Highlights of this Issue
According to PANews incomplete statistics, there were 20 blockchain investment and financing events globally last week (1.15-1.21), with a total fund size exceeding $220 million, as follows:
- DeFi: There were 3 investment and financing events, among which the Ethereum re-staking protocol Renzo completed a $3.2 million seed round of financing. This round of financing was led by Maven11 Capital.
- NFT and Metaverse: No investment and financing events were announced in this field.
- Blockchain Games: There was 1 investment and financing event: mobile game studio AOFverse announced the completion of a $3 million private placement round of financing, led by Animoca Ventures.
- Infrastructure and Tools: There were 8 financing events, including the decentralized automotive data network Digital Infrastructure completing a $11.5 million Series A financing, led by CoinFund.
- Other Web3/Encryption-related Projects: There were 5 financing events, including the Farcaster ecosystem project Wield announcing the completion of over $1 million in Pre-Seed round financing on the X platform, led by Lemniscap.
- Centralized Finance: There were 3 investment and financing events, including the digital asset financial services group HashKey Group announcing a Series A financing of nearly $100 million with a pre-investment valuation exceeding $1.2 billion.
DeFi
Ethereum Staking Platform Kiln Completes $17 Million Financing, Led by 1kx
The Ethereum staking platform Kiln has completed a $17 million round of financing. This round of financing was led by 1kx, with participation from IOSG, Crypto.com, Wintermute Ventures, KXVC, and LBank. This is an extension of Kiln's $17.6 million Series A financing announced in November 2022. Kiln stated that the funds raised will be used for the company's global expansion, including establishing its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore and further product development. Since its inception, Kiln has raised a total of $35 million from investors.
The Ethereum re-staking protocol Renzo, based on EigenLayer, completed a $3.2 million seed round of financing. This round of financing was led by Maven11 Capital, with participation from OKX Ventures, SevenX Ventures, IOSG Ventures, Figment Capital, and others. Renzo's post-investment valuation reached $25 million. Renzo plans to use the new financing to conduct additional audits of its protocol, increase rewards for its bug bounty program on the Immunefi platform, integrate more DeFi protocols, and expand its team. Renzo was established in August last year and currently helps users re-stake Ethereum through EigenLayer. The protocol also plans to support Liquidity Staking Tokens (LST) in the future.
Blockchain Financial Company Canza Finance Completes $2.3 Million Strategic Financing
Blockchain financial company Canza Finance, focusing on the South African market, announced the completion of a $2.3 million strategic financing. Polychain led the investment, with participation from Protocol Labs, AvaLabs, 99 Capital, BitscaleCapital, StratifiedCap, ContangoDigital, and others. This round of financing will be used to further develop innovative tools and services, aiming to reduce the cost of doing business on the African continent. Canza Finance is reportedly an emerging bank based in Nigeria, providing financial services to the public through DeFi and local currency trading markets.
Blockchain Games
Mobile game studio AOFverse announced the completion of a $3 million private placement round of financing, led by Animoca Ventures, with participation from Liquid X Ventures, Chainridge VC, Ticker Capital, Flying Falcon, and BSCN Gaming Ventures. AOFverse, headquartered in London, focuses on Web3 integration and globally beloved IPs. The company plans to launch its PvP game "Army Of Fortune" later this year, which has received over 1 million downloads since its trial release in October 2023. Earlier, AOFverse announced receiving funding from the Arbitrum Foundation this month.
Infrastructure & Tools
Digital Infrastructure, a startup focusing on decentralized physical infrastructure networks, recently completed a $11.5 million Series A financing. This round of financing was led by the cryptocurrency investment company CoinFund, with participation from Slow Ventures, ConsenSys Mesh, Borderless Capital, Bill Ackman's Table Management, and former General Motors CEO G. Rick Wagoner Jr. The company will use this round of financing to enhance the ability of developers to build new tools on the DIMO network, to enhance its practicality and value. In addition, Alex Felix, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of CoinFund, will join Digital Infrastructure's board of directors. The Series A financing brings Digital Infrastructure's total financing to $22 million. Digital Infrastructure is developing the DIMO network, a decentralized automotive data protocol. The accompanying DIMO Mobile application allows drivers to collect and view their own car data and earn rewards through DIMO tokens. Currently, the network has connected over 36,000 vehicles, representing over $1 billion in assets.
The Web3 platform's unified digital identity service Root Protocol has recently completed two rounds of seed financing, raising a total of $10 million. These two rounds of financing have increased Root's valuation to $100 million, led by Animoca Brands and with participation from Signum Capital, Ankr Network, DFG, CMS Holdings, as well as angel investors Tekin Salimi and Meltem Demirors. Root Protocol is building a Web3 operating system that will serve as a digital identity aggregator, aiming to become a "one-stop decentralized identity service station" to make the process of accessing different Web3 platforms more seamless.
Web3 Infrastructure Platform zbyte Completes $5 Million Financing, with Participation from Cartography Capital
The Web3 infrastructure platform zbyte has received a $5 million investment, with participation from Cartography Capital. In this financing transaction, $1 million is a commitment investment. zbyte's mainnet provides low-code, no-code modular services, making it easy for Web2 developers to create decentralized applications.
0xScope Completes $5 Million Pre-Series A Round of Financing, Led by HashKey Capital
The Web3 knowledge graph protocol 0xScope has announced the completion of a $5 million Pre-Series A round of financing, led by HashKey Capital, with participation from Redpoint China, OKX Ventures, GSR Markets, Amber Group, Antalpha, DHVC, as well as existing shareholders Mask Network, Hash Global, and XIN Family.
Web3 Analytics Platform Safary Completes $2.4 Million Financing
The Web3 analytics platform Safary has announced the completion of a $2.4 million seed financing. This round of financing was led by Lemniscap, with participation from Arca, SevenX, Big Brain Holdings, Saison Capital, Diaspora Ventures, and 20 Web3 angel investors, with 14 of them being Safary community members. This funding will be used to expand the Safary team and accelerate the development of the Safary marketing analytics platform. Safary aims to be the Web3 alternative to Google Analytics, replacing traditional tracking systems without relying on cookies. It allows users to track visitors, wallets, and other content in an intuitive no-code dashboard.
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The Web3 payment platform Fetcch has announced the completion of a $1.5 million Pre-Seed round of financing, jointly led by Hashkey Capital and AppWorks Venture, with participation from LD Capital, Compute Ventures, M6, and GravityX Capital. Fetcch mainly provides seamless infrastructure services for digital payments and rewards platforms, focusing on the Web3 cross-chain payment ecosystem, and has integrated cross-chain solutions such as LayerZero, Axelar, Wormhole, Circle's CCTP, and Chainlink's CCIP.
Bitcoin Layer2 Project MAP Protocol Receives Strategic Investment from Bitrise Capital's Fund
The Bitcoin Layer2 project MAP Protocol has announced on the X platform that it has received a strategic investment from Bitrise Capital's $50 million Bitcoin ecosystem growth fund, with the specific investment amount undisclosed. The MAP Protocol was established in 2019 and took 5 years to develop. It is a Bitcoin L2 infrastructure focused on peer-to-peer cross-chain interoperability. By leveraging the security mechanisms of the Bitcoin network and Bitcoin light client technology based on ZK, the MAP Protocol's Bitcoin L2 infrastructure not only ensures security through the Bitcoin network but also allows seamless interaction with assets and users from other public chains. Currently, the MAP Protocol has over 620,000 on-chain users, a complete second-layer ecosystem covering project launches, asset trading, lending, cross-chain assets, on-chain games, and NFTs, among other complete Bitcoin L2 applications.
Web3 Tax Consulting Firm and Software Service Provider InTax Completes Angel Round of Financing
The Web3 tax consulting firm and software service provider InTax has announced the completion of an angel round of financing, with the specific amount and investors undisclosed. It is reported that InTax was founded by the former tax director of Bitmain and consists of financial and tax management personnel from Web3 and TMT companies with rich experience in the field of crypto asset tax compliance. Additionally, InTax is also the principal of the Web3 crypto financial and tax community TaxDAO. In addition, InTax has announced the launch of a cryptocurrency tax product—the InTax cryptocurrency tax platform. This platform aims to provide a one-stop, automated crypto asset tax compliance solution for the Web3 era.
Others
Web3 Social:
Web3 Social Platform DeBox Announces Investment from DWF Ventures
The Web3 social platform DeBox has announced a strategic partnership with DWF Labs' DWF Ventures and has received investment from DWF Ventures, with the financing amount undisclosed. It is reported that DeBox plans to transition from a Web3 knowledge paid community to a full-stack DAO governance platform. DeBox plans to provide a range of features to enhance consensus management, including proposals, voting, finance, capital management, transactions, lotteries, contract tools, and more. Earlier, DeBox completed a $2 million seed round of financing, led by the Singapore-based fund ABCDE.
Web3 Social Protocol beoble Receives Strategic Investment from DWF Labs
Web3 Social Protocol beoble Announces Strategic Investment from DWF Labs, Specific Amount Undisclosed
The Web3 social protocol beoble has announced a strategic investment from DWF Labs, with the specific amount undisclosed. In November last year, beoble completed a $2 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by DCG and Samsung NEXT.
Farcaster Ecosystem Project Wield Completes Over $1 Million Pre-Seed Round of Financing
The Farcaster ecosystem project Wield has announced the completion of over $1 million in Pre-Seed round of financing on the X platform, with Lemniscap leading the investment and participation from Farcaster co-founders Dan Romero, Colin Armstrong, Rueben Brama, Perry Randall, and Henry Shi, among others. Wield aims to allow users to explore cryptocurrency in an interesting way through far.quest.
Analytics Company:
South Korean Web3 Research Company Four Pillars Announces $500,000 Financing, with Investment from Hashed and Others
South Korean Web3 research company Four Pillars has announced a $500,000 financing round, with investments from Kakao Ventures, Hashed, Bass Investment, and others. Four Pillars can assist enterprises in effectively implementing blockchain technology, providing customized solutions based on its collaborative experience and technical understanding of blockchain projects, offering timely insights into blockchain technology, fundamentals, legal aspects, and market analysis, saving time and costs for companies considering entering the blockchain market.
Media Relations:
Web3 Advertising Platform Linkko Completes Strategic Financing, Led by W3M Ventures
Web3 advertising platform Linkko has completed strategic financing, with Web3 Media (W3M) Ventures leading the investment, with the specific financing amount undisclosed. The new funds will be used to develop features, expand partnerships, and grow the user base. Established in 2023 and headquartered in Singapore, Linkko aims to provide "precise" targeting for advertisers using on-chain analytics, allowing targeted users to watch ads and receive rewards (ranging from a few cents to a few dollars).
Centralized Finance
Digital asset financial services group HashKey Group has announced the completion of nearly $100 million in Series A financing with a pre-money valuation exceeding $1.2 billion. In addition to active subscription and support from existing shareholders, new investors in this round include large institutional investors, leading Web3 institutions, and strategic partners. The funds from this round of financing will be used to deepen HashKey's full ecosystem layout in the virtual asset industry, accelerate the diversification of licensed business products in Hong Kong, and promote the group's compliant and innovative development globally.
It is reported that HashKey Group's business covers a wide range, providing new investment opportunities and solutions in the digital asset and Web3 ecosystem for retail investors, large corporate institutions, family offices, funds, professional and accredited investors. Core businesses include Hong Kong's first licensed retail virtual asset exchange, a global asset management institution focusing on blockchain technology and digital assets, a world-leading blockchain staking service provider, tokenization service institutions, and Web3 avatar incubation and community operations. HashKey Group's subsidiary, HashKey Exchange, provides customers with a one-stop virtual asset trading service through Hong Kong's first licensed app-based exchange, with over 155,000 registered users in the first four months and an average daily trading volume of $630 million in the past 30 days, as well as deep cooperation with over 10 securities firms and 6 Hong Kong-listed companies.
French cryptocurrency market maker Flowdesk has raised $50 million in its Series B financing, led by Cathay Innovation, with participation from Ripple, Bpifrance, and others. This round of financing has pushed Flowdesk's valuation to over $250 million. Flowdesk plans to use the new funds to further expand its business globally, with a focus on growth in Singapore and the United States, and to establish a new office in London. Additionally, Flowdesk plans to obtain regulatory licenses in these markets and is prepared to comply with EU regulations for the crypto asset market from day one. Flowdesk also intends to hire approximately 50 more employees on top of its current team of about 100. The company recently appointed Charles Tighe as Chief Financial Officer and recruited several executives from the now-closed Genesis Global Trading, including Reed Werbitt, Hanson Birringer, Greg Guttas, and Warren Wynn.
Crypto Exchange WOO X Completes $9 Million New Round of Financing to Improve Liquidity
Crypto exchange WOO X has announced the completion of a $9 million new round of financing, with participation from Wintermute, Selini Capital, Time Research, Presto Labs, Pulsar, AlphaLab Capital, Efficient Frontier, Amber, and Riverside Hedge. The exchange plans to launch the DMM project in the first quarter of this year in the spot market. The company stated, "Overall, these measures will enable WOO X to achieve a 100% custody ratio in the second quarter of this year." The statement mentioned that the company intends to use the newly raised funds for global market expansion and obtaining regulatory licenses. The primary purpose of the financing is to "coordinate the interests of liquidity providers," as the participants in this round of financing are committed market makers to improve WOO X's liquidity.
Venture Capital Institutions
Web3 Venture Capital Inception Capital Completes First Fundraising of $30 Million
Web3 venture capital firm Inception Capital (formerly known as OP Crypto) has successfully closed its flagship fund (Fund of Funds) of $30 million. David Gan, founder and general partner of Inception Capital, stated that the fund primarily targets family offices and high-net-worth individuals, providing "diversified" exposure to early-stage crypto venture transactions. The fund has received support from investors such as Mirana, FJ Labs, and Serafund. Gan noted that the fund plans to invest in approximately five new investment managers and funds each year, rather than specifically supporting particular projects, protocols, or startups. Currently, the fund has deployed approximately 30% of its capital and plans to continue focusing on emerging managers in the crypto risk space. Managers invested in by Inception Capital include Syncracy Capital, Escape Velocity, Alliance, OrangeDAO, and Everyrealm. The firm has also co-invested with Bain Capital Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Multicoin Capital, as well as Marc Andressen and Chris Dixon of a16z.
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