Crypto Fundraising weekly
Dates: 15 – 21, Oct 2023

This week's biggest funding round

SynFutures raised $22M in a Series B funding round from Pantera Capital*, SIG DTI (a Susquehanna International Group Company), Hashkey Capital.

SynFutures is a decentralized futures exchange designed for users to trade any asset pair, including long-tail assets and NFTs. The platform offers low fees and high liquidity, with an innovative Oyster Automated Market Maker model combining concentrated liquidity and order book for improved trading experiences. It is built on the Solana blockchain to ensure speed and security.

Pre-seed and Seed investment rounds

Beluga raised $4M in a Seed funding round from Fin Capital*, Anagram, UDHC, Dispersion Capital, Aptos Network, 2PunksCapital, Borderless Capital, Kyber Capital, 186 Ventures, W11 Capital, Rubik Ventures.

Beluga is a trusted crypto platform that onboards and guides new users through their crypto journey. It simplifies the crypto experience, providing guidance on various aspects, including DeFi, NFTs, Web3 games, staking, and financial products. Founded by experienced individuals from the crypto and Silicon Valley sectors, Beluga aims to offer a reliable place for users to explore the crypto landscape.

Forge raised $11M in a Seed funding round from Makers Fund*, BITKRAFT Ventures*, Animoca Brands*, Hashkey Capital, Polygon Ventures, Formless Capital, Adaverse, Griffin Gaming Partners, Krafton, Riot Games, Sony Innovation Fund, Kevin Lin.

Forge is a Web3 video gaming platform that allows gamers to consolidate their gaming achievements and activities into a single profile while offering rewards for their participation. The platform connects gamers, offers a unified gaming profile, and integrates blockchain technology to provide a social and rewarding gaming experience.

Fileverse raised $1.5M in a Pre-seed funding round from Gnosis DAO*, Factor Ventures*, Arweave, Mask Network, Safe (ex Gnosis Safe), Waterdrip Capital, Forward Research, Galxe (ex Project Galaxy), Daedalus, Formless Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, West Ham Capital, Eleftherios Diakomichalis, Captain Nemo, Kenzi Wang.

Fileverse is a decentralized file sharing and storage platform built on Filecoin and IPFS networks. It allows users to securely store and share files without relying on central servers. With features like encryption, speed optimization, and resistance to censorship, Fileverse prioritizes private and accessible file sharing and storage.

MyShell raised $5.6M in a Seed funding round from INCE Capital*, Hashkey Capital, Folius Ventures, SevenX Ventures, OP Crypto, TSVCap.

MyShell is a Web3-enabled AI platform that allows users to create personalized chatbots, known as "Shells." Creators can generate AI content bots, while consumers can find and use these bots. The platform offers token rewards for both creators and consumers. MyShell is currently offering some features on Polygon but is set to migrate its platform to opBNB — a Layer 2 network on BNB Chain that utilizes Optimism's OP Stack or Optimistic rollups technology.

Other investment rounds

Upland raised $7M in a Series A  funding round from EOS Network*, C3 Venture Capital, Animoca Brands.

Upland is a geospatial metaverse based on the EOS blockchain, enabling users to buy, sell, and trade virtual properties tied to real-world addresses. It combines blockchain, NFTs, and augmented reality (AR) to create a virtual world mapped to the real world. Upland offers features like a property marketplace, a rental system, and various in-game activities, making the metaverse more accessible and engaging for users.

Ryder raised $1.2M in a  funding round from Oak Grove Ventures*, Bitcoin Frontier Fund*, SBX Capital*, BNB Chain Fund, Solana Foundation, Astar Network, Polygon Ventures, Stacks Foundation, Alchemy Pay.

Ryder is a Web3 company that offers crypto management solutions, including a secure wallet. Ryder's flagship product, the Ryder One hardware wallet, uses a unique TapSafe recovery feature based on the Shamir Secret Sharing (SSS) algorithm, ensuring enhanced security by distributing private keys among a group rather than relying on a single user.

Coin Metrics raised $6.7M in a  funding round from .

Coin Metrics is the leading provider of crypto financial intelligence that provides network data, market data, indexes and network risk solutions to the most prestigious institutions touching cryptoassets.

Elixir Protocol raised $7.5M in a Series A  funding round from Hack VC*, NGC Ventures (NEO Global Capital), AngelList, Bloccelerate.

Elixir is a decentralized protocol designed to offer computationally-secure algorithmic market making across both centralized and decentralized exchanges. It aims to bring deeper liquidity, tighter bid-ask spreads, and increased trading volume by allowing users to supply liquidity directly to order book exchanges, earning maker rewards with a similar risk-return profile to AMMs.

Cerebrum Technologies raised $1.8M in a  funding round from Boğaziçi Ventures*, Inveo Ventures.

Cerebrum Technologies is a technology company based in Istanbul, Turkey, specializing in AI, IoT, finance, e-commerce, and Web3. They focus on developing and deploying AI solutions to address real-world challenges in various industries, with a commitment to improving the world through technology. One of their key products, Cerebeye, is an AI-powered medical imaging analysis platform used for disease detection and diagnosis.

Darewise Entertainment (Life Beyond) raised $3.5M in a  funding round from Animoca Ventures, GameFi Ventures, London Real Ventures, Citizen Capital, Blocore, Yat Siu.

Darewise Entertainment (“Darewise”), a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is a web3 gaming company specializing in the development of social online games that merge blockchain technology, NFTs, and cryptocurrency rewards into immersive, interactive gaming experiences, paving the way for the future of social gaming platforms. The upcoming token launched by Darewise will power a full ecosystem on Bitcoin for gaming, brands, and IRL experiences, and Life Beyond is the first gaming metaverse set to use the token for in-game assets, virtual lands, and more.

Squads raised $5.7M in a Strategic  funding round from Placeholder*, 6th Man Ventures (6MV), L1 Digital, Solana Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Crypto, Delphi Digital, LayerOneVC, Everstake.

Squads is a Solana-based multisig protocol that helps crypto firms secure and manage their digital assets on-chain. It offers a smart contract wallet system fully on-chain, ensuring transparency and immutability, and simplifies asset management for teams building on Solana and SVM, allowing them to secure and manage treasuries, programs, validators, and tokens collaboratively.

Noahswap raised $3M in a  funding round from Coinstore Labs*.

NoahSwap is a Web3 platform specializing in distressed cryptocurrency asset management and trading. It offers a unique "synthetic asset casting" mechanism to mitigate loss risks, enabling users to restructure undervalued tokens and infuse them with new vitality, thus providing opportunities for investors to regain high profits through innovative token models.

* fund, that lead investment round