ChainCatcher news, Becker Ventures today announced that it will host an "Exclusive Venture Horizon" investor invitation-only cocktail party on February 19 at 18:00 at SOHO House, Central, taking advantage of the annual blockchain event Consensus in Hong Kong.According to official disclosures, this event will selectively invite representatives from leading institutions such as OKX Ventures, Alliance DAO, Paradigm, as well as high-quality Web3 projects that have been selected for the Becker Ventures acceleration program.The event will adopt a dual-track mechanism of invitation and registration review, focusing on cutting-edge tracks such as Infra, DeFi, and AI, with special sessions for project roadshows, thematic roundtables, and free networking."Hong Kong, as a hub for Web3 innovation and consensus, is attracting builders from around the world to converge here," said a founding partner of Becker Ventures. "We look forward to creating a chemical reaction between builders who truly create value and discerning VCs through deep social scenarios."It is reported that the fund's first phase has a scale of $50 million, focusing on innovative projects from seed to Series A rounds. The event has opened a limited registration channel, and Web3 entrepreneurs can submit their BP through luma to obtain entry qualifications. Industry observers point out that this closed-door event may become the most valuable capital matchmaking platform for Hong Kong's Web3 month.

ChainCatcher news, according to Theblock, the Sei Foundation has announced the launch of a $65 million venture capital fund named "Sapien Capital --- Open Science Fund I," which focuses on supporting decentralized science (DeSci) startups built on the Sei blockchain.The fund is fully funded by the Sei Foundation and plans to complete capital deployment over the next 3 to 4 years, with investment amounts ranging from $100,000 to $2 million, covering both token and equity forms. DeSci aims to improve the funding model for scientific research, data sharing, and the distribution of scientists' rights through blockchain technology, and has attracted the attention of mainstream institutions such as Binance Labs and a16z.

ChainCatcher news, as of January, the venture capital funding received in the crypto space has reached $1.14 billion, representing a potential 100% increase compared to January 2024 ($653.3 million).For cryptocurrencies and small projects, the metrics for small to medium financing are more important, as they indicate the level of confidence and enthusiasm for startups. The current level of funding has returned to "normal" levels, with funding rounds ranging from $1.5 million, and multiple projects raising between $10 million and $25 million.According to statistics, the funding amount in the crypto space for 2024 is estimated to be between $11.5 billion and $13.6 billion. Optimistic forecasts suggest that venture capital funding in the coming year could reach as high as $18 billion.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, a research report from JPMorgan indicates that crypto venture capital (VC) funding is expected to rise this year, as regulatory clarity and more crypto-friendly policies emerged during the tenure of U.S. President Donald Trump. However, due to increased competition from large financial institutions, high interest rates, and the rise of ETF products, funding levels may not reach the highs of previous years.The report notes that new cryptocurrency projects are avoiding selling large amounts of tokens to venture capital firms and are increasingly turning to community-driven platforms for fundraising.

ChainCatcher news, former Google engineer Casey Caruso has founded the crypto venture capital fund Topology Ventures, which has raised $75 million. The fund will invest in cutting-edge technologies, including artificial intelligence, decentralized networks, neural technology, aerospace, and robotics.Cendana Capital and Accolade Partners are the main investors in the fund, which has raised three times its original target. Other limited partners include a16z's Marc Andreessen, Bessemer's managing partner Bob Goodman, former Bessemer member and current owner of the Chemistry fund Ethan Kurzweil, co-founder of OpenAI and co-author of GPT-4, as well as Paris Hilton.

ChainCatcher news, the venture capital firm Cadenza, focused on blockchain and artificial intelligence, announced the completion of a $50 million fundraising for its early-stage AI venture fund. The new fund will focus on pre-seed and seed stage investments, with an emphasis on infrastructure and enterprise applications.Cadenza's current portfolio in the Web3 space includes: Web3 infrastructure Validation Cloud, Malaysian digital asset exchange Hata, Web3 API platform Uniblock, L1 blockchain Linera, and cryptocurrency wallet application Zulu, among others.

ChainCatcher news, according to TechCrunch, former NBA star Omri Casspi's venture capital fund Swish Ventures has completed a $60 million fundraising, which will invest in early-stage cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and AI startups. Investors participating in the fund's raise include EON founder Ophir Ehrlich, Upwind founder Amiram Shachar, and PointFive co-founders Gal Ben-David and Alon Arvatz.The fund plans to support 10 companies, with each investment ranging from $5 million to $7 million.Swish Ventures is Casspi's second fund following the launch of the $36 million fund Sheva Capital in 2022. Casspi stated that since the investment period for Sheva has ended, he is responsible for managing Sheva's portfolio.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the UK Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) has approved former Northern Ireland Secretary John Baker to serve as an advisor to the Bitcoin investment firm Axiom. Baker will join the company's second venture capital fund, Axiom Venture Fund II, as a part-time advisor.Axiom announced in August this year plans to raise $75 million for its second venture capital fund. To mitigate potential risks, the committee has set several restrictions on Baker's appointment, including a ban on using government confidential information for Axiom's benefit for the next two years, prohibiting lobbying the UK government, and not providing advice to Axiom in areas related to his former ministerial role.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, venture capital in the cryptocurrency sector saw a significant decline in the third quarter before the election fervor of elected President Trump revived industry sentiment. PitchBook data shows that in the three months ending September 30, cryptocurrency startups attracted $1.7 billion in investment, a decrease of 31.3% from the previous quarter. The number of deals completed fell by 25.3% to 392.PitchBook senior analyst Robert Le wrote in the report, "We believe this adjustment is a natural and necessary component of a healthy cryptocurrency market." Le attributed the decline in cryptocurrency venture capital deals to macroeconomic factors, including increased market volatility and concerns about a recession in the U.S. Similar to the previous quarter, new infrastructure projects like blockchain continued to attract venture capitalists in the third quarter. Le stated that he expects further consolidation among cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians, and infrastructure companies in the future.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, the AI-driven venture capital fund ai16z on the decentralized investment platform Daos.fun reached a market value of nearly $100 million after receiving a thumbs up from a16z partner Marc Andreessen. The fund was created by developer Shaw and currently holds about $1 million in assets, primarily investing in Degen Spartan AI tokens.Andreessen wrote in a post: "GAUNTLET THROWN," along with a screenshot of the robot's X account. In another post, Andreessen stated: "Hey, I have that T-shirt," and included a screenshot of the ai16z fund's avatar. Following this, ai16z's market value peaked at $96.6 million, before falling back to around $50 million.It is reported that the ai16z fund uses an AI model to simulate Andreessen's investment decisions, making investments based on suggestions from DAO members. The weight of investment suggestions depends on the number of tokens held by members and the historical success rate of their recommendations. The fund is set to expire on October 24, 2025, and has already completed verification on the Jupiter exchange and Moonshot platform. The project plans to further reduce human intervention in the future to achieve AI autonomous trading decisions.

According to Cointelegraph, GnosisDAO, the decentralized autonomous organization behind Gnosis Chain, has approved a proposal to launch a $40 million venture fund aimed at accelerating early blockchain projects.GnosisDAO will contribute $20 million to the fund, with the remaining $20 million coming from external LPs. The fund is named GnosisVC Ecosystem and will prioritize investments in projects engaged in the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), decentralized infrastructure, and financial payment channels.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Information, asset management company VanEck has launched a $30 million venture capital fund, VanEck Ventures, to support the development of the crypto and AI industries, and will invest in early-stage crypto and AI startups.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, crypto analysts say that if crypto projects want to continue to receive healthy venture capital funding, the altcoin market needs to experience a significant rebound.Will Clemente, co-founder of Reflexivity Research, stated that unless altcoins see a "substantial bull market," fewer crypto projects will receive funding support, and the overall valuation of the altcoin market will decline.He said, "Given the increase in supply in the market, I expect funding to be more dispersed, and I am not confident about the occurrence of this rebound."

ChainCatcher news, Frank Chaparro, the Special Projects Director at The Block, and Laura Vidiella from MNNC Group published a joint opinion article calling on investors to focus on the long-term development of the crypto industry. Despite the poor performance of the crypto market in September 2024 and recent employment reports dampening market sentiment, the industry is still steadily developing from a macro perspective. Laura recently attended Korea Blockchain Week and hosted a panel discussion on the evolution of liquidity funds and venture capital funds.According to statistics, the number of funds focused on crypto investments worldwide has surged from about 50 in 2018 to over 1,150 currently. In comparison, there are about 4,000 registered hedge funds in the United States and approximately 30,000 globally. In terms of financing, the crypto industry raised over $72 billion from 2018 to 2023, while traditional venture capital in the U.S. raised over $600 billion during the same period.Although the approval of Bitcoin spot ETFs at the beginning of 2024 brought high expectations, this year is more likely to be a transitional period. The current cycle should not be simply compared to previous cycles, as the industry landscape has changed dramatically. If investors feel frustrated, they can take a break or look at industry development trends from a longer-term perspective, which may provide better insights.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, British hedge fund billionaire Alan Howard's son Daniel Howard and partner Bhavin Vaid have announced the establishment of a crypto venture capital fund called Halo Capital. The fund has raised $25 million, aiming to bring a growth investor mindset to early-stage crypto projects.Halo Capital is headquartered in New York and has a broad investment scope, covering various fields from Bitcoin to decentralized artificial intelligence. The fund has invested in projects such as Bima Labs and Andrena, and has brought in about 20 partners to provide expert advice. Both founders come from the cryptocurrency-focused private equity firm 10T Holdings, and they began fundraising in March of this year, officially launching the fund's operations in June.

ChainCatcher news, according to Bloomberg, Robot Ventures has raised $75 million for its early-stage cryptocurrency venture capital fund. Robot Ventures is an early investor in crypto startups such as EigenLayer, Lido Finance, and Flashbots. This is Robot Ventures' fourth fund, with investors including TrueBridge Capital Partners, Haun Ventures, Marc Andreessen, and Chris Dixon.

ChainCatcher news, according to a new quarterly report from PitchBook, cryptocurrency financing has grown by 2.5%, reaching $2.7 billion. Despite the increase in amount, the number of transactions has decreased by 12.5%.PitchBook senior analyst Robert Le stated, "Investors are concentrating capital on a narrower range of opportunities, marking a leap towards quality. A few years ago, their investments were more diversified across various sectors. Overall financing in 2024 is expected to grow by 20% or more compared to last year, reaching between $12 billion and $14 billion this year, up from about $10 billion last year."

ChainCatcher news, Arkham disclosed on X that it has identified fundraising addresses for 24 different projects, which have collectively raised $500 million on-chain.For example: Berachain ($100 million), Scroll ($87 million), Gnosis Safe ($44 million), Movement Labs ($21.2 million).

ChainCatcher news, according to informed sources, despite signs of recovery in the Web3 market, the European venture capital firm XAnge has quietly stopped raising funds for its first cryptocurrency venture capital fund.In 2022, the venture capital announced it was raising funds for its dedicated cryptocurrency fund, the Digital Ownership Fund, with a target size of 80 million euros, recruiting Luc Jodet, co-founder of the Paris Web3 luxury platform Arianee. However, now due to difficulties in securing enough supporters to complete the initial fundraising, its CEO Cyril Bertrand has stated that they will no longer raise funds for this cryptocurrency-specific fund.