Crypto Fundraising weekly
Dates: 06 – 12, Aug 2023

This week's biggest funding round

Helio Protocol raised $10M in a funding round from Binance Labs Fund*.

Helio Protocol is an open-source liquidity protocol built on the BNB Chain, offering borrowing and yield opportunities for a BNB-backed asset class known as "Destablecoins". These decentralized stablecoins are over-collateralized and represented by HAY. Helio enables instant conversions, collateralization, borrowing, yield farming, and staking.

Pre-seed and Seed investment rounds

Holdstation raised $2M in a Seed funding round from K300 Ventures*.

Holdstation DeFutures is a platform enabling traders to engage in leveraged trading of multiple assets up to 500x. It's self-custodial approach aims to streamline user interactions with blockchain technology while emphasizing privacy and innovation. The platform offers gasless transactions, batch transactions, and covers gas fees with various tokens, alongside a DeFutures trading platform with diverse trading opportunities across assets using decentralized price feeds.

Xverse App raised $5M in a Seed funding round from Jump Crypto*, RockawayX, Sfermion, Alliance DAO (ex DeFi Alliance), NGC Ventures, V3ntures, Old Fashion Research (OFR), Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Newman Capital, Franklin Templeton, New Layer Capital, Miton C fund, Gossamer Capital, Daxos Capital, Sora Ventures, IOBC Capital, DeSpread.

Xverse is a Bitcoin-based Web3 wallet that supports Ordinals, a unique method for generating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Bitcoin blockchain through inscription. Available on iOS, Android, and as a Chrome extension, Xverse allows users to earn BTC rewards, participate in a non-custodial stacking pool for native Bitcoin earnings, and seamlessly interact with various Web3 applications on the Stacks network.

CUBE3.AI raised $8.2M in a Seed funding round from Blockchange Ventures*, Dispersion Capital, Symbolic Capital (ex Hyperedge Capital), Hypersphere, TA Ventures, Iclub.

CUBE3 is a web3 security platform that employs machine learning and pattern matching to offer real-time protection for smart contracts, defending against cyber threats, fraudulent activities, and compliance breaches. The platform assigns a risk score to newly deployed smart contracts, helping to identify and prevent malicious transactions, thus enhancing security for the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

SphereX raised $8.2M in a Seed funding round from Aleph*, Pillar VC, Fabric Ventures, Mensch Capital Partners.

SphereX is a Web3 security company that offers a proactive approach to blockchain security by integrating its products as security modules within smart contracts. These modules prevent hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in the code without disrupting the contract's normal operation, ensuring continuous on-chain defense. SphereX's innovative solution prioritizes active prevention of malicious activities while upholding composability and anti-censorship ideals in the decentralized space.

fxhash raised $5M in a Seed funding round from 1kx*, Fabric Ventures, Bright Opportunities DAO, Union Square Ventures (USV), Tezos Foundation, Tane, Daedalus, Everyrealm, Punk DAO, KRPDM.

fxhash is a Tezos-based platform for generative art, enabling artists to create and sell unique NFTs produced using computer code. It offers a space for artists to publish Generative Tokens stored on the Tezos blockchain, allowing anyone to mint their own distinct versions of the artwork as NFTs.

Puffer Finance raised $5.5M in a Seed funding round from Lemniscap*, Lightspeed Faction*, Brevan Howard Digital, Bankless Ventures, Animoca Ventures, DACM, SNZ Holding, Canonical Crypto.

Puffer Finance is a decentralized protocol that enables anti-slashing and at-home staking on Ethereum by utilizing a low bond requirement and introducing Secure-Signer, a remote-signing tool that prevents slashable offenses. Puffer aims to diversify the validator set and reduce centralization in Ethereum's proof-of-stake network while addressing the challenges faced by solo validators. It provides a permissionless staking pool and tools to enhance the safety and viability of at-home staking.

GoldLink raised $1.4M in a Pre-seed funding round from Polychain Capital*, Kronos Research, Modular Capital, Reverie, SkyVision Capital, Double Peak Group.

GoldLink is an innovative on-chain leveraged prime broker that offers transparent lending, providing borrowers with advanced investment strategies and exposure to leading Arbitrum protocols. With real-time data feeds and modular risk management, users can gain comprehensive insights into their positions and maintain full control over their funds in a decentralized and responsive environment.

Juhnz raised $1M in a Seed funding round from Bixin Ventures*, LK Venture.

Juhnz is a luxury Web3 lifestyle brand. It's first upcoming product is a collection of 500 limited-edition NFTs each backed by a box of Premium Silver Needle White Tea sourced from Fujian, China. Every box is equipped with a high-end dynamically encrypted NFC chip for authenticity verification and traceability.

unshETH raised $3.3M in a Seed funding round from Soma Capital, ICONIQ Growth, THE LAO, Backend Capital, Electric Feel Entertainment & Ventures, MH Ventures, 300DAO, Electric Ant, HF0, Epakon Capital.

unshETH is a DeFi protocol promoting validator decentralization and an enhanced Ethereum staking experience through the unshETH Ether token, representing diversified liquid staked ETH. It fosters competition among validators using incentive engineering, improving the liquid staking derivatives ecosystem. UnshETH Ether is also an Omnichain token, ensuring seamless transfers across ETH Mainnet, BNB Chain, and Arbitrum via LayerZero.

VIP3 raised $2M in a Seed funding round from IOBC Capital, Ankr Network, PAKA.

VIP3 is a comprehensive Web3 membership and benefits platform connecting users with active dapps, offering bonuses, discounts, and privileges through on-chain SBT membership cards. It aims to empower users with better benefits and reduce costs while promoting genuine user growth for Web3 platforms. Through on-chain SBTs, VIP3 creates a unified membership system across various Web3 applications, offering Silver, Gold, and Diamond membership cards with increasing exclusive benefits.

Other investment rounds

Curve DAO raised $5M in a  funding round from Binance Labs Fund*.

Curve is a largest stableswap and second-largest AMM decentralized exchange (DEX) with a focus on stablecoin swaps, ensuring minimal fees and slippage. The Curve DAO Token (CRV) is used for liquidity rewards and governance within the Curve DeFi protocol, enhancing token trading efficiency and community involvement.

Spearbit raised $7M in a  funding round from Framework Ventures*, Nascent, 1kx, Volt Capital, Breed VC, Robot Ventures.

Spearbit is a decentralized network of security experts offering consulting services to Web3 projects. Spearbit incubated the first marketplace for web3 security Cantina. Spearbit's mission is to enhance Web3 safety by creating a scalable community of experts, ultimately aiming to become a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) and expand their offerings beyond security reviews.

Rocket Pool raised undisclosed amount in a Strategic  funding round from Coinbase Ventures*.

Rocket Pool is a decentralised Ethereum 2.0 staking protocol. Designed to support stakers of all shapes and sizes, Rocket Pool was built with the intent to allow anyone to trustlessly stake as little as 0.01 ETH to a network of decentralised node operators with full autonomy underpinned by RPL collateral (a type of bonding or insurance that ensures good behavior).

Coin98 raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from DWF Labs*.

Coin98 is a cross-chain liquidity protocol with a full suite of products including Coin98 Wallet, Coin98 Exchange and Coin98 Bridge.

* fund, that lead investment round