financing

According to CNBC, Sierra, an enterprise AI startup co-founded by OpenAI board chairman Bret Taylor and former Google executive Clay Bavor, has completed a $950 million Series E funding round, with a post-money valuation of $15.8 billion.This round of financing was led by Tiger Global and GV, a venture capital firm under Alphabet, with participation from existing investors such as Benchmark, Sequoia, and Greenoaks.Sierra primarily provides AI customer service agent products, automatically handling customer service and support scenarios for enterprise clients. It is reported that Sierra's annual recurring revenue has surpassed $150 million over the past eight quarters.Bret Taylor stated that Sierra operates using a "model cluster" approach, combined with its own fine-tuning layer, to provide AI agent services for enterprise clients. Previously, Sierra completed a $175 million financing round in October 2024, at which time its valuation was $4.5 billion.

According to Globenewswire, the Nasdaq-listed Solana treasury company DeFi Development announced the launch of a $200 million ATM financing plan.The company stated that the raised funds will primarily be used to continue executing its Solana reserve strategy and that shares will only be issued when there is a positive effect on the value of each shareholder's SOL holdings, ensuring that the financing has a "accretive" nature.

Bitcoin mining company and energy infrastructure platform Hut 8 announced that its subsidiary has reached a $200 million Bitcoin collateralized credit agreement with FalconX, replacing the previous financing arrangement from Coinbase Credit. The new financing has an annual fixed interest rate of 7.0%, a decrease of 200 basis points from the previous 9.0% financing from Coinbase; during the period from December 2023 to March 2025, the financing cost was as high as 10.5%–11.5%, with a cumulative reduction of up to 450 basis points, demonstrating progress in continuously optimizing debt costs.After this refinancing, Hut 8 has approximately 3,300 BTC converted to an uncollateralized state, valued at about $260 million based on the market value as of May 1, 2026, significantly enhancing its balance sheet flexibility and liquidity. Meanwhile, the credit structure maintains key risk control terms, including a limited recourse structure, a no-rehypothecation clause, and a fixed LTV threshold design, preventing additional margin calls triggered by a decline in Bitcoin prices.Hut 8's management stated that this financing not only reduces financing costs but also releases more uncollateralized Bitcoin assets, helping to enhance capital allocation flexibility across different market cycles; FalconX emphasized that this transaction reflects its ongoing expansion capabilities in institutional-level Bitcoin credit solutions.

According to TechFundingNews, the blockchain trading platform Ekiden announced the completion of a $2 million seed round financing, with the company's valuation reaching $20 million.This round of financing was led by Unicorn Factory Ventures and P2 Ventures, and also attracted angel investors who have previously invested in projects such as GSR, Pyth, Aptos, LayerZero, and Cube Exchange.It is reported that Ekiden is committed to bringing institutional-level trading on-chain, providing efficient and secure trading solutions through blockchain technology.

Bitcoin reserve company Capital B announced the completion of a €1.1 million financing, with the funds subscribed by Blockstream CEO Adam Back for the BSA 2026-02 equity warrant.At the same time, the company has lowered the conversion price of the OCA B-04 convertible bonds from €5.174 per share to €2.59, and added a two-year equity warrant (BSA OC) for each converted bond. This move aims to optimize the capital structure and accelerate the advancement of the Bitcoin reserve strategy.

The stablecoin financial services platform UnblockPay announced the completion of a $4.5 million seed round financing, led by Prelude, with participation from Plug and Play, Wintermute, Reverie, Signature Ventures, Triaxis Capital, Crescera Capital, and a group of angel investors. The new funds will support its development of regulated financial products, helping businesses integrate stablecoins into their daily financial operations and enabling enterprise users to seamlessly exchange between fiat currency and mainstream stablecoins like USDC and USDT.

According to Cointelegraph, the amount of venture capital funding in the crypto sector dropped to $659 million in April, the lowest monthly total since July 2024.

According to Cointelegraph, the venture capital market in the cryptocurrency industry significantly cooled down in April, with the total amount of cryptocurrency VC financing dropping to $659 million, completing 63 rounds of financing, a sharp decline of 74% compared to March's $2.6 billion (84 rounds), marking the lowest monthly financing level since 2024.As of 2026, the cumulative financing amount in the cryptocurrency industry has reached $5.64 billion. Since peaking at $3.84 billion in October 2025, cryptocurrency VC financing has continued to decline, during which the total market capitalization of the global cryptocurrency market has also fallen by about 37%. In terms of sectors, DeFi protocols led with 12 rounds of financing, while blockchain services and AI-related cryptocurrency projects each completed 8 rounds. The venture capital department of market maker GSR became the most active investor in April, participating in 4 financing deals; institutions such as Tether, Animoca Brands, and Coinbase Ventures also participated in 3 transactions each.

Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund is investing approximately $624 million in Anduril's latest funding round, making it one of the largest investors in this round.It is reported that Anduril's funding round is approximately $4 billion, with a valuation expected to reach $60 billion, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Thrive Capital. Anduril is a U.S. AI military startup, and its founder Palmer Luckey previously launched a digital bank called Erebor with Peter Thiel, specifically designed for cryptocurrency and tech startups.

The Solana-based yield trading platform Exponent Finance announced the completion of a $5 million seed round financing, led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures, RockawayX, L1D, Prelude, and Theia Blockchain, as well as several key figures from the Solana ecosystem as angel investors.It is reported that this round of financing started in May last year and was completed in August, bringing Exponent's total financing to $7.1 million. Exponent stated that the funds will be used to expand its yield trading platform and upgrade to a more complete on-chain yield infrastructure, covering the active yield management needs of the Solana ecosystem.

The prediction market startup XO Market has completed a $6 million seed round financing, with participation from 20VC, Picus Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Venture Together, and others.XO Market is positioning itself as the "YouTube of prediction markets." Traditional prediction markets rely on internal teams to plan and launch, while XO allows individuals or companies to create markets themselves, setting parameters and fees.

The DeSci project NanoVita officially announced the completion of strategic financing, with the amount not yet disclosed. This round of financing was participated in by Credit Scend, Harbor Digital Ventures, and Apus Capital.It is reported that NanoVita is a decentralized science (DeSci) protocol that integrates nanotechnology, AI biological intelligence, and real-world health data, aiming to build an open and transparent health research infrastructure.In addition, NanoVita had previously completed a seed round of financing participated in by Cryptogram Venture (CGV), UDS Space, Candaq Fintech Group, and Susie Venture, as well as a Pre-A round of financing participated in by K24 Ventures, LandScape Capital, and WestLabs.

According to official news, legend.trade announced the completion of a $3.5 million seed round financing, led by Electric Capital, with participation from Amber Group and GSR Markets LTD. Its total financing amount has exceeded $5 million.According to RootData, legend.trade is a trading and competition platform based on Telegram, aimed at providing users with a seamless, fair, and efficient trading and competitive experience.

Anthropic is considering launching a new round of financing, with a potential valuation exceeding $900 billion. If the deal is reached, its valuation will surpass that of OpenAI, which completed financing earlier. Reports indicate that investors have already made offers more than double its current valuation, but negotiations are still in the early stages, and Anthropic has not accepted any offers.The company's current valuation is approximately $350 billion, primarily anchored by investments from Google and Amazon, and it is also considering an IPO as early as this October.

According to official news, the AI financial workflow platform Rogo announced the completion of a $160 million Series D financing round, led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, and other institutions.Rogo stated that its AI system has been deployed in several top global investment banks, asset management companies, and private equity firms to enhance research, modeling, and client communication efficiency. This round of financing will be used to deepen system integration, expand on-site engineering and investment banking teams, and accelerate expansion in European and Asian markets. The company emphasized that AI is driving the "popularization and efficiency reconstruction" of high-end financial service capabilities.

According to The Block, the Solana ecosystem multi-signature protocol Squads announced the completion of a $18 million strategic financing round, led by Solana Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Haun Ventures, L1D, and others. This round of financing is an equity round, bringing its total financing amount to $42.9 million. Squads will use the funds from this round to expand its stablecoin enterprise financial platform, Altitude.It is reported that Altitude, the stablecoin payment platform under Squads, allows businesses to conduct 24/7 global payment settlements in stablecoins through self-custody wallets, and connects to the global payment network through compliance and risk control systems.

According to CNBC, the crypto data and research platform Blockworks announced the completion of its Series A extension financing, with a post-money valuation of $192 million. This round was co-led by Parafi Capital and Reciprocal Ventures, with participation from several institutions including Coinbase Ventures, Advancit Capital, and MoonPay. Over 20 founders and operators from projects such as Solana, LayerZero, Pyth, EigenLayer, Kraken, Arbitrum, and Polygon also participated personally, though the specific financing amount has not been disclosed.The company stated that the crypto market has grown to a trillion-dollar scale without the infrastructure of traditional capital markets, but still faces issues such as data fragmentation, inconsistent disclosures, and a lack of communication mechanisms for investors. Blockworks aims to fill this gap through a "data + disclosure + investor relations" integrated framework.

According to CoinDesk, Galaxy Digital led a $20 million financing round for fintech company Fence, with participation from Parafi Capital and Crane Ventures. Fence plans to utilize blockchain, smart contracts, and tokenization technology to transform the backend processes of the $6 trillion asset-backed finance market.This round of financing will primarily be used for Fence's expansion in the U.S. market and product development. Reports indicate that a large number of structured credit transactions still rely on manual processes such as Excel, PDF, and email to complete loan tracking, collateral verification, and cash flow processing, which are inefficient and have limited transparency. Fence aims to achieve real-time data updates and automated settlements through a unified system.It is reported that Fence obtains loan data via API and uses smart contracts to automatically execute payments and cash flow distribution once conditions are met. Additionally, the company can tokenize loan shares within financing vehicles, allowing investors to transfer positions, collateralize financing, or automatically receive payments.Currently, the Fence platform manages approximately $1.5 billion in assets, with partner institutions including BBVA, BlackRock, and Fortress Investment Group. The company states that compared to the traditional processing cycle of several months, its system can complete new transaction launches within weeks.

According to Techfundingnews, the artificial intelligence application platform Certifyde announced the completion of a $2 million seed round financing, with participation from angel investors including K5 Global, Flamingo Capital, co-founder of Honey George Ruan, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, and co-founder of Nutra Roland Peralta.