Last week, there were a total of 19 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, raising approximately $110.3 million | Investment and Financing Weekly Report
Layer1 network Apex Fusion completes $6 million in funding; AI startup Kiva AI completes $7 million seed round funding, led by Coinfund; Web3 gaming education platform PiP World completes $10 million seed round funding.Organizer: Luan Peng, RootData
According to incomplete statistics from RootData, during the period from October 8 to October 13, 2024, there were a total of 19 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a total financing amount of approximately $110.3 million.
From the perspective of sector distribution, the projects that received financing are mainly concentrated in the infrastructure and gaming sectors. Popular projects include the crypto venture capital firm Paradigm, the Bitcoin Layer 2 project Bitlayer, the on-chain venture capital platform Fission Labs, and the Base ecosystem token launch platform Trendies.
In addition, the Bitcoin ecosystem stablecoin developer Yala completed a $8 million seed round financing, co-led by Polychain Capital and Ethereal Ventures, with participation from Galaxy, Anagram, ABCDE, Amber Group, HashKey Capital, Satoshi Lab, and UTXO Management.
*（List of projects that raised more than $5 million last week, data source: * Rootdata）
I. Infrastructure
Layer 2 network Odyssey developer Ithaca completes $20 million financing, Paradigm participates
According to The Block, crypto venture capital firm Paradigm announced a $20 million investment in its spin-off company Ithaca. Ithaca is developing a new Layer 2 blockchain called Odyssey, aimed at accelerating the development of blockchain technology.
Georgios Konstantopoulos, Paradigm's Chief Technology Officer and General Partner, will serve as the CEO of Ithaca while retaining his position at Paradigm. Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang will serve as the chairman of Ithaca.
Odyssey Layer 2 is built on Reth and OP Stack and is currently live on the testnet. Konstantopoulos stated that Ithaca is building a complete tech stack needed by developers and users for faster deployment and lower barriers to entry.
Layer 1 network Apex Fusion completes $6 million financing
According to Coindesk, multi-chain Layer 1 network Apex Fusion completed $6 million in financing through a private token sale. The funds will be used for marketing and further development of the network composed of Prime, Nexus, and Vector chains. It offers native bridges, interoperability protocols, and developer tools.
Apex Fusion aims to provide a seamless experience for future blockchain builders and developers by combining the essence of UTXO and EVM transaction execution methods into a single decentralized ecosystem.
Decentralized network project delta completes a total of $11 million in two rounds of financing
The blockchain network interoperability project delta announced the completion of $11 million in financing. This financing was divided into two phases, including a pre-seed round led by Figment Capital and Maven 11, and a seed round led by Variant and DBA. Other participants included Reverie, Castle Island Ventures, Credibly Neutral, Ambush Capital, Robot Ventures, Delphi Ventures, Public Works, and Komorebi Collective.
Delta aims to create a network system with global state sharing, providing developers with a balanced solution for sovereignty and interoperability through separating execution and data availability. The system also introduces zero-knowledge proof settlement methods to achieve seamless multi-domain interoperability.
Decentralized open-source AI platform OpenGradient announced the completion of $8.5 million in seed round financing. This round was participated by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (a16z CSX), Foresight Ventures, SV Angel, Coinbase Ventures, SALT Fund, and Symbolic Capital. Notable industry figures such as former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, NEAR founder Illia Polosukhin, and Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal also participated as angel investors.
OpenGradient aims to accelerate the development of open-source artificial intelligence, providing scalable on-chain AI computing capabilities while ensuring verifiability, accountability, and security in AI deployment and hosting.
Decentralized data storage solution Botanika completes $1.5 million angel round financing
According to official news, the startup Botanika, focused on ultra-scalable decentralized data storage solutions, announced the completion of $1.5 million in angel round financing. This round attracted 30 angel investors, including A&T Capital General Partner Jasmine Zhang and Accenture head Aamer Chaudhry.
AI startup Kiva AI completes $7 million seed round financing, Coinfund leads
According to Fortune, the startup Kiva AI, focused on developing domain-specific AI applications, announced the completion of $7 million in seed round financing, led by crypto venture capital firm Coinfund. Protagonist, Hashkey, and Peer VC also participated in the follow-up investment.
Kiva AI aims to provide specialized AI solutions for industries such as healthcare, finance, and law. Kiva AI adopts a "human-in-the-loop" approach, employing experts from around the world for data labeling to ensure the accuracy and reliability of AI models, especially in high-risk areas such as medical diagnosis and legal document analysis.
Kiva AI creates additional income opportunities for highly skilled talent globally. The company plans to use cryptocurrency to pay overseas experts, which not only provides higher value for experts but also reduces costs for the company.
Bitlayer completes $9 million A+ round financing at a $300 million valuation, led by Polychain
The Bitcoin Layer 2 project Bitlayer completed $9 million in A+ round financing at a $300 million valuation, led by Polychain Capital, with Franklin Templeton co-leading, and participation from SCB Limited, Selini Capital, G-20 Group, and other investors.
Bitlayer co-founder Charlie Hu revealed that this round of financing began in early August and concluded last week. Just three months ago, the company had completed $11 million in A round financing.
Like the previous A round financing, Bitlayer's A+ financing adopts a Simple Agreement for Future Equity (SAFE) structure, accompanied by token warrants, with the same valuation of $300 million, including both equity valuation and fully diluted token valuation. The latest round of financing brings Bitlayer's total financing amount to $25 million.
MEV infrastructure developer Semantic Layer announced the completion of $3 million in seed round financing, led by Figment Capital, with participation from Hack VC, Robot Ventures, and Bankless Ventures.
Semantic Layer aims to enhance the infrastructure for transaction execution through its Verifiable Aggregation Rules (VAR) and Verifiable Sorting Rules (VSR).
Semantic Layer co-founder Daniel Tong stated that the main purpose of this round of financing is to develop the core product of Semantic Layer and increase market awareness of ASS.
Bitcoin ecosystem oracle APRO Oracle completes $3 million seed round financing, led by Polychain
Bitcoin ecosystem oracle APRO Oracle completed $3 million in seed round financing, led by Polychain, ABCDE, and Franklin Templeton, with participation from CMS Holdings, Comma3 Ventures, UTXO Ventures, Oak Grove Ventures, and Presto Labs.
APRO Oracle aims to bring liquidity to the Bitcoin ecosystem.
II. DeFi
On-chain venture capital platform Fission Labs completes $1.6 million Pre-Seed round financing
On-chain venture capital platform Fission Labs announced the completion of $1.6 million in Pre-Seed round financing, led by SALT Fund and Kraynos Capital, with participation from Anthony Scaramucci (Skybridge). The new funds are intended to drive Fission Labs to bring venture capital into DeFi applications on-chain. Its platform has launched a testnet on Ethereum to support both cryptocurrency native users and traditional financial participants to invest in and trade private equity-backed tokens.
According to The Block, Bitcoin ecosystem stablecoin developer Yala completed $8 million in seed round financing, co-led by Polychain Capital and Ethereal Ventures, with participation from Galaxy, Anagram, ABCDE, Amber Group, HashKey Capital, Satoshi Lab, and UTXO Management.
The funds from this financing will mainly be used for team expansion, product development, and security enhancement, as well as preparations for the mainnet launch. In addition, investors have committed to collateralizing over 2,000 bitcoins to Yala.
Yala's mission is to connect Bitcoin with major ecosystems through stablecoins as a medium, enhancing Bitcoin's liquidity. Its modular architecture allows Yala to deploy cross-chain on EVM-compatible platforms (like Ethereum) and non-EVM systems (like Solana), thereby enhancing Bitcoin's composability and promoting the development of an open Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem. According to official sources, Yala's testnet will be launched next week.
III. Gaming
Web3 game studio Dragonz Lab completes $9 million financing, led by Partnership Fund
According to Chainwire, UK-based Web3 game studio Dragonz Lab announced today that it has secured $9 million in financing led by Syndicate Capital Limited Partnership Fund (LPF).
LPF is a venture fund focused on investments in Web3, blockchain, and artificial intelligence, playing the role of a community builder to promote the development of the digital economy. This strategic equity investment aims to strengthen the development of Dragonz Land, a utility-driven Play-2-Earn game, and promote the development of digital ownership and the Web3 ecosystem.
Web3 game education platform PiP World completes $10 million seed round financing
According to CoinDesk, the Web3 gaming and edtech ecosystem PiP World announced the completion of $10 million in seed round financing, with investment from fintech company Exinity. PiP World plans to use this funding to create "Duolingo for the cryptocurrency space."
According to the press release, the PiP World ecosystem combines gameplay with personalized learning, including multiple products: PiP Trader (a AAA strategy management simulator game for building trading portfolios), Gold Rush (a click-to-earn game on the Telegram platform), PiP Academy (a gamified application that simplifies financial concepts), and StockRise (a stock simulator).
The platform aims to help global users better understand and engage with cryptocurrency and financial markets through engaging gameplay experiences and personalized learning methods. PiP World founder and CEO Saad Naja stated that this financing will help the company expand its product offerings and reach more global users, especially in emerging markets where financial tools and knowledge are scarce.
Additionally, Web3 asset data platform RootData shows that PiP World is a Web3 gaming and edtech ecosystem designed to make financial market education fun, engaging, and easy to understand. It has launched a game called Gold Rush on Telegram, providing players with meaningful financial education while incorporating an engaging and addictive gaming experience that simulates the excitement of cryptocurrency trading while creating a strategic foundation for real trading in the cryptocurrency market.
Web3 chain game Infinitar announces completion of $9 million A round financing, led by Lam Group
Web3 AAA MOBA chain game Infinitar announced the completion of $9 million in A round financing, co-led by Lam Group and AccelByte, covering the remaining financing amount, with a post-investment valuation of $150 million.
On October 1, Infinitar announced the completion of a total of $2.9 million in seed and angel round financing, with a planned total financing amount of $9 million.
According to crypto data platform RootData, Infinitar is a Web3 MOBA game that supports various arena modes, including individual rankings of 421 levels, 3v3, and 5v5 battles, catering to different player preferences.
IV. Others
According to official news, Base ecosystem token launch platform Trendies completed $1.75 million in Pre-seed round financing, led by Archetype, with participation from Coinbase Ventures' Base Ecosystem Fund and several angel investors.
Trendies is a launch platform designed for token holders, who will be rewarded for their activity in the community. On Trendies, token holders earn rewards by creating memes, liking popular content, and staking tokens.
The meme coin fair issuance platform PPKING, based on the TON public chain, announced the completion of $2 million in seed round financing, led by Crypto Labs, with participation from BlackBridge, Cityblok, Faculty Capital, Seed Club Ventures, CoinIX, Three M Capital, and others.
PPKING is a meme coin fair issuance platform based on the TON public chain, aiming to create an efficient, secure, and entertaining decentralized financial platform through innovative DeFi mechanisms and a deep integration with MEME culture.
