Crypto Fundraising weekly
Dates: 25 Feb – 02 Mar 2024

This week's biggest funding round

Bakkt raised $50M in a funding round from .

Bakkt is a publicly-traded company providing regulated solutions for businesses and institutions in the crypto industry. Through offerings like Bakkt Trade and Bakkt Custody, they deliver curated, secured, and audited trading, along with institutional-grade custody services, promoting a secure and regulated approach to crypto involvement.

Pre-seed and Seed investment rounds

Karma3 Labs raised $4.5M in a Seed funding round from Galaxy Digital*, IDEO CoLab Ventures*, The Spartan Group, SevenX Ventures, Hashkey Capital, Flybridge Capital, Delta Blockchain Fund, Draper Dragon, Compa Capital, Andrew Hong, Liang Wu.

Karma3 Labs is developing a reputation infrastructure using the EigenTrust algorithm for Web3 social graph protocols, allowing developers to create recommendation and sybil-resistance systems. The team aims to strengthen identity and reputation primitives in the crypto space, providing a framework for developers to compute and publish peer-to-peer trust scores based on EigenTrust principles.

BounceBit raised $6M in a Seed funding round from Blockchain Capital*, Breyer Capital*, dao5 (daofive), Coin Merge Strategy (CMS), Bankless Ventures, NGC Ventures (NEO Global Capital), Matrixport Ventures, Primitive, Arcane Group, IDG Capital, Bixin Ventures, Nomad Capital, GeekCartel, DeFiance Capital, General Mining Research (GMR), OKX Ventures (ex OKEx Blockdream Ventures), Mirana Ventures, HTX Ventures (ex Huobi Ventures), MEXC Ventures, Bodhi Venture Labs, Nathan McCauley, Calvin Liu, James Parillo, 13yearoldvc, George Lambeth, RookieXBT, MacnBTC, Pentoshi.

BounceBit is a Bitcoin restaking protocol and the native BTC restaking chain, developed as the sister company of Bounce Finance. Featuring a dual-token staking system secured by both Bitcoin and BounceBit tokens, it introduces a unique blend of DeFi and CeFi yield mechanisms, enabling BTC holders to earn yields through native validator staking, DeFi ecosystems, and a CeFi mirroring mechanism.

ContributionDAO raised $2.8M in a Seed funding round from KX Ventures*, Axelar Network, GuildFi, WhaleGround, Agnostic Fund, Six Network, Eternal All Time High (EATH), Arjun Bhuptani, Keone Hon.

ContributionDAO is an institution-grade staking and blockchain infrastructure platform that operates as a decentralized hub for Web3 contributors. It provides Contribute-as-a-Service, assisting partners in building, expanding, and enhancing their products, and Community-as-a-Service, with a focus on creating real communities, hosting events, and spreading contribution tasks. The platform offers products such as ProofSquare, an innovative community infrastructure suite, and Institution Staking, delivering a fast, affordable, and high-available blockchain API.

Initia raised $7.5M in a Seed funding round from Delphi Digital*, Hack VC*, Nascent, Figment, A Capital, Big Brain Holdings, DCF God, Nick White, NaniXBT, Fiskantes, OmniscientAsian, Cobie, Zaheer Ebtikar, Smokey The Bera, WSB Mod, Batuhan Dasgin, Maghnus Mareneck, Barry Plunkett, Sawit Trisirisatayawong.

Initia is a network that combines Layer 1 (L1) technology with application-specific Layer 2 (L2) infrastructure, aiming to create scalable and interconnected blockchains. By fusing L1 with L2, Initia simplifies the process for developers to launch application-specific blockchains as L2s, offering features such as native stablecoins, multi-chain bridging, and more. Initia's architecture abstracts complexities from traditional modular and multi-chain systems, making it easier for developers to create scalable and sovereign blockchain systems.

Brawl Studios (BitBrawl) raised $3M in a Seed funding round from Big Brain Holdings, Shima Capital, Morningstar Ventures.

Brawl Studios is a game development studio known for creating BitBrawl and BitBrawl: Kingdoms, with upcoming titles such as The Big Brawler, UndervaluedNFTs, and Hammerr3d. BitBrawl, a Solana-based online game, is a Compete-To-Earn (C2E) Player-vs-Player experience, rewarding skilled players through competitive matches, tournaments, and a sustainable token ecosystem using $BARWL. The game aims to provide a fun and interactive gaming experience, catering to various player types and fostering a decentralized ownership structure within the BitBrawl ecosystem.

Arkis raised $2.2M in a Pre-seed funding round from gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC)*, G1 Ventures, Blocklabs Capital, Roosh Ventures, Psalion VC.

Arkis is a decentralized prime broker and undercollateralized leverage protocol, addressing fragmentation in DeFi markets across various blockchains and protocols. It offers traders smart contract-based leverage, portfolio margin for increased capital efficiency, and cross-chain margining, allowing asset managers to leverage multiple chains simultaneously.

Fair Math raised $1.4M in a Pre-seed funding round from gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC)*, Inception Capital (ex OP Crypto)*, Polymorphic Capital*.

Fair Math is a research company dedicated to addressing privacy challenges through Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) technologies. They are building an open-source library of FHE components to simplify application development and promote privacy protection in the Web3 community. Fair Math's focus on FHE aims to establish a clear and verifiable foundation for Web3, emphasizing the right to privacy for everyone.

Sphere Labs raised $2.8M in a Seed funding round from The Chernin Group (TCG Crypto)*, Jump Crypto*, Hudson River Trading (HRT), Big Brain Holdings, Solana Ventures, Steel DAO, Stakeholder Capital (SHV), Republic Capital (ex Republic Labs), Cogitent Ventures, Anatoly Yakovenko, Raj Gokal, Jordan Sexton.

Sphere Labs is an operating system for stablecoins, facilitating cost-effective, secure, and near-instant cross-border payments for merchants in under-addressed emerging markets. Acting as the fundamental interface between end-users and stablecoins, Sphere orchestrates blockchains, custodial infrastructure, and financial service providers through accessible graphic user interfaces to make stablecoin payments easily accessible.

PredX raised $500K in a Pre-seed funding round from Penrose Tech*, Mulana Ventures.

Predx is an AI-powered prediction market built on Sei Network, allowing users to propose and trade on the likelihood of various events across diverse topics. With a focus on finance, technology, and more, users can exchange views, purchase shares, and leverage an AI recommendation engine for relevant insights, enhancing user engagement in predicting event outcomes.

Avail raised $27M in a Seed funding round from Founders fund*, Dragonfly Capital*, SevenX Ventures, Nomad Capital, Figment, Balaji Srinivasan, Tim Beiko, Sunny Aggarwal, Mudit Gupta, Amrit Kumar, Ashwin Ramachandran, Ajit Tripathi, Dogan, Orkun, Pete Kim, Joyce Yang, Pranay Mohan, Paul Taylor, Rahul Dalmia, Ramani ‘Ram’ Ramachandran.

Avail is an Ethereum Data Network focused on data availability, featuring a modular technology stack to accelerate Web3 unification. With layers including Data Availability (DA), Nexus, and Fusion, Avail aims to dissolve market fragmentation, providing a unified, secure, and scalable platform that connects various blockchain ecosystems, offering a cohesive experience for users and developers. The platform utilizes validity proofs, zero-knowledge proof-based coordination rollups, and Fusion Security to enhance cryptoeconomic security, bridging the gap between different tokens and creating a more integrated and efficient blockchain ecosystem.

PlayMakers raised $1.5M in a Pre-seed funding round from RockawayX*, Sebastien Borget, Vincent Hart de Keating, Hugues Ouvard.

PlayMakers is a Web3 user-generated content (UGC) API for games, allowing players to create and submit assets like skins and animations. Studios can easily implement or monetize these creations, extending game lifespan and generating new revenue streams through an in-game UGC shop. The platform ensures compliance with intellectual property, copyright, and content rating standards, providing a seamless and moderated experience for both players and developers.

Open Asset raised $1.9M in a Seed funding round from Hana Ventures, Korea Investment Partners, Mashup Ventures.

Open Asset is a tokenized asset issuance company, specializing in providing solutions for financial institutions to adopt blockchain and trade token assets. Their goals include creating a more efficient and secure future finance system, with business areas spanning CBDC, distributed ledger technology consulting, private digital currencies, and STO (token securities) platforms.

Other investment rounds

Orbit Protocol raised undisclosed amount in a Strategic  funding round from Genesis Block Ventures Capital (GBV), Manifold, Andrew Kang, Gainzy, DefiSquared, 0xSun, Hype.eth.

Orbit Protocol is a decentralized liquidity protocol designed for lending and borrowing Blast assets, incorporating Blast's native yield to enhance the lending/borrowing experience. The protocol establishes a money market between lenders and borrowers, with lenders receiving Orbit Assets (oAssets) representing their principal and accrued yield, simplifying the yield collection process. Orbit leverages Blast's native yield to provide subsidies for both lenders and borrowers, creating a more competitive lending environment.

Cetus raised undisclosed amount in a Strategic  funding round from Sui Foundation*.

Cetus is a decentralized exchange (DEX) and concentrated liquidity protocol designed to provide users with a flexible and powerful underlying liquidity network. It is built on the Sui and Aptos blockchain, allowing for permissionless access to its protocols and programmable trading strategies, as well as easy integration with other applications through its emphasis on composability. Cetus also uses a double-token model fueled by CETUS and xCETUS to incentivize active participants and ensure a sustainable token economy.

Silence Laboratories raised $4.1M in a  funding round from Pi Ventures*, Kira Studio*.

Silence Laboratories specializes in multiparty computation (MPC) and multifactor authentication (MFA) solutions, enhancing the security of high-risk assets. Their flagship products, Silent Auth and Silent Shard, employ decentralized Two-party Multi-Party Computation (MPC) to address key security challenges. The cutting-edge Silent Shard Duo library ensures distributed key and signature generation, eliminating single points of failure and offering fast signing and computation. The programable and application-agnostic nature of their products allows for adaptive and versatile usage across various computing nodes and scenarios.

LinkTo raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Adaverse, Ruby Capital, Warrior Wealth Fund, BitValue Capital, Block Infinity.

LinkTo is a Web3-focused traffic aggregation marketing platform designed to help advertisers boost brand promotion and conversions through advanced technology and precise traffic planning.

Overlay raised $500K in a Public sale  funding round from .

Overlay Protocol is a decentralized platform on Ethereum that allows users to build positions on various markets or data streams without relying on traditional counterparties. It offers markets based on price data feeds and non-manipulable & non-predictable data feeds, and users build positions against the protocol itself or every other OVL holder simultaneously, eliminating the need for liquidity providers or market makers. Trading is done with OVL tokens, which serve as collateral and are minted as profit or burned as losses in positions.

Imaginary Ones raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Cypher Capital, Animoca Brands, Eden Holdings (ED3N Ventures), MH Ventures, Illuminati Capital, NxGen, HerculesDAO, Andromeda Capital, PG Capital, Sebastien Borget, dingaling, Ivan on Tech, MoonCat2878, Xeer, Dewku.

Imaginary Ones is an NFT collection of animated 3D characters on Ethereum. The project, known for its successful global NFT launch, offers holders access to its ecosystem, including a staking platform, IO tokens, and future offerings. The project envisions expanding its brand in the Web 3 space, and holders enjoy exclusive benefits like Rainbow Bubbles and allocations to IO tokens.

Humanity Protocol raised undisclosed amount in a Strategic  funding round from Hashed, CMCC Global, Cogitent Ventures, MH Ventures, 300DAO, Wise3 Ventures, Veris Ventures, LongHash Ventures, CSP DAO, Hashkey Capital, Foresight Ventures, NGC Ventures (NEO Global Capital), Mythos Ventures, Vision Capital, Cypher Capital, Black Dragon, Mechanism Capital, Mask Network, Levitate Labs, TRGC, Yat Siu, Sandeep Nailwal.

Humanity Protocol is a human-centric blockchain pioneering the world's first sybil-resistant network of blockchains, aiming to onboard the first billion humans to Web3. Its mission is to develop Proof of Humanity, offering developers distinctive human authentication mechanisms and empowering users with full control over their data and identity, serving as the human layer for the next generation of the internet.

Morpho raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Pantera Capital*.

Morpho is a DeFi lending protocol built on top of existing protocols that moves loans from liquidity pools into a peer-to-peer mechanism to offer higher yields for investors.

GEODNET raised $3.5M in a  funding round from North Island Ventures (NIV)*, Modular Capital, Road Capital, Tangent Ventures, Reverie, Borderless Capital, IoTeX.

GEODNET is a decentralized network that combines real-world Earth observation with blockchain technology, aiming to gather geospatial data from space weather stations worldwide and provide secure and trusted data products. Participants contribute to the network by installing geodetic-grade GNSS antennas on their roofs and are rewarded with GEOD tokens for their contributions.

Backpack raised $17M in a Series A  funding round from Placeholder*, Hashed, Robot Ventures, Amber Group, Wintermute, Selini Capital.

Backpack is a cryptocurrency exchange and multi-chain wallet that emphasizes self-custody, employing multiparty computation techniques to enhance fund security. Developed by Coral on the Solana blockchain, Backpack also serves as a wallet specifically designed for executable non-fungible tokens (xNFTs).

ether fi raised $27M in a Series A  funding round from Bullish*, CoinFund*, Amber Group, Bankless Ventures, OKX Ventures (ex OKEx Blockdream Ventures), ConsenSys, Selini Capital, Foresight Ventures, Fourth Revolution Capital (4RC), Punk Ventures, White Star Capital, Relayer Capital, Collider Ventures, Lvna Capital, Draper Dragon, Arrington Capital, North Island Ventures (NIV), Chapter One, Version One Ventures, Node Capital, Parallel, MrBlock, Stani Kulechov, Sandeep Nailwal, DeFiDad, Will Price, Leptokurtic.

Ether.Fi is a decentralized and non-custodial liquid staking platform that allows users to maintain control of their keys while delegating staking to node operators and earning rewards. Ethereum stakers that use Ether.Fi are also granted an NFT representation of every validator generated. Those NFTs allow for the storage of metadata, which developers will use to build out further staking infrastructure.

Co-Museum raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Animoca Brands*.

Co-Museum is a culture collective ownership of iconic artworks and artifacts, fostering a new way for communities to engage with artists and intellectual properties. With a focus on collective, collaborative, and community-driven experiences, Co-Museum transcends physical spaces to create a dynamic and inclusive museum environment.

Integral raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Franklin Templeton*.

Integral is a real-time accounting platform, offering a Web3 accounting solution that automates accounting and tax reporting for crypto businesses and individuals. It features real-time accounting, automated tax reports, and support for multiple accounting standards to make crypto accounting more accessible and efficient.

Ready Games Network (READYgg) raised $4M in a  funding round from Delphi Digital, NeoTokyo, Merit Circle, Momentum 6 (M6), Purechain Capital, Token Metrics Ventures, Alex Becker.

Ready Games Network is building social gaming infrastructure for the Web3 creator economy, developing mobile-first Web3 tools to democratize game creation. The network aligns economic interests among developers, creators, and players to foster a sustainable, distributed gaming ecosystem and creator economy.

Octav raised $4M in a Strategic  funding round from .

Octav is a free and customizable data analytics platform designed to simplify and decode Decentralized Finance (DeFi) investment activity. It primarily serves traders, tax professionals, and liquid asset management firms, offering pre-tax facilitation, cost-basis calculations, and more for a streamlined DeFi experience.

BuildBear Labs raised $1.9M in a  funding round from Superscrypt*, Tribe Capital*, 1kx*, Iterative, Plug and Play Ventures, Kris Kaczor, Ken Fromm.

BuildBear is a specialized platform for DApp development and testing, offering developers the ability to create personalized Private Testnet sandboxes across various EVM and EVM-compatible blockchain networks. With features like private faucets for unlimited Native and ERC20 token minting, rapid transactions completing in under 3 seconds, and built-in tools for real-time testing and debugging, BuildBear provides developers with a seamless environment to build and test dApps efficiently.

QED Protocol raised $3M in a  funding round from Arrington Capital*, Starkware, Draper Dragon, Blockchain Builders Fund (BBF), Paper Ventures, Valhalla Capital, Edessa Capital, Anagram.

QED Protocol is Bitcoin's native execution layer, providing a horizontally scalable, secure, and user-friendly platform for Web3 development. As the first zk-Native blockchain, QED ensures horizontal scalability, Web2 developer friendliness, and zk-Native speed, solving the scalability challenge with innovative zk-PARTH state model. This allows millions of transactions per second, empowering decentralized applications on Bitcoin with local transaction proofs and unlimited computation for a fixed gas fee, revolutionizing blockchain applications for enhanced user experiences.

Babylon raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Binance Labs Fund*.

Babylon is a Bitcoin staking infrastructure project pioneering a Bitcoin staking protocol to enhance the security of Proof of Stake (PoS) networks and decentralized applications (DApps). This innovative protocol enables Bitcoin holders to stake their assets, earning rewards and reinforcing the security of PoS chains and DApps.

Cycle Network raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Vertex Ventures*, Summer Ventures*, LTP (LiquidityTech Protocol), SuperChain Capital, Great South Gate (GSG), Vertex Labs UK.

Cycle Network is a trustless Omni-chain ledger protocol using Omni Distributed Ledger Technology (ODLT) with OSCI and TCCP. It harmonizes blockchain networks, addressing challenges like user experience and dApp development complexities. Cycle enables secure, efficient, and low-cost interactions across different blockchain architectures, fostering interoperability and advancing decentralized application-centric innovation.

Validation Cloud raised $5.8M in a  funding round from Cadenza*, Side Door Ventures, AP Capital, Metamatic, Bloccelerate, Blockwall, GS Futures, Blockchain Founders Fund.

Validation Cloud is a Web3 infrastructure platform specializing in scalable and compliant infrastructure for enterprises entering the Web3 space. Validation Cloud provides elite node and staking infrastructure to networks, builders, and asset managers worldwide.

Karak raised $48M in a Series A  funding round from Lightspeed, Mubadala Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures (BCV), Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Digital Currency Group (DCG), Nima Capital, Santiago R. Santos, Paul Veradittakit, Naval Ravikant, Anthony Pompliano, Nikil Viswanathan, Joe Lau, Joey Krug, Vance Spencer, Michael Anderson, Dan Morehead, Franklin Bi, Stefan Cohen, Matthew Beck, Noah Jessop, Ashleigh Schap.

Karak is a Layer 2 blockchain focusing on risk management, boasting modular security at the network layer to ensure innovation without compromising safety. It facilitates secure staking and restaking, enabling users to interact with various assets and earn rewards while minimizing slashing risks. Additionally, Karak supports decentralized AI, providing open infrastructure prioritizing censorship resistance, privacy, and verifiability. The platform offers the benefits of Ethereum at a reduced cost, leveraging rollup technology for enhanced security, scalability, and affordability.

Delphinus Lab raised undisclosed amount in a Series A  funding round from OKX Ventures (ex OKEx Blockdream Ventures)*.

Delphinus Lab is an infrastructure provider pioneering the zkWASM domain by deploying zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography within WebAssembly (WASM) environments, featuring the first fully implemented open-source zkWASM virtual machine for developers. This technology enables developers to create zero-knowledge applications across WASM-supported environments, enhancing security and privacy, and bridging Web2 and Web3 applications seamlessly.

XPLA (ex C2X) raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Tess Ventures*.

XPLA is a blockchain platform focused on gaming, content, and entertainment. It leverages partnerships with Web 2 content providers to overcome the cold start problem and aims to create an ecosystem of media content while ensuring compatibility with Ethereum-based blockchain and decentralized applications.

5ire raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Gotbit Hedge Fund*.

5ire is an EVM-compatible blockchain ecosystem with a strong focus on economic and environmental sustainability, aligning its operations with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). 5ire aims to facilitate a shift to a for-benefit economy by incentivizing sustainability and social impact activities through its blockchain platform. The ecosystem encourages collaboration among stakeholders, developers, and organizations to contribute to a more sustainable and impactful world.

Talus Network raised $3M in a  funding round from Polychain Capital*, dao5 (daofive), Hash3, TRGC, WAGMI Ventures, Inception Capital (ex OP Crypto).

Talus Network is an blockchain platform aims to revolutionize consumer AI applications through decentralization, addressing the limitations of centralized AI systems. By incorporating Move's smart contract security, performance, and object-oriented programming, Talus provides a robust ecosystem for various AI smart agent applications, including DeFi, intents, gaming, governance, and Initial Model Offering (IMO). The MoveVM technology enhances security, speed, and developer experience, enabling the creation of performant applications with increased safety and efficiency.

Saturn raised $800K in a  funding round from Sora Ventures*, Coin Merge Strategy (CMS), Silvermine Capital, Osprey Funds, KDOT, Dillon Healy, Joe McCann, Cricket Futures, Jamie McAvity.

Saturn is a non-custodial peer-to-peer orderbook designed for trading satoshis, with a mission to redefine possibilities within the Bitcoin ecosystem. The platform facilitates direct and secure exchanges, empowering users to engage in peer-to-peer transactions while maintaining control over their assets in the realm of Bitcoin.

Aerodrome Finance raised undisclosed amount in a  funding round from Base Ecosystem Fund*.

Aerodrome Finance is an advanced Automated Market Maker (AMM) that functions as the central liquidity hub for Base, featuring a robust liquidity incentive system, a governance model based on vote-locking, and a user-friendly interface. Through Aerodrome NFTs, users can vote on the distribution of token emissions and receive incentives and fees generated by the protocol, with rewards distributed to staked liquidity providers in proportion to their votes. The protocol facilitates token swaps, attracts liquidity, and rewards veAERO Voters who lock their $AERO tokens and actively participate in the governance process.

Meta x Connect (MXC) raised $10M in a Strategic  funding round from JDI Ventures*.

Meta x Connect (MXC) is a Layer 3 zkEVM on Arbitrum, positioned as Ethereum's largest DePIN infrastructure, with a vision to enable real-world asset collateralization in Web3 by bridging physical objects with the metaverse and DeFi protocols. Founded as a protocol for device data transmissions and M2M transactions, MXC has evolved into one of the world's largest LPWAN IoT networks, empowering decentralized IoT data networks and cryptocurrency mining.

* fund, that lead investment round