Crypto Fundraising weekly
Dates: 06 – 12, Oct 2024

This week's biggest funding round

Ithaca raised $20M in a funding round from Paradigm.

Ithaca is a forward-thinking project focused on accelerating the development of decentralized technologies by co-designing a robust open-source developer tool stack. It leverages blockchain technology to create innovative solutions for building decentralized applications (dApps), Layer 2 networks, and developer frameworks. One of its key initiatives includes Odyssey, a testnet built with futuristic features to enable seamless development and experimentation in decentralized finance (DeFi) and beyond. Ithaca’s mission is to simplify and scale the decentralized crypto frontier for developers and users alike.

Pre-seed and Seed investment rounds

Yala raised $8M in a Seed funding round from Polychain Capital*, Ethereal Ventures*, Anagram, ABCDE Capital, Amber Group, Hashkey Capital, SatoshiLab, UTXO Management, Galaxy Vision Hill.

Yala is a DeFi protocol focused on developing Bitcoin-backed stablecoins. Its core product, $YU, is a Bitcoin-collateralized stablecoin soft-pegged to the US dollar, offering stability for transactions and yield generation in DeFi. Yala integrates Bitcoin liquidity into DeFi platforms across L1 and L2 ecosystems, allowing Bitcoin holders to leverage their assets without selling.

PiP World raised $10M in a Seed funding round from Exinity.

PiP World is a gamified platform designed to promote financial learning and trading. It offers various experiences, including PiP Academy for personalized financial education, PiP Trader for managing virtual trading empires, and PiP StockRise for stock and crypto trading via Roblox. Users can also earn real money through games like PiP Gold Rush and participate in $PiPS token airdrops by proving their market skills.

Trendies raised $1.8M in a Pre-seed funding round from Archetype*, Base Ecosystem Fund, Henri Stern, Marc Boiron, Zhuoxun Yin.

Trendies is a social platform where users earn rewards for posting content on social media platforms like Twitter and Farcaster. It is the first launchpad designed for holders, rewarding them for engaging in their communities by creating memes, liking content, and staking coins. With 75% of the coin supply allocated to a rewards treasury, active holders are guaranteed the majority of the supply over time.

Apex Fusion raised $6M in a Seed funding round from TRGC*.

Apex Fusion is a decentralized platform that connects EVM and UTXO ecosystems, enabling seamless asset transfer and development across blockchain protocols. It consists of Prime (Layer 1), Vector (a UTXO-based Layer 2), and Nexus (an EVM-compatible Layer 2), offering high-speed transactions and low fees. Prime provides security through Ouroboros PoS, while Reactor bridges assets between layers. The platform supports DeFi, gaming, and financial applications with scalable infrastructure.

Fission Labs raised $1.6M in a Pre-seed funding round from SALT fund*, Kraynos Capital*, Anthony Scaramucci.

Fission is a DeFi platform designed to bring venture capital on-chain. It enables crypto users and traditional finance participants to invest in and trade private equity-backed tokens. The platform’s first offering is the VC secondaries token, TECH. Fission aims to bridge the gap between venture capital and decentralized finance by tokenizing private equity investments on the Ethereum blockchain.

OpenGradient raised $8.5M in a Seed funding round from a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), Coinbase Ventures, SV Angel, Balaji Srinivasan, Sandeep Nailwal, Illia Polosukhin, Canonical Crypto, Symbolic Capital (ex Hyperedge Capital), SALT fund, Foresight Ventures, Near Foundation, Celestia Foundation, BlackDragon VC, Thanefield Capital, Pragma Ventures, Anand Iyer, Ryan Watkins, Ajit Tripathi, Paul Taylor, Mo Dong.

OpenGradient is a decentralized platform for hosting, executing, and deploying AI models. It offers NeuroML, a Solidity framework for integrating AI inference with smart contracts, and a Python SDK for accessing its model repository and decentralized AI infrastructure. Its Model Hub serves as a repository for both open and closed-source models, enabling secure AI model inference across the network.

Semantic Layer raised $3M in a Seed funding round from Figment Capital*, Hack VC, Robot Ventures, Bankless Ventures, Anagram, Fenbushi Capital, Perridon Ventures.

emantic Layer enhances incentive alignment and scaling for decentralized applications (dApps) on Ethereum by making meta-transactions programmable. It enables customized MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) distribution and native scaling solutions, allowing developers to optimize interactions within their protocols.

Kiva Ai raised $7M in a Pre-seed funding round from CoinFund*, ACTAI Ventures, Humbition, Hashkey Capital, NGC Ventures (NEO Global Capital), Foresight Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Protagonist, Breed VC.

Kiva AI develops specialized AI applications by utilizing human experts to label large datasets. It offers a comprehensive suite of services, including data annotation, collection, and fine-tuning, with a focus on high-quality, scalable solutions. By employing a ‘human-in-the-loop’ approach, Kiva AI compensates overseas experts with cryptocurrency for their contributions, ensuring enhanced AI model accuracy.

APRO raised $3M in a Seed funding round from Polychain Capital*, ABCDE Capital*, Franklin Templeton*, CMS Holdings, Comma3 Ventures, UTXO Management, Oak Grove Ventures, Presto Labs.

APRO offers a powerful Oracle solution designed to connect decentralized applications with real-world data. It provides reliable and secure access to off-chain data, supporting a wide range of use cases, including finance, gaming, and supply chain management. The platform is built for scalability and ensures accurate data delivery to smart contracts.

Other investment rounds

ZAP raised $150K in a Public sale  funding round from .

ZAP is a reputation-based token distribution protocol built on Blast, designed to ensure fair and meritocratic token rewards by validating user contributions. It helps projects sustainably grow their communities through campaigns like the “Blast Gigadrops,” which rewards users for social and on-chain interactions with over 20 Blast ecosystem projects. ZAP is expanding its protocol to other blockchains, starting with Base, and is developing a no-code token launcher and token launchpad to simplify access to venture-capital-backed projects. With a focus on rethinking the token launch experience, ZAP aims to provide seamless distribution for crypto founders.

delta raised $11M in a  funding round from Variant Fund, DBA, Figment Capital, Maven 11 Capital, Reverie, Castle Island Ventures, Credibly Neutral, Ambush Capital, Delphi Ventures, Robot Ventures, Public Works, Komorebi Collective, Ergodic Capital, Zero Knowledge Ventures.

Delta is a permissionless network that enables secure and efficient interoperability between member networks (domains). Each domain operates independently, while validators manage transactions and validate SNARKs. Users can transfer assets between domains without intermediaries, with built-in protection against censorship and downtime through forced migrations.

Dragonz Land raised $9M in a  funding round from Syndicate Capital Group.

Dragonz Land is a Play-to-Earn trading card game built on the Venom Blockchain, where each card is a unique NFT. Players collect and develop hero cards with unique abilities, engage in battles, complete daily tasks, and earn tokens through various game modes. The game features a guild system, arcade leaderboard, and token rewards, offering a rich gaming experience that blends strategic gameplay with NFT-based ownership.

Bison Swap raised undisclosed amount in a Series A  funding round from Alves Ventures*, Dekrypt Capital.

BisonSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the BNB Chain, designed for efficient and secure token swapping and liquidity provision. It offers users the ability to trade a variety of tokens while providing liquidity pools to earn rewards.

Bitlayer raised $9M in a Series A  funding round from Polychain Capital*, Franklin Templeton*, SCB Limited, Selini Capital, G20 Group.

Bitlayer introduces itself as the first Bitcoin security-equivalent Layer 2 solution, built upon BitVM. This innovative platform envisions shaping the future of the Bitcoin ecosystem with its key pillar solutions, aiming to enhance scalability, efficiency, and security for Bitcoin transactions. Bitlayer seeks to empower developers and users within the Bitcoin community by providing advanced infrastructure for the decentralized web.

The Open Network (TON) raised $10M in a  funding round from Gate Ventures.

TON (The Open Network) is a fully decentralized layer-1 blockchain developed by Telegram. It offers fast transactions, low fees, user-friendly applications, and eco-friendly features. TON aims to unite various blockchains and the existing internet, providing a scalable and secure platform capable of hosting a wide range of applications and services.

TSFC raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Castrum Capital.

TSFC is a decentralized infrastructure service provider for global financial markets, focusing on enhancing transparency and efficiency in cross-border trade finance. It offers secure, scalable solutions to streamline financial transactions, leveraging technology to improve liquidity and trading processes.

Humanode raised $10M in a  funding round from Republic Crypto, Big Brain Holdings.

Crypto-biometric network where One human = One node that brings sybil resistance and innovative governance models to the crypto industry using private biometric technology.

* fund, that lead investment round