ceras, and Master Ventures. (Source link)

8. Bitcoin Layer 2 project Bitlayer Labs announces completion of $5 million seed round financing, led by Framework Ventures and ABCDE Capital
Bitcoin Layer 2 project Bitlayer announced the completion of $5 million in seed round financing, co-led by Framework Ventures and ABCDE Capital, with participation from dozens of institutions including StarkWare, OKX Ventures, Alliance DAO, UTXO Management, Asymmetric Capital, Kenetic Capital, Pivot Global, Web3Port, Mindfulness Capital, C6E Capital, PAKA, Comma3 Capital, and Kronos Ventures, as well as well-known Bitcoin OG&KOL Dan Held, Messari CEO Ryan Selkis, and co-founder Dan McArdle.

It is reported that Bitlayer aims to become the computational layer for Bitcoin and is the first Bitcoin Layer 2 based on the BitVM paradigm. Bitlayer plans to launch the first version of its mainnet on April 5 and introduce an ecological incentive program called Ready Player One. (Source link)

9. Bitcoin Lightning Network company Neutronpay completes $1.5 million bridge financing, led by Axiom Capital
Bitcoin Lightning Network company Neutronpay announced the completion of $1.5 million in bridge financing, led by Axiom Capital. This investment aims to help Neutronpay bring its Bitcoin-based payment solutions to the Southeast Asian digital economy.

According to the crypto data platform RootData, in September 2022, Neutronpay completed $2.25 million in seed round financing, led by Hivemind Ventures. (Source link)

10. No-code ecosystem GraphLinq completes strategic round financing, with participation from DWF Labs
The no-code ecosystem GraphLinq announced on platform X that it has completed strategic round financing, with participation from DWF Labs, but the specific amount has not been disclosed.

DWF Labs will serve as GraphLinq's main liquidity provider on various CEX and DEX platforms and will support OTC trading. The new funds will be used to enhance the liquidity of the GLQ token, optimize its seamless supply in global markets, and bring tangible benefits to market participants. (Source link)

11. Bitcoin Ordinals infrastructure platform OrdinalsBot completes over $3 million in seed round financing, led by DACM
The infrastructure platform focused on Bitcoin Ordinals, OrdinalsBot, announced the completion of over $3 million in seed round financing, led by DACM, with participation from Eden Block, Natural Capital, WWVentures, Lightning Ventures, Oak Grove Ventures, UTXO Management (the fund manager of Bitcoin Magazine), Kenetic Capital, CMS Holdings, Kestrel0x1, Sora Ventures, London Real Ventures, Crypto Zombie, and MDX Crypto. After this round of financing, OrdinalsBot's cumulative financing amount exceeds $4.5 million.

It is reported that OrdinalsBot aims to simplify the minting and management process of Bitcoin inscriptions and BRC-20 tokens, with products including the OrdinalsBot inscription tool, OrdinalsBot Scribe, and OrdinalsBot API. (Source link)

12. Decentralized cloud infrastructure provider Hive completes $13 million Series A financing, led by SC Ventures
Geneva-based cloud infrastructure provider Hive announced the completion of $13 million in Series A financing, led by SC Ventures (the venture capital arm of Standard Chartered Bank), with participation from OneRagtime and others. Hive aims to reshape the centralized model of cloud computing by aggregating unused hard drives and computing power from personal devices to provide a decentralized model.

13. Bitcoin EVM L2 network BOB completes $10 million seed round financing, led by Castle Island Ventures
The EVM-compatible Bitcoin Layer 2 network BOB announced the completion of $10 million in seed round financing, led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Mechanism Ventures, Bankless Ventures, CMS Ventures, and UTXO Management.

It is reported that BOB (Build On Bitcoin) is an EVM rollup stack with native Bitcoin support. Developers build decentralized applications on top of Ordinals, Lightning, and Nostr. (Source link)

14. Taproot Chain completes multi-million dollar financing, led by Negentropy Capital
Taproot Chain announced that it has secured a new round of multi-million dollar financing, led by Negentropy Capital, with participation from Digital Pacific Holding, Bitvalue Capital, Hussein Family Office, and Wall Street investment banker Patrick Bominton.

According to the RootData page, Taproot Chain is the first Bitcoin Layer2 network incubated by Taproot Labs that supports the issuance and trading of Taproot assets, built on Op Stack technology, creating a Layer2 ecological platform for the integration of BTC native assets and smart contract Dapp applications.

TaprootChain will officially launch its mainnet today, and the team stated that following the official Twitter and TG community will provide opportunities to obtain OG Pass (WL). (Source link)

15. Web3 intention execution network dappOS completes $15.3 million Series A financing, led by Polychain
According to Cointelegraph, the Web3 intention execution network dappOS has completed $15.3 million in Series A financing, led by Polychain, with participation from Nomad Capital, IDG, Flow Traders, IOBC, NGC, Amber Group, Uphonest, Taihill, Waterdrip, Bing Ventures, Spark Capital, and Metalpha, with a valuation reaching $300 million.

Previously, on July 21, 2023, dappOS announced the completion of seed round financing with a valuation of $50 million, led by IDG Capital and Sequoia China, with participation from OKX Ventures, HashKey Capital, KuCoin Ventures, TronDao, Gate Labs, Taihill Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Foresight Ventures, BlueRun Ventures, Mirana Ventures, Leland Ventures, and others.

According to the RootData page, dappOS was selected for Binance Labs' fifth incubation program in November 2022 and received Pre-Seed round financing from Binance Labs in June this year. (Source link)

16. Multi-chain infrastructure developer Biconomy completes strategic round financing, with participation from Jump Capital and others
Multi-chain infrastructure developer Biconomy announced that it has secured strategic funding from Jump Capital, Borderless Capital, Consensys Ventures, Taisu Ventures, Manifold Trading, Side Door Ventures, and Blockchain Founders Fund to accelerate growth as the cryptocurrency market momentum returns. (Source link)

17. Modular blockchain sophon completes $10 million financing, with participation from OKX Ventures and others
Modular blockchain sophon has completed $10 million in financing, with participation from Paper Ventures, Maven 11, The Spartan Group, SevenX Ventures, OKX Ventures, HTX Ventures, and others. Currently, there is no other detailed project information. (Source link)

II. DeFi

1. Binance Labs and OKX Ventures announce investment in omnichain LST protocol StakeStone
Binance Labs and OKX Ventures announced their investment in the omnichain LST protocol StakeStone, which is a liquidity infrastructure startup supporting Ethereum re-staking.

It is reported that StakeStone claims to be an omnichain liquidity allocation network capable of integrating various yield sources, including Ethereum staking, re-staking, real-world assets, as well as AI and decentralized physical infrastructure network assets. (Source link)

2. Bitcoin ecosystem project Satoshi Protocol announces completion of seed round financing, co-led by Web3Port Foundation and Waterdrip Capital
The first CDP stablecoin protocol in the BEVM ecosystem, Satoshi Protocol, announced the completion of seed round financing, co-led by Web3Port Foundation and Waterdrip Capital, with participation from BEVM Foundation, Cogitent Venture, Statoshi Lab, GP of MH Venture/co-founder of BSCnews, Movebit, Supremacy, and others. (Source link)

3. DeFi protocol Unstable completes $2.5 million seed round financing, with participation from Lattice, Laser Digital, and others
DeFi protocol Unstable Protocol announced the completion of $2.5 million in seed round financing, with participation from Lattice, Laser Digital (Nomura Group), Blockchain Founders Fund, Assouline Ventures, Agnostic Fund, Artichoke Capital, Black Edge Capital, NewTribe Capital, and NxGen.

It is reported that Unstable is a native LRTfi lending protocol that provides users with the ability to borrow against their (re)staked ETH, and even unlocks the utility of their (re)staked ETH on Layer 2 blockchains. The project aims to build a leveraged layer for (re)staked Ethereum. (Source link)

4. RWA project Midas completes $8.75 million seed round financing, led by Framework and others
RWA project Midas announced the completion of $8.75 million in seed round financing, led by BlockTower, Framework, and HV Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Ledger, GSR, Hack VC, Axelar, and FJ Labs. (Source link)

5. AMM options protocol Arrow Markets completes $4 million Series A financing, with participation from Framework Ventures and others
The AMM options protocol Arrow Markets based on Avalanche has completed $4 million in Series A financing, with participation from Framework Ventures, Delphi Ventures, and the Avalanche Blizzard ecosystem fund.

It is reported that the core of Arrow Markets is to use the Request-for-Execution (RFE) mechanism to provide quotes for options contracts in the Avalanche C chain. (Source link)

III. Gaming

1. Blockchain game Illuvium completes $12 million Series A financing, with participation from Animoca and others
Blockchain game Illuvium announced the completion of $12 million in Series A financing, with participation from King River Capital, Arrington, and Animoca. The new funds will be used to develop new gaming projects within the Illuvium ecosystem. Illuvium's cumulative financing amount has reached $60 million.

It is reported that Illuvium is a fully decentralized RPG and collectible game built on the Immutable X L2 network.

2. Crypto gaming project MyPrize completes $13 million financing, led by Dragonfly and Boxcars
Crypto gaming project MyPrize completed $13 million in financing at a valuation of $140 million, led by Dragonfly and Boxcars Ventures, with participation from Mechanism Capital, Arrington Capital, and a16z. The $13 million represents the total amount raised in two rounds, with $5 million in seed round financing completed in October and $8 million in Series A financing completed in recent weeks.

It is reported that MyPrize is a centralized company, but part of the raised funds will be used to develop a native token while building a GameFi ecosystem, which is expected to launch in the fourth quarter. MyPrize founder and CEO Zach Bruch has been involved in the cryptocurrency space since 2010, previously holding leadership positions in the trading departments of Kraken, Cumberland/DRW, and JST Capital. (Source link)

3. Crypto game development company Gunzilla Games completes $30 million financing, led by Avalanche Fund and CoinFund
PlayStation crypto game development company Gunzilla Games raised $30 million in a round led by Avalanche Fund and CoinFund.

It is reported that this funding will support the development and release of its upcoming free battle royale video game "Off the Grid," which is planned for release on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. (Source link)

4. Web3 game launcher Elixir Games completes $14 million seed round financing, with participation from Solana Foundation and others
Web3 game launcher Elixir Games announced the completion of $14 million in seed round financing, with participation from gaming giant Square Enix, Shima Capital, and Solana Foundation. This round of financing will bring Elixir Games' total financing amount to $20 million.

Elixir Games will use this funding to develop its gaming ecosystem and officially launch in the second quarter of 2024, and will also introduce the ELIX token to support the company's gaming products.

5. Web3 game studio 7 Digital Labs completes $4 million seed round financing, with participation from Avalanche Foundation, Merit Circle, and others
Switzerland-based Web3 game studio 7 Digital Labs announced the completion of $4 million in seed round financing, with participation from Avalanche Foundation, Merit Circle, and Citizen Capital. This round of financing will be used to complete the development and release of the Web3 game BloodLoop.

It is reported that BloodLoop is a shooting game based on the Avalanche subnet, where players can collect NFTs in each match, compete against each other for leaderboard positions, and earn BLS rewards. (Source link)

6. NFT card game Parallel completes $35 million financing, with participation from Solana Ventures and others
The sci-fi themed NFT card game Parallel completed $35 million in financing, with participation from Solana Ventures, Distributed Global, OSS Capital, VanEck, Focus Labs, Big Brain Holdings, Base, Collab+Currency, Amber Group, Spartan Group, and Builder Capital.

According to the RootData page, Parallel received a $50 million investment from Paradigm in October 2021, with a valuation of $500 million. Previous reports indicated that in March, Parallel would launch an AI survival simulation game Colony on Solana, and the Colony white paper has been released. (Source link)

7. Mirror World completes multi-million dollar Pre-A round financing and will launch a Solana-based gaming public chain
Web3 game development platform Mirror World announced that it will launch a gaming public chain Sonic based on SVM HyperGrid on Solana and has completed multi-million dollar Pre-A round financing. The Sonic Devnet is expected to launch in April and will open the Sonic Odyssey points reward program to early participants. According to RootData data, Mirror World previously completed $4 million in seed round financing, with investments from Galaxy Interactive, Republic Crypto, OKX Ventures, Mirana Venture, and others.

Mirror World stated that Sonic is the first Gaming Chain on Solana, proposing the first scaling architecture HyperGrid, which can help game developers efficiently handle and manage game states, logic, and events. Sonic is 100% compatible with all EVM smart contracts and has a native game engine, providing comprehensive On-Chain game development components for game developers. (Source link)

IV. AI

1. MyShell completes $11 million Pre-A round financing
Decentralized AI content platform MyShell has completed $11 million in its latest Pre-A round financing. This financing was led by Dragonfly, with participation from Delphi Digital, Bankless Ventures, Maven11 Capital, Nascent, Nomad, Foresight Ventures, Animoca Ventures, OKX Ventures, and GSR, among other well-known investment institutions. Additionally, this round of financing also received support from prominent angel investors such as Balaji Srinivasan, Illia Polosukhin, Casey K. Caruso, Santiago Santos, and others. (Source link)

2. Web3 AI project FLock.io completes $6 million seed round financing, led by Lightspeed Faction and others
Web3 AI project FLock.io has completed $6 million in seed round financing, led by Lightspeed Faction and Tagus Capital, with participation from DCG, OKX Ventures, and Volt Capital. The seed round financing brings FLock's total funds raised to $8 million, and FLock's board will not change after this round of financing, as FLock remains in the future equity simple agreement (SAFE) stage. (Source link)

3. Web3 infrastructure company 0G Labs completes $35 million Pre-Seed round financing, led by Hack VC
Web3 infrastructure company 0G Labs announced the completion of $35 million in Pre-Seed round financing, led by Hack VC, with participation from Alliance, Animoca Brands, Delphi Digital, Stanford Builders Fund, Symbolic Capital, and OKX Ventures, but specific valuation information has not been disclosed.

It is reported that the new funds will be used to accelerate the construction of a modular AI blockchain. 0G Labs stated that it has not issued tokens yet, but plans to release tokens in the future and cannot disclose more information at this time. (Source link)

4. AI security platform Rug.AI completes $1.1 million Pre-Seed round financing, led by No Limit Holdings
AI security platform Rug.AI announced the completion of $1.1 million in Pre-Seed round financing, led by No Limit Holdings, with participation from Mask Network, Builder Capital, Formless Capital, Prismatic Capital, Roshun Patel, Pentoshi, Avi Felman, MacnBTC, and angel investors.

Rug.AI aims to provide an end-to-end on-chain security solution powered by artificial intelligence. (Source link)