Highlights of this Issue
According to PANews incomplete statistics, there were 29 blockchain investment and financing events worldwide last week (6.10-6.16), with a total funding scale exceeding $147 million. The number of financing events increased, but the funding scale decreased significantly. An overview is as follows:
- DeFi announced 6 investment and financing events, including the re-staking project Symbiotic officially launched and announced the completion of a $5.8 million seed round of financing, with Paradigm and Cyber Fund leading the investment.
- Web3 games revealed 6 investment and financing events, including the Telegram click-to-earn encrypted game Pixelverse completing a $5.5 million financing, with participation from Delphi Ventures and others.
- AI field announced 3 investment and financing events, including the modular on-chain AI network REVOX.ai raising $6 million in strategic funding, with participation from SevenX Ventures.
- Infrastructure and tools track announced 11 financings, including Web3 startup Nexus Labs completing a $25 million Series A financing, with leading investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital.
- Other blockchain/encrypted applications announced 2 financings, including the Web3 music platform Stage completing a $2.4 million financing, with participation from the Solana Foundation.
- Centralized finance field announced 1 financing, with Web3 AI intelligent encrypted exchange BITAI announcing the completion of a $20 million seed round of financing on the X platform, led by First Round.
DeFi
Re-staking project Symbiotic completes $5.8 million seed round of financing, led by Paradigm, etc.
The re-staking project Symbiotic officially launched and announced the completion of a $5.8 million seed round of financing, with Paradigm and Cyber Fund leading the investment. It is reported that the Symbiotic project aims to provide a way for decentralized applications to secure "AVSs" by re-staking assets that have been deposited with other encrypted protocols, in order to obtain rewards. Earlier in May, Lido co-founder and Paradigm secretly supported Symbiotic, a competitor to EigenLayer.
InkFinance completes a new round of financing of $5 million
DeFi protocol InkFinance recently announced the completion of over $5 million in new financing. This round of financing was participated by many well-known investment institutions such as Republic, Alliance, Blizzard Fund, P2 Ventures, GSR, DHVC, Draper Dragon, Bella, Aegis Ventures, and Tido Capital. Ink Finance stated that this new funding will be mainly used to expand its financial management functions in the Web3 field, further improving the efficiency and user experience of decentralized finance (DeFi) services.
Decentralized credit protocol Qiro Finance completes $1.2 million Pre-Seed round of financing
The decentralized credit protocol Qiro Finance announced the completion of a $1.2 million Pre-Seed round of financing. This round of financing was led by Alliance, with participation from Druid Ventures, Escape Velocity (EV3), Trident Digital, and CMT Digital, among others. Qiro Finance plans to use this funding to further develop its decentralized credit protocol and enhance its ability to support credit applications for tokenized real-world assets (RWA). In addition, Qiro Finance has also received 100,000 MATIC tokens provided by Polygon and $50,000 in development funding from the Aptos Foundation. Qiro Finance's founders, Akshay Poshatwar and Nishikant Bahalkar, stated that the company is committed to addressing the credit gap in emerging markets such as Southeast Asia through blockchain technology and stablecoin frameworks.
DeFi trading platform Reposwap completes seed round of financing, led by QCP Capital
DeFi trading platform Reposwap announced the completion of a seed round of financing, with QCP Capital leading the investment and participation from ZK Prime Capital, XLink Ventures, and other investment institutions. The specific amount of financing and valuation have not been disclosed.
Leveraged trading protocol Particle completes a new round of strategic financing
The permissionless leveraged trading protocol Particle announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing, with participation from Spirit DAO, XDeGods, dingaling, among others. The specific amount has not been disclosed. Previously, Particle had completed a seed round of financing led by Polychain Capital in January of this year. Particle is a decentralized leveraged trading protocol that requires no permission for any digital asset, from tokens to NFTs.
Berachain ecosystem project Honeypot Finance completes strategic financing round, led by TKX CAPITAL
The Berachain ecosystem project Honeypot Finance announced the completion of a strategic financing round on the X platform, with a valuation of $20 million. The project has now raised a total of $1.3 million in funding from seed rounds and strategic rounds. This round of financing was led by TKX CAPITAL, CSP DAO, AQUANOW, Web3Port, EnigmaValidator, and other institutions. Honeypot Finance is a dex on Berachain, mainly consisting of three products: DreamPad, HenloDEX, and HiveNode.
Web3 Games
The Telegram click-to-earn encrypted game Pixelverse completed a $5.5 million financing, with participation from Delphi Ventures, Merit Circle, Bitscale Capital, Ghaf Capital, Big Brain Holdings, LiquidX, Foresight Ventures, former Nexon CEO Joonmo (James) Kwon, and The Sandbox founder Sébastien Borget. It is reported that, like other web3 games based on Telegram (such as Hamster Kombat and Notcoin), Pixelverse users can play the game by accessing the messaging application in the encrypted community, and continuous gameplay can give users the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency.
Metaverse blockchain game Yuliverse completes $4 million Pre-A round of financing
Metaverse blockchain game Yuliverse announced the completion of a $4 million Pre-A round of financing, led by LIF Capital, with participation from Spyre Capital, Presto Labs, DWF Labs, Sending Labs, 2 Punk Capital, G20, CSP DAO, 071 Labs, Titans Ventures, Ultiverse, HC Capital, and others. The total funding raised has exceeded $6 million. This round of financing will be used to build a new generation Gamefi + DePin model, using user location and behavioral data to create the largest decentralized personal behavioral data network. Yuliverse uses a real-world map as its world map, allowing players to enjoy exploration, social interaction, and character development in the game.
Mobile game L3 blockchain solution Unite completes $3 million financing, led by SuperLayer
Unite announced the successful completion of a $3 million seed extension round of financing. This round of financing was led by Web3 risk studio SuperLayer, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, Solana Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Gemini Frontier Fund, Formless Capital, HTX Ventures, CoinDCX Ventures, and others. Unite plans to use this funding to accelerate its strategic transformation into the first Layer 3 blockchain solution for mass-market mobile games.
The Web3 game entertainment social ecosystem Skytopia announced that it has secured funding of $2.4 million in its seed round, with Vertex Capital and SuperChain Capital leading the investment, and follow-on investment from Boyaa Interactive and Initiate Capital. Skytopia has received support from numerous guilds such as YGG, BGA, GMA, WGGDAO, N9 Club, Eureka, LDGD, NAGA, EDGE, and Digital, and will launch a large-scale governance token airdrop event this week. Skytopia is a Web3-based game entertainment social ecosystem dedicated to providing users with a revolutionary entertainment experience through the integration of decentralized sovereignty, innovative finance, and immersive experiences.
Web3 game startup D-Drops completes €500,000 Pre-Seed round of financing, with participation from ROM Utrecht
Web3 game startup D-Drops has completed a €500,000 Pre-Seed round of financing, with participation from ROM Utrecht. This funding will support the launch of a location-based treasure hunting game.
Web3 game publisher Sidus Heroes completes new round of financing, with participation from DWF Labs
Web3 game publisher Sidus Heroes announced the completion of a new round of financing via Twitter, with participation from the encrypted trading market maker DWF Labs and the establishment of a partnership. The specific amount of financing has not been disclosed. DWF Labs will support the project development and growth of Sidus Heroes, providing the tools and network needed for market development. Sidus Heroes has created a space-based game metaverse using blockchain technology, with products including Xenna, Tembazar, and Nidum.
AI
Modular on-chain AI network REVOX.ai raises $6 million in strategic funding
The modular on-chain AI network REVOX.ai announced the successful raising of strategic funding, totaling $6 million. This round of financing was participated by several institutions including SevenX Ventures, Arweave SCP Ventures, Cointelegraph Acceleration, Skyland Ventures, 0x Consulting Group, and 7upDAO. This funding will be used to further drive the development of REVOX.ai in the decentralized artificial intelligence field, accelerating product innovation and market expansion. REVOX.ai is a platform that combines AI technology with decentralized architecture, aiming to provide more secure and efficient AI solutions.
Decentralized AI protocol PrivateAI completes strategic round of financing, with participation from DAO Maker
The decentralized AI protocol announced the completion of a strategic round of financing, with participation from Charlie Hu of Bitlayer, DAO Maker, Gains Associates, Dextools Ventures, Connectico Capital, DOGE.ORG, Stone Block Association, 32 Ventures, Lunar Digital Assets, Pinnacle VC, Samara Asset Group, Snova Capital, and Meezan Ventures, among others. The specific amount of financing has not been disclosed. PrivateAI has also launched its AI-native distributed data platform, aiming to build the world's first large-scale language model (LLM) specific to the longevity industry.
AI Layer2 project Optopia.ai completes seed round of financing, with participation from G·Ventures and Kucoin Ventures
AI Layer2 project Optopia.ai announced the completion of a seed round of financing, with participation from G·Ventures, Kucoin Ventures, JRR Capital, KKP International Limited, ZenTrading, Klein Labs, MCS Capital, and renowned KOL MrBlock. Optopia.ai aims to build innovative AI standards and expand AI application scenarios as a Layer 2 network, simplifying Web3 operations through AI agents, lowering the user entry barrier, and empowering AI agents through a token economic model to unleash the potential of Web3. Optopia launched its mainnet in May and is currently conducting mainnet interaction activities to cultivate a strong and active developer and user community.
Infrastructure & Tools
Web3 startup Nexus Labs completes a $25 million Series A financing, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Pantera Capital, with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Faction Ventures, and Blockchain Builders Fund. Nexus plans to use the new funds to expand its team and develop more products. This round of financing brings Nexus Labs' total funding to $27.2 million, as the company previously completed a $2.2 million seed round in 2022, led by Dragonfly. Nexus Labs is dedicated to building zero-knowledge privacy tools to support AI, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and privacy-enhancing technologies.
Token distribution protocol Layer3 completes a $15 million Series A financing, with ParaFi and Greenfield Capital co-leading, and participation from Electric Capital, Immutable, Lattice, Tioga, LeadBlock, and Amber. The project began raising funds for this round in April and concluded in May. The financing round adopts a structure of equity plus token warrants. Layer3 also revealed its previously unannounced $37 million strategic financing (raised in 2022), with participation from Electric, ParaFi, and Polygon's Sandeep Nailwal, among others. The Series A financing brings Layer3's total funding to $21.2 million, as the company previously raised $2.5 million in 2021. Layer3 is a token distribution protocol that enables projects to distribute their tokens to attract and retain users. Layer3 essentially unifies user activities across multiple blockchains and applications, allowing the protocol to more effectively allocate tokens.
The NEAR Foundation has established Nuffle Labs and secured $13 million in funding. The fundraising also includes external investors such as Electric Capital, Canonical Crypto, Fabric Ventures, Robot Ventures, Caladan, and Lyrik Ventures, which will drive the development and decentralization of the NEAR ecosystem. Nuffle Labs will leverage NEAR's products to provide data availability and fast finality. The announcement states, "As an independent entity, Nuffle Labs will now be able to make agile decisions to ensure that NEAR Modular products remain competitive. Nuffle Labs is strategically positioned between the NEAR Foundation, Ethereum, and EigenLayer ecosystems, leveraging the strengths of multiple platforms to enhance the efficiency and resilience of the NEAR ecosystem."
Solana-based multisig protocol Squads completes a $10 million Series A financing, led by Electric Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Placeholder VC, RockawayX, L1 Digital, and Mert Mumtaz, co-founder and CEO of Helius and founder of Odyssey Ventures. This round of financing brings Squads' total funding to $22.5 million, as the company previously raised $12.5 million in three rounds of financing. Additionally, Squads has released the Fuse iOS wallet app for retail customers on TestFlight. Fuse is a Solana wallet built on the Squads protocol, providing multi-signature security for individual assets. Squads is a Solana-based multisig protocol that helps enterprises manage on-chain assets such as funds, tokens, and management keys through multisignature. Since its launch in 2021, Squads has helped protect over $10 billion in assets.
Ava Protocol (formerly OAK Network) has completed a $10 million seed round of financing to develop its Eigenlayer AVS on Ethereum for private autonomous transactions. The financing includes an initial investment of $5.5 million and an additional $4.5 million in seed round financing, with investors including Electric Capital, Taisu Ventures, and Sandeep Nailwal, founder of Polygon. The funds will support core Web3 infrastructure and drive cross-chain smart contract automation applications, such as limit orders for decentralized exchanges. Ava's testnet has over 10,000 wallets and a daily transaction volume of over 1,000, and it has partnered with over 30 collaborators, including Polkadot and Moonbeam, to simplify the deployment of Web3 applications.
On-chain data developer Irys has completed a new round of financing led by Lemniscap, bringing its total funding to $8.9 million. Framework, Primitive Ventures, Hypersphere, Permanent Ventures, EV3, Smokey the Bera, co-founder of Berachain, Ryan Watkins, and Daniel Cheung participated in this round of financing. Irys, formerly known as Bundlr Network, has expanded its services from bundling transactions to enhancing storage throughput to develop scalable on-chain data. Additionally, the platform is building infrastructure to track and verify data to combat digital misinformation.
Web3 payment company Kima completes a $5 million Pre-Seed round of financing, with lead investment from Mastercard's research accelerator, among others.
Web3 payment company Kima has raised a total of $5 million in Pre-Seed financing through equity and token financing, bringing the company's total funding to $8 million. Blockchange, FinSec Innovation Lab (the research accelerator under the payment giant Mastercard), and several angel investors led the equity financing round. Other support for the token financing came from Outlier Ventures, Blockchange, Big Brain Holdings, Castrum Capital, Kangaroo Capital, and Maven Capital. Kima has built a Web3 decentralized settlement protocol that connects traditional financial services such as fiat bank accounts and credit cards with decentralized finance (DeFi) tools. The company plans to use these funds to onboard more institutions, payment platforms, and cross-chain decentralized applications, as well as to expand its research and development, finance department, and regulatory processes.
The first developer-focused decentralized basic data protocol, codatta, has announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round of financing, led by OKX Ventures, with participation from Comma3 Ventures, Mask Network, Oak Grove Ventures, Paramita Venture, Web3Port, CGV, Fibo Partners, and CatcherVC, among others. codatta is the first decentralized data protocol with a scientific confidence that aims to build basic data infrastructure for developers and protocol services. codatta's goal is to enable Web3 users to monetize data without compromising privacy and contribute to building public data.
The native account abstraction layer project Zyfi has successfully completed a $2 million private financing round, with participation from Tenzor Capital, Everstake Capital, ZBS Capital, and several other investment institutions. Zyfi has completed multiple integrations, with partners including ZeroLend, PancakeSwap, Increment, AutoAirAi, Hue NFTs, Magic Labs, zkMarkets, and HYCO, among others. Zyfi is dedicated to building infrastructure on zkSync with unique features, including the ability for users to pay gas fees with any token, DApps to provide customized sponsorships through off-chain logic, and third parties to provide gas fees for transactions (such as NFT transactions). These features support various use cases, such as gas-free exchanges through the Zyfi frontend, gas-free minting and trading for NFT collections, and allowing DApps and DeFi protocols to sponsor gas fees through off-chain custom logic.
The modular Web3 development suite based on Runes, BRC20, and Bitcoin, Orbital7, has announced the completion of a private financing round with participation from Castrum Istanbul. The specific amount of financing and valuation data has not been disclosed. Orbital7 aims to leverage and enhance Level 0 technology to facilitate the integration of various blockchain networks into a compatible ecosystem, unify the user and developer experience across different platforms, enable seamless asset transfers, smart contract execution, and decentralized application usage, and address interoperability issues.
Eigenlayer ecosystem Web3 infrastructure service provider K3 Labs has announced the completion of a Pre-Seed financing round with participation from Finality Capital Partners, Blockchain Founders Fund, Aztlan Capital, and other institutions. The specific amount of funding has not been disclosed.
Other
Social Media:
- Web3 talent marketplace Bondex has announced the completion of a strategic financing round with participation from Animoca Brands. The specific amount has not been disclosed. Bondex primarily aims to enhance participants' career development, reputation building, and rewards through gamified experiences and tokenized incentives based on referrals and skill verification.
Consumer Entertainment:
- Web3 music platform Stage has completed a $2.4 million financing round with participation from the Solana Foundation, among others. Stage aims to introduce play-to-earn models, RWA and AI music, and is set to launch the STAGE token on the BNB Chain.
Centralized Finance
- Web3 AI-powered cryptocurrency exchange BITAI has announced the completion of a $20 million seed financing round on the X platform, led by First Round, with participation from Jump Crypto and Dragonfly, among others. All funds raised will be used to drive the development of the BITAI exchange, which is dedicated to providing Web3.0-based digital financial trading solutions and has obtained cryptocurrency trading licenses from the US MSB.
Institutional Funds
Paradigm has raised $850 million for its third fund, focusing on early-stage crypto projects.
The Manta Foundation has launched the Manta Foundation Ecological Fund, a $50 million fund pool, including direct investments and ecosystem support programs. The allocation includes $35 million for direct investments in projects on the Manta Network, $10 million for support in DeFi, AI, ZK, gaming, and memecoin fields, and $5 million for hosting hackathons and events to develop the Manta community.
Moonbeam has established a $10 million innovation fund to advance the development of gaming, RWA, and the Moonriver ecosystem.
The cross-chain smart contract platform Moonbeam has established the Moonbeam Innovation Fund of $10 million, aimed at advancing key use cases such as gaming and real-world assets (RWA), as well as the development of the Moonriver ecosystem. The first investment from the innovation fund is N3MUS, a pioneering company dedicated to seamlessly integrating Web3 games into mainstream by combining blockchain technology with traditional gaming experiences. The innovation fund allocates $1.5 million for grants within the Moonbeam ecosystem and $1.5 million for grants within the Moonriver ecosystem.
SevenX Ventures will collaborate with everVision and BuidlerDAO to launch a $10 million AO ecosystem fund, aimed at investing in and incubating early-stage projects within the AO ecosystem to accelerate the development of the entire ecosystem. In addition to financial support, everVision will provide technical support to help projects better develop within the AO ecosystem, while BuidlerDAO will organize hackathons and accelerators to lower the barriers for developers and entrepreneurs to enter the ecosystem and guide them towards sustainable development.
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