ChainCatcher news, focusing on the L2 blockchain ZKcandy for games, has completed a $4 million financing round, with participation from Wemix Pte. Ltd., Animoca Ventures, Spartan Group, Perlone Capital, Presto Labs, Flowdesk, Prometheuz, Lecca Ventures, Efficient Frontier, and angel investors from projects such as Stacks, Analog, and Mittaria.The funds will be used to build a Telegram-based EVM gaming ecosystem, collaborate with intellectual property holders, expand the partner network, develop game AI agents, and prepare for the mainnet launch in the first half of this year. ZKcandy is developed and operated by iCandy, with Lemon Sky Studios being a subsidiary of iCandy.According to RootData, ZKcandy is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum that utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to accelerate transaction speeds and reduce costs. By processing off-chain transactions and leveraging Ethereum's security, ZKcandy enhances scalability, ensuring faster and more cost-effective transactions while maintaining compatibility with the Ethereum ecosystem.

ChainCatcher news, according to official sources, the liquidity solution SecondSwap has announced the completion of a $1.2 million seed round financing, with participation from GSR, Animoca Ventures, E4 Capital, Yellow Capital, BCW Group, HGEN DAO, ARC Community, Nonco, and Libra Capital. The funds will primarily be used to expand SecondSwap's market capabilities.It is reported that SecondSwap provides an automated over-the-counter trading market for assets with low liquidity. It supports token diversification, risk management, and transparent trading through smart contracts. Currently, it is in the test network on Ethereum and plans to expand across multiple chains. The mainnet of SecondSwap is set to launch in January 2025.

ChainCatcher news, the Monad ecological liquid staking protocol Magma has announced the completion of a $3.9 million seed round financing, with participation from Bloccelerate, Animoca Ventures, CMS Holdings, Maelstrom, Veil VC, Builder Capital, Infinity Ventures, RockTree Capital, Wise3 Ventures, Stake Capital, and Relayer Capital.It is reported that Magma is building MEV-based liquid staking on Monad. Magma will collaborate with Ether.fi to establish the first restaking integration on Monad.According to RootData, Magma is a liquid staking protocol based on Monad, developed by Hydrogen Labs. It achieves fair token distribution through ecological competitive airdrops, emphasizes community participation and decision-making, and is capable of self-funding protocol development and managing various activities.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the Fuel stablecoin protocol Fluid Protocol has completed a $3.9 million seed round financing. This round was participated by Bloccelerate, Animoca Ventures, CMS Holdings, Maelstrom, Veil VC, Builder Capital, Infinity Ventures, RockTree Capital, Wise3 Ventures, Stake Capital, Relayer Capital, and others. Angel investors participating in this financing include Meltem Demirors, Kartik Talwar, Cami Ramos Garzon, Mike Silagadze, Alan Curtis, and Ben Lakoff. The funding injection from the seed round will accelerate the development and launch of Fuel Network's native stablecoin USDF, fund security audits to ensure protocol safety, and expand the team.According to Web3 asset data platform RootData, Fluid Protocol is a Fuel stablecoin protocol that allows users to withdraw interest-free loans against a single collateral type, with loans paid in Fluid's native stablecoin USDF, which must maintain a fixed minimum collateral ratio. Users will be able to redeem USDF as collateral at face value at any time.

ChainCatcher news, the decentralized AI infrastructure layer KIP Protocol has announced the completion of a $5 million private placement financing, led by Animoca Ventures and Tribe Capital. Other investors include GBV Capital, DWF Ventures, Morningstar Ventures, and others. So far, KIP Protocol has raised a total of $10 million.As the world's first underlying protocol supporting Decentralized Retrieval-Augmented Generation (dRAG), KIP Protocol provides cutting-edge Web3 infrastructure that enables app developers, model creators, and data owners to achieve seamless deployment, monetization, and full ownership in Web3. KIP Protocol offers a comprehensive suite of tools and services aimed at breaking the monopoly barriers in the AI industry, providing a fairer environment for AI developers and consumers. This round of financing will further advance KIP Protocol's mission for decentralized AI development by creating powerful and secure decentralized AI solutions that drive unprecedented applications and innovations.Previously, KIP Protocol officially announced a partnership with the leading AI Agent entertainment platform Moemate, leading 3 million Web2 AI users into Web3. KIP has also secured the management rights to a $10 million fund provided by Open Campus, collaborating to layout and explore the "DeAI + Education" landscape, and jointly building a leading, decentralized AI-driven online learning education platform OCU, offering personalized learning experiences and redefining decentralized education. Through these collaborations, KIP has realized real use cases for decentralized AI.

According to ChainCatcher news, the Snapshot information shows that Animoca Brands' venture capital division, Animoca Ventures, has proposed to establish a joint venture fund, ApeCoin Ventures, in collaboration with ApeCoin DAO. The fund aims to invest in seed and Series A rounds of Web3 projects, prioritizing those that can integrate ApeCoin into their ecosystems, thereby enhancing the value, utility, synergy, network effects, and influence of ApeCoin. The size of the ApeCoin Ventures fund is $10 million, with ApeCoin DAO required to allocate $5 million worth of APE (which Animoca Ventures plans to sell for fiat currency), and Animoca Ventures contributing $5 million. The proposal is currently open for voting, with a current support rate of 83.49%, and voting will end on August 1.

ChainCatcher news, the decentralized secure computing project ARPA Network has completed a $6 million strategic funding round, with participation from Nomura's Laser Digital, DeFiance Capital, Animoca Ventures, Metrics Ventures, ArkStream Capital, and Trinito.Previous news, according to Cointelegraph, the decentralized secure computing network ARPA Network announced it has received a multi-million dollar strategic investment from DWF Labs.According to the Web3 asset data platform RootData, ARPA is a decentralized secure computing network designed to enhance the fairness, security, and privacy of blockchain. The ARPA threshold BLS signature network serves as a verifiable random number generator (RNG), secure wallet, cross-chain bridge, and decentralized hosting infrastructure across multiple blockchains.

ChainCatcher news, based on Berachain's native options protocol IVX has completed a $1.2 million seed round financing on platform X, led by Animoca Ventures and AVID3, with participation from Big Brain Holdings, Web3Port, Cogitent Ventures, Forbole, SerDAO, Autistic Waterfowl Venture Capital, and a number of angel investors. Valuation data has not yet been disclosed.IVX is built on the Berachain Polaris EVM technology stack, providing zero-day-to-expiration (0DTE) options for crypto assets in a permissionless and secure manner, with buyers facing no liquidation risk and allowing users to achieve high leverage exposure with minimal capital. Currently, its IVX Artio testnet is open.

ChainCatcher news, Animoca Brands' early-stage venture capital arm Animoca Ventures has proposed the establishment of ApeCoin Ventures on the ApeCoin DAO community forum.According to the proposal, ApeCoin DAO will contribute $5 million worth of APE tokens, and Animoca Ventures will provide $5 million worth of fiat currency for a 1:1 match, jointly forming an investment fund with a total size of $10 million. The fund will focus on investing in early Web3 projects at the seed and Series A stages, prioritizing projects that can integrate APE tokens into their ecosystems.After successful exits from investments, 50% of the token profits will be returned to ApeCoin DAO, with plans or options to convert the profits back to APE. ApeCoin Ventures will charge a 1% management fee for operational tasks such as project review, due diligence, ecosystem support, and collaborative promotion.Animoca Ventures stated that with its expertise in venture capital and the vitality and influence of the community, ApeCoin Ventures will be dedicated to enhancing the utility and adoption of APE tokens, introducing high-quality projects with synergies to the ApeCoin ecosystem, and driving long-term value growth for the ecosystem. Animoca Brands has previously successfully invested in numerous star projects, including Yuga Labs, The Sandbox, and Axie Infinity.It is reported that the proposal is expected to support up to 80 seed/Series A stage Web3 projects, with individual investments ranging from $100,000 to $250,000. If the funds are not fully deployed within two years, the remaining APE tokens will be returned.

ChainCatcher news, Scroll ecosystem's first native perpetual contract DEX Rollie Finance has announced the completion of its seed round financing, with participation from Animoca Ventures, M77 Ventures, Scroll co-founder Sandy Peng, Wombat Exchange founder Alex Lee, and RSS3 COO Kate Wong.It is reported that Rollie Finance has revolutionized trading methods through its innovative AI one-click trading design, allowing users to trade simply by swiping left or right on their mobile devices, reflecting their interests and trading preferences.

ChainCatcher news, the comprehensive service platform OpenStamp based on the STAMP protocol has completed its seed round financing with a valuation of 50 million USD, led by Animoca Ventures, with participation from KuCoin Ventures, MH Ventures, VitalTao Capital, Lotus Capital, Brotherhood Ventures, Blue Node Capital, D64 Ventures, Luminescence Capital, Spicy Capital, Halvings Capital, SPEC Capital, and YM Capital.It is understood that OpenStamp offers a variety of products including Mint/Deploy services, SRC-20/SRC-721 marketplace, Indexer, Explorer, and Launchpad.

ChainCatcher news, focusing on the AI-based Web3 underlying protocol KIP Protocol has completed a strategic round of 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).It is reported that KIP Protocol is a decentralized Web3 protocol layer built by AI models, applications, and data owners, enabling secure transactions and monetization in Web3. KIP will establish a new AI business ecosystem to address the issues and challenges faced in decentralized AI deployment, ensuring that valuable knowledge and data can be protected and monetized as knowledge assets, allowing interaction with artificial intelligence without losing digital ownership.The first dApp on KIP Protocol is planned to be launched in the first or second quarter of 2024.

ChainCatcher news, according to Decrypt, mobile game studio AOFverse announced the completion of a $3 million private funding round, led by Animoca Ventures, with participation from Liquid X Ventures, Chainridge VC, Ticker Capital, Flying Falcon, and BSCN Gaming Ventures.

ChainCatcher news, the decentralized perpetual trading platform Narwhal Finance, operating on Arbitrum and BNB Chain, announced the completion of a strategic financing round with a valuation of $25 million. At the same time, Narwhal Finance also announced a partnership with Pyth Network for oracle services and a partnership with Wormhole for token bridging services.According to the crypto data platform RootData, [Narwhal Finance](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Narwhal Finance?k=NzM5OA==) completed a $1 million seed round financing in March this year, led by Animoca Brands and participated by Hailstone Ventures. (Source link)

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, James Ho, head of Animoca Brands' investment division Animoca Ventures, revealed in an interview that Animoca Ventures is currently exploring the preparation of a second early-stage venture capital fund, and stated that certain "major Japanese console manufacturers" have expressed interest. Previously, its first fund of $100 million was launched in May 2022, focusing on seed and Series A investments in the crypto gaming sector, and authorized to allocate 10% of its capital to NFTs. (source link)

ChainCatcher news, the second session of the "Zhen" series events hosted by ChainCatcher and RootData was held today in Hong Kong. This session invited several industry Builders and investors to discuss the theme of "New Cycle and New Narrative." In a roundtable discussion titled "Consensus, Reverse Thinking, and Long-termism," RootData partner Hunter, Blofin CEO Matt, UXUY Protocol co-founder Jordan, [Yuanwang Capital](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Investors/detail/iVision Ventures?k=MzMy) founding partner Tian Hongfei, and zkLink co-founder Vince Yang discussed the current cycle of cryptocurrencies, future narrative trends, hidden crises in the market, and signals of market recovery.In addition, several guests expressed that Hong Kong is a hub for high finance, IT talent, and capital in the development of the crypto market and risk control of crypto assets. Furthermore, users should conduct thorough research when investing in crypto assets to guard against high-return investment products like Terra.