Highlights of this Issue
According to PANews incomplete statistics, there were 18 blockchain investment and financing events worldwide last week (July 8th to July 14th), with a total funding scale exceeding $137 million. The number and scale of both events have decreased significantly. An overview is as follows:
- DeFi: There were 4 investment and financing events in the DeFi sector. Among them, the fixed-rate lending protocol Term Finance completed a $5.5 million strategic financing, led by Electric Capital.
- Web3 Games: There were 2 investment and financing events in the Web3 Games sector. Soccerverse received a $3.1 million investment led by game giant Square Enix.
- AI: There were 2 investment and financing events in the AI field. Among them, the full-chain DEX data AI aggregator Aidatify completed an $8.3 million financing at a valuation of $150 million.
- Infrastructure and Tools: There were 4 financing events in this sector. Among them, blockchain startup Rome announced the completion of a $9 million financing, with participation from Hack VC and others.
- Other Blockchain/Crypto Applications: There were 2 financing events in this sector. Among them, the SocialFi platform RECRD announced the completion of a $4 million financing, led by the Sui Foundation.
- Centralized Finance: There were 4 financing events in this sector. Among them, cross-border payment and settlement blockchain company Partior raised over $60 million in Series B financing, led by Peak XV Partners.
DeFi
Term Finance completed a $5.5 million strategic financing, led by Electric Capital, with participation from Arete Capital, Delta Blockchain Fund, Inception Capital, Blizzard Fund, Maelstrom, and others. The raised funds will be used to develop the protocol and accelerate Term's roadmap to simplify lending through features such as looping, passive borrowing, automation, and real-time alerts. According to reports, Term is a chain-based fixed-rate lending protocol operating at an institutional scale, providing loan services exceeding $100 million, with a weekly clearing amount reaching seven figures.
The Bitcoin ecosystem stablecoin Satoshi Protocol announced the completion of seed round financing. The total amount of this round of financing is $2 million, led by CMS Holdings and RockTree Capital, with participation from Cypher Capital, Side Door Ventures, Optic Capital, Metalpha (NASDAQ: MATH, a subsidiary of Bitmain), Outliers Fund, Comma3, as well as angel investors Paul Taylor (ex-BlackRock) and Yenwen Feng (Perpetual Protocol).
Satoshi Protocol is the first over-collateralized stablecoin protocol in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Users can mint the dollar-pegged stablecoin $SAT by depositing BTC and LST and other BTC-based interest-bearing assets at a collateralization rate of 110%, and participate in trading, liquidity pools, lending, and other scenarios to earn profits. The protocol has been officially deployed on the BEVM and Bitlayer mainnets for 3 months and has simultaneously accessed testnets such as BOB, Botanix, B², Anduro (incubated by MARA), and Omni Network for testing.
On-chain credit and yield platform Idle raised $1.1 million in strategic financing led by investment company RockawayX, with participation from Fasanara Digital, bringing Idle's total financing to $2.4 million. The company plans to use these funds to further develop on-chain credit infrastructure, etc. Idle is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that provides yield automation and hedging tools for the decentralized finance (DeFi) market. The platform has accumulated $300 million in liquidity and a trading volume exceeding $2 billion. Idle previously raised $1.2 million in seed round financing led by Gumi Cryptos Capital in November 2020.
Flatcoin project under Ampleforth completes $1 million strategic round financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures
Fragments, the development company of the Ampleforth protocol, announced that the decentralized low-volatility commodity currency SPOT project of the Ampleforth Foundation completed a $1 million strategic round financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures. It is reported that SPOT aims to combine the characteristics of legal tender currencies such as the US dollar and gold or Bitcoin to create a "completely decentralized" and "significantly low-volatility" asset that can be used in the on-chain economy. The SPOT flatcoin currently available on Ethereum will also be launched as part of the protocol on the Layer 2 network Base incubated by Coinbase.
Web3 Games
According to the official Twitter account of Soccerverse, game giant Square Enix has joined the Soccerverse team and led its $3.1 million financing round. This investment will help Soccerverse innovate football management games through blockchain technology, allowing players to build fantasy teams, trade player influence, and experience the future of football games.
The Telegram click-to-earn encrypted game Pixelverse completed a $2 million new round of financing, with investment from venture capital firms including Galaxy Interactive, Crit Ventures, and Arc Community, and individual investors including Alex Kruger, Luke Belmar, Mike Dudas, and Coco Bear (alias). According to reports, Pixelverse users can play the game by accessing messaging applications in the encrypted community, and continuous gameplay can give users the opportunity to earn cryptocurrency. Earlier on June 12th, Pixelverse completed a $5.5 million financing round, with participation from Delphi Ventures.
AI
Full-chain DEX data AI aggregator Aidatify completes its first round of financing, with a valuation of $150 million and a total financing amount of $8.3 million. Investors include STIX, oilinvent, Alter Global, and Spencer. Aidatify is created by the VGESS team, which focuses on full-chain and DeFi infrastructure. The raised funds will be used to expand the Aidatify ecosystem and product investments.
The decentralized AI agent workflow network Questflow Labs announced the completion of a $1.5 million angel round financing, led by MiraclePlus, with participation from PAKA, AgentLayer, TypoX, Dmail Network, Chasm, and the founders of Litentry. This financing also includes support from the Cohere incubator founded by Transformer author Aidan Gomez, as well as support from the Web3+AI incubator initiated by Wanxiang and HashKey Capital, and ecosystem support from Near, Aptos, and Tezos.
According to reports, Questflow Labs is pioneering a new direction for decentralized AI agent workflows, aiming to provide users with integrated solutions for user intent perception and distribution, AI agent workflow automation, and human-machine collaboration. Its innovative technology is based on two pillars: the Multi-AI Agent Orchestration (MAO) engine and the decentralized AI agent network. Its self-developed Multi-AI Agent Orchestration framework and model use natural language processing to schedule multiple AI agents to autonomously complete tasks.
Infrastructure & Tools
Blockchain startup Rome announced the completion of a $9 million financing round. Investors include Hack VC, Polygon Ventures, HashKey, Portal Ventures, Bankless Ventures, Robot VC, LBank, Anagram, TRGC, Perridon Ventures, and institutions, as well as angel investors Anatoly Yakovenko, Nick White, Santiago Santos, Comfy Capital, Austin Federa, Jason Yanowitz, and others.
Rome, founded by Anil Kumar and Sattvik Kansal, aims to build Solana as the underlying network for shared sequencers and data availability (DA), using Solana as a secondary network to provide services for Layer2 blockchains built on Ethereum. The sequencer is a component of the Layer2 blockchain that batch processes transactions and sends them to the Ethereum base blockchain for settlement. The project also aims to achieve "atomic transactions" between Ethereum Layer2 networks, i.e., multiple transactions on different blockchains. If any part of the transaction fails, none of the transactions will go through, and users only need to pay the fees for Solana transactions. The project's closed network will be open to developers starting this month, with plans to launch a test network by the end of 2024 and a main network by mid-2025.
Web3 identity layer idOS completes a $4.5 million financing, led by Fabric Ventures
Decentralized data storage and access management protocol idOS announced the completion of a $4.5 million financing, led by Fabric Ventures, with participation from Arbitrum, Circle Ventures, Ripple, NEAR Protocol, Gnosis, Aleph Zero, Radix, and Tezos. This financing marks the establishment of the idOS Alliance, which aims to develop the Web3 identity layer and promote the adoption of decentralized identity in the Web3 space. idOS provides a cross-chain, composable, and compliant identity layer, enabling dApps to address user compliance issues and significantly reduce friction, while empowering users with control over their data, driving the development of decentralized identity systems.
Web3 infrastructure protocol ThirdFi announces the completion of a $2 million token financing
Web3 infrastructure protocol ThirdFi announced the completion of a $2 million token financing (including funds from accelerators and pre-seed investors), with participation from Techstars, Chainlink, Outlier Ventures, Alphabit Capital, and others. According to reports, ThirdFi.org is a Web3 infrastructure protocol that provides identity authentication for Web3 users and API and SDK for developers. Since its establishment in 2022 and graduation from the Techstars Web3 accelerator program, ThirdFi has been committed to supporting developers and Web3 startups through the development of tools, APIs, and SDKs. Over the past two years, ThirdFi has accumulated over 170,000 users through collaboration with more than 50 Web3 communities and protocols, with mainnet and L2 transaction volume exceeding $46 million.
L2 project BOB completes a $1.6 million strategic round financing, led by Ledger Ventures
The hybrid L2 project BOB completed a $1.6 million strategic round financing, led by Ledger Ventures, with participation from institutions such as BlackRock, Rarible, Ordinals, Aave, Curve, Threshold, Magic Eden, Mechanism, Injective, Vessel Capital, Babylon, and Centrifuge. $1 million of the raised funds will be allocated to the BOB incubator to support startups focused on Bitcoin infrastructure and BOB dApps. Established in 2023, BOB aims to combine the features of Bitcoin and Ethereum. Earlier reports indicated that BOB completed a $10 million seed round financing in March this year, led by Castle Island Ventures, with participation from Web3.com Ventures, Mechanism Ventures, Bankless Ventures, DFG, CMS Ventures, and UTXO Management, among others. BOB plans to launch the first Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible Bitcoin Layer2 network, enabling Ethereum-style smart contracts to be executed on the Bitcoin network.
Others
Web3 Social
SocialFi platform RECRD completes a $4 million financing, led by the Sui Foundation
SocialFi platform RECRD announced the completion of a $4 million financing, led by the Sui Foundation, with participation from DNA Fund, Alphabit Fund, as well as angel investors including former Netflix co-founder Mitch Lowe and former NBA player Mitch Richmon. According to reports, RECRD allows creators and users to convert their content into NFTs and monetize it instantly through dynamic video interactions. The project has completed the testing phase, allowing creators to turn their videos into NFTs and sell them directly on the platform, with buyers gaining ownership and a share of the ad revenue.
On-chain Retrieval
Multi-chain search engine Dora completes a $5.5 million financing, led by Dragonfly and Lemniscap
Multi-chain search engine Dora announced the completion of a $5.5 million financing, jointly led by Dragonfly and Lemniscap, with participation from Robot Ventures, Ethereal Ventures, Maven 11, Arche Capital, and others. Angel investors include Rushi Manche, co-founder of Movement Labs, and Dino Savonin, co-founder of Fluent. Dora aims to build an infinite discovery engine through unified multi-chain search and action, driving the prosperity of the on-chain world.
Centralized Finance
Cross-border payment and settlement blockchain company Partior raised over $60 million in its Series B financing, led by Peak XV Partners, with other investors including Jump Trading and Valor Capital. Singapore-based Partior also includes existing shareholders Temasek Holdings, JPMorgan, and Standard Chartered Bank. Partior will expand its settlement products, adding same-day FX swaps, cross-currency repos, and securities delivery versus payment. The company, established in 2021, originated from the Project Ubin project led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, aiming to explore the application of blockchain and distributed ledger technology in payments and securities settlement.
Argentinian fintech company Tapi completed a $20 million Series A financing, led by Kaszek, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Tapi co-founder and CEO Tomas Mindlin stated that the company is expanding its operations in Mexico. Tapi is a payment processor for major Latin American consumer platforms such as Mercado Pago and crypto exchange Lemon, with its payment processing technology aimed at helping fintech companies serve customers in multiple countries.
Algorithmic crypto trading platform Tread.fi completes a $3.5 million Pre-Seed round financing
Algorithmic crypto trading platform Tread.fi, founded by former Morgan Stanley employees, completed a $3.5 million Pre-Seed round financing, led by New Form Capital, with participation from Aquanow, Varys Capital, GBV Capital, Thanefield Capital, and others. Tread.fi plans to use the funds to strengthen its trading platform and expand its team. Tread.fi is a crypto trading infrastructure startup focused on serving institutional investors, providing trading engines and advanced algorithms.
Crypto payment startup Kulipa completes a $3 million seed round financing
Crypto payment startup Kulipa announced the completion of a $3 million seed round financing, jointly led by Fabric Ventures and White Star Capital. The Paris-based startup, founded in 2023, aims to provide a platform for issuing crypto payment cards for non-custodial wallets. Kulipa can settle stablecoin transactions on multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, multiple Ethereum Layer2, and Solana. Kulipa is one of five blockchain startups in the latest Start Path incubator program by Mastercard.
Institutional Funds
Auros to invest over $50 million in early-stage digital asset enterprises through Auros Ventures
Crypto trading firm and market maker Auros stated in an interview that its newly established venture capital division plans to invest over $50 million of its own capital in early-stage digital asset enterprises over the next two years. To lead the investment work, the company has appointed Julien Auchecorne as the head of Auros Ventures. Auchecorne previously worked at hedge fund Brevan Howard, digital asset service platform XBTO International, and other crypto and traditional investment firms.
This expansion also marks a milestone in Auros' transformation, following a severe blow from the FTX collapse at the end of 2022. CEO Ben Roth stated in the interview that the market maker now estimates that it handles approximately 4% of the global cryptocurrency trading volume. This move sees Auros following the lead of major market makers such as Wintermute and Cumberland DRW in establishing a venture capital division on top of its core trading business.
Auros CEO Ben Roth stated that prior to establishing the venture capital division, Auros had invested in over a dozen projects since the third quarter of 2023 and disbursed nearly $20 million in investments. When discussing the company's fund allocation strategy, Auchecorne explained that Auros plans to primarily make "concentrated bets" on seed and Series A stage projects.
Frictionless Capital announced that its Frictionless Fund I has raised $20 million for investing in high-performance blockchain and category-defining applications. Frictionless Fund I has received support from global institutions including Franklin Templeton and Foundation Capital, as well as funds such as Hutt Capital, Avalon Capital, and Pure Crypto. It has also garnered support from Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon of A16z, Kelvin Liu of Invesco, and general partners of prominent cryptocurrency funds Multicoin, Framework, Coinfund, Big Brain Holdings, and AllianceDAO, as well as support from multiple cryptocurrency founders including Raj Gokal and Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana, Sergey Gorbunov and Georgios Vlachos of Axelar, Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching of Aptos, and Kevin Sekniqi of Avalanche. Other notable angel investors include Santiago Santos and Spencer Noon. The fund has made several investments over the past year, such as Backpack, DFlow, Andrena, and Kuzco.
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