Compiled by Golden Finance
This week, a total of 28 projects successfully raised funds, with the largest one being Farcaster, which raised $150 million. Four projects received Series A investment, and 24 projects received other rounds of financing. This week, the total amount of financing in the crypto industry reached $258.6 million.
The largest financing this week
1. Farcaster
Farcaster raised $150 million in a Series A financing round on May 21, 2024, led by Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto), HAUN Ventures, Union Square Ventures (USV), Variant Fund and Standard Crypto.
About Farcaster
Farcaster is an efficient distributed social network, similar to email, it is an open protocol that can support many clients.
Pre-seed and seed round financing
2.Plume Network
Plume Network raised $10 million in seed round financing, investors include HAUN Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Superscrypt, Selini Capital, Reciprocal Ventures, A Capital, SV Angel, Portal Ventures, Calvin Liu, Andrew Kang, Eric Chen, Mirza Uddin and HDF humble defi farmer.
Introduction to Plume Network
Plume Network is a modular, EVM-compatible Layer 2 blockchain focused on real-world assets (RWAs) that aims to provide a full-stack infrastructure for compliant deployment of any asset class. It supports activities such as earning yield, lending, trading, and leveraged investing, while integrating compliance measures such as KYC and AML. Currently in the private testnet stage, Plume has more than 80 RWA and DeFi projects on its network, using Arbitrum Orbit as its EVM chain and Celestia for data availability, ensuring fast transactions and low fees.
3. Aria
Aria (Inutan X) raised an undisclosed amount in a seed round of funding from Folius Ventures*, The Spartan Group*, Merit Circle*, Galaxy Interactive, Animoca Brands, Formless Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Selini Capital, Bitscale Capital, Liquid X Ventures, Monad Labs, 32bit Ventures, MrBlock, DCF God, MacnBTC, cr0ss eth, Ash Crypto.
About Aria
Aria is an extensible RPG game developed by Inutan Studios and governed by the $ARIA token. In Aria, players can explore an open world environment and engage in epic quests and battles.
4. Pencils Protocol (PenPad)
Pencils Protocol (PenPad) raised $2.1 million in a seed round led by OKX Ventures (formerly OKEx Blockdream Ventures), Animoca Brands, Galxe (formerly Project Galaxy), Gate Labs, Presto Labs, Sandy Peng and Ryan Li.
About Pencils Protocol
Pencils Protocol is an innovative auction platform and yield aggregator on Scroll. By integrating zero-knowledge aggregation, authenticated login, and on-chain verifiable randomness, Pencils Protocol provides a fair-launched platform that provides developers with a comprehensive Zk solution toolkit with enhanced functionality and security using Scroll's native capabilities.
5. IVX
IVX raised $1.2M in a seed round led by Animoca Ventures, AVID3, Big Brain Holdings, Cogitent Ventures, Forbole, and Web3Port Labs.
About IVX
IVX is a native options protocol built on the Berachain Polaris EVM technology stack, offering zero-date-to-expiry (0DTE) options, providing highly leveraged exposure to crypto assets in a decentralized and secure manner, with buyers with zero liquidation risk and sellers with high annualized yields. Users can experience the benefits of 0DTE options through the IVX Artio testnet and participate in a large-scale incentive program before the mainnet launch.
OTHER INVESTMENT ROUNDS
6. FEATURE
FEATURE raised $1.9M in a round led by 2 Punks Capital, InterVest, Avalanche, Acme Innovation, and SterlingVC.
About Feature
Feature is an entertainment studio and technology company. Their proprietary Smart Content™ technology connects audiences with brands through novel, interactive touchpoints that are seamlessly embedded in the content that audiences love. Each interaction generates automated rewards that enhance the content experience, create new revenue streams, and deliver value to audiences and brands.
7. Cysic
Cysic raised $12 million in a Series A round led by Hashkey Capital, OKX Ventures (formerly OKEx Blockdream Ventures), ABCDE Capital, Bit Digital, CoinSwitch, IDG Blockchain, Matrix Partners, Polychain Capital, SNZ Holding, and Web3com Ventures.
About Cysic
Cysic is a zero-knowledge proof (ZK) hardware startup that aims to provide hardware acceleration solutions for the ZK proof protocol. The Cysic team developed an FPGA prototype of multi-scalar multiplication (MSM), an important component in the ZK protocol.
8. RunesFi
RunesFi raised $400,000 in a round led by Cogitent Ventures, Oddiyana Ventures, Lavender Capital, WeeHODL, Zephyrus Capital, and Samurai Ventures.
About RunesFi
RunesFi is a comprehensive infrastructure hub that leverages the Runes protocol to enhance DeFi capabilities. It includes the first decentralized exchange (DEX) on Runes, a carving tool for creating and distributing new runes, and a variety of infrastructure products that support the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem. With significant traction and a focus on efficient transactions and reduced costs, RunesFi aims to lay the foundation for mass adoption of DeFi on Bitcoin.
9.Dora Factory
Dora Factory raised $10 million in a strategic round led by Nomad Capital, No Limit Holdings (NLH), Sky9 Capital, UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital, UVM Signum Blockchain Fund, Longling Capital, and Interop Ventures.
About Dora Factory
Dora Factory is a protocol specializing in decentralized governance and multi-chain public product financing, providing innovative solutions such as public interest staking infrastructure and Dora Vota for PoS networks and open source communities. The protocol's focus on community engagement and impact has solidified its reputation as a reliable partner in the Web3 ecosystem.
10. Natix Network
Natix Network raised $5 million in a public offering.
About Natix Network
Natix Network is a blockchain-based and crowdsourced camera network designed to create real-time maps. It uses AI technology to collect data such as traffic flow, road damage and infrastructure issues while ensuring 100% privacy compliance. The network aims to combine its AI technology with the 45 billion existing cameras worldwide to create a new crowdsourced geospatial data economy powered by the "Internet of Cameras", where camera owners earn cryptocurrency by contributing real-time data.
11.Fantom
Fantom (Sonic) raised $10 million in a strategic financing led by Hashed, UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital, Aave Companies, Sam Kazemian, Stani Kulechov, Robert Leshner, Michael Egorov, Tarun Chitra and Fernando Martinelli.
About Fantom
Fantom is a high-performance, scalable and secure digital asset and dApp smart contract platform, known for its fast throughput and EVM compatibility. Developers can easily port Ethereum-based dApps to the Fantom Opera mainnet, improving performance and reducing costs. The Fantom Foundation is launching Sonic Foundation for governance and financial management, and Sonic Labs for decentralized application development, aiming to enhance the platform with sub-second finality.
12.MANTRA
MANTRA raised an undisclosed amount in a round led by Laser Digital.
About MANTRA
MANTRA is a Middle East-focused project licensed by Dubai’s crypto regulator VARA, targeting the crypto-native community. It aims to fill a gap in the Cosmos ecosystem by creating a regulated digital asset chain for regulatory compliance-focused users. Built on the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint consensus, MANTRA provides a permissioned blockchain for developing Web3 applications in a regulated and compliant environment.
13. Alphaledger
Alphaledger raised $9.5 million in a Series A round led by EJF Capital.
About Alphaledger
Alphaledger is a direct and transparent loan and bond marketplace designed to simplify debt financing and enhance interaction with investors, especially in the U.S. municipal market. Through asset digitization and blockchain technology, Alphaledger provides a modern alternative to traditional securities issuance and trading processes.
14. WeatherXM
WeatherXM raised $7.7 million in a Series A round led by Lightspeed Faction, Protocol Labs, Borderless Capital, Arca Fund, Alumni Ventures (AVG), Placeholder, Red Beard Ventures, Metaplanet, GS Futures, Consensys Mesh, dlab, Eleftherios Diakomichalis and Juan Benet.
About WeatherXM
Alphaledger is a community-driven weather network that rewards weather station owners and provides accurate weather services to Web3 enterprises.
15. Kelp DAO
Kelp DAO raised $9 million in a private placement led by SCB Limited, Laser Digital, Bankless Ventures, Hypersphere, Draper Dragon, Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM), Cypher Capital, ArkStream Capital, Cluster Capital, GSR Markets LTD, LongHash Ventures, Side Door Ventures, NOIA Capital, HTX Ventures (formerly Huobi Ventures), AVID3, ViaBTC Capital, DWF Labs, Coinseeker, Alex Svanevik, Scott Moore, Marc Zeller and Amrit Kumar.
About Kelp DAO
Kelp DAO is a liquidity staking platform focused on creating a Liquidity Re-staking Solution (LRS) for public blockchain networks. It is developing rsETH for Ethereum on EigenLayer, enabling re-stakers to mint rsETH tokens that represent fractional ownership of an underlying asset, providing liquidity to traditionally illiquid re-staking assets. Kelp DAO enables users to leverage rsETH tokens in DeFi, exchange them for liquidity, or redeem them for the underlying asset without fees on LST deposits.
16. StripChain
Raised $10M in a round led by Sora Ventures, Hyperithm, Shima Capital, Hypersphere, Mechanism Capital, Ascensive Assets, Santiago R. Santos, and Ryan Selkis.
About StripChain
StripChain is a cross-chain interoperability protocol that allows developers to create commands (called intents) to transfer data between blockchains. Through the stripVM system, it facilitates communication and coordination between different protocols, enhancing the functionality and integration of decentralized applications.
17.Zaros
Zaros raised US$1.8 million in a round of financing, with investors including SNZ Holding, Cogitent Ventures, DCI Capital (Dutch Crypto Investors), Rocky Holding, Honey Island Capital, BaseDAO, Anthony Sassano, Fernando Martinelli and Kieran Warwick.
About Zaros
Zaros is a decentralized perpetual contract exchange that relies on the Boosted Re-Staking vault to maximize trading potential and increase returns on Arbitrum, and plans to expand to Monad. Zaros connects liquid re-staking tokens (LSTs and LRTs) with perpetual futures, allowing up to 100x leverage, and provides liquidity providers with an innovative ZLP vault to earn ETH fees and additional rewards. Zaros also provides cross-margin trading accounts, supports diversified markets including cryptocurrencies, foreign exchange, and commodities, and provides a seamless trading experience through social login integration and one-click trading.
18.MUA DAO
MUA DAO raised $5 million in a round of financing, with investors including Avalanche, ByteTrade Lab, RockTree Capital, and Jihan Wu.
About MUA DAO
(Metaverse Universal Asset Decentralized Autonomous Organization) is a decentralized organization focused on building and operating Metaverse infrastructure. It provides tools and resources for creators and businesses to design immersive experiences, and promotes collaboration between creators and engineers to accelerate the development of the Metaverse. By driving interoperability and working with established entities, MUA DAO aims to shape the future of the Metaverse and bridge the gap between reality and virtual environments.
19.Aevo
Aevo raised an undisclosed amount in a round of financing, with Binance Labs Fund as the investor.
About Aevo
Aevo is a decentralized options trading platform focusing on cryptocurrency options and perpetual contracts, providing a professional and high-performance trading experience. With margin trading and a variety of option expiration dates, Aevo serves experienced traders and ensures security through its Ethereum blockchain foundation. Currently in closed beta, Aevo plans to launch its public mainnet in 2024, offering a wider range of options and perpetual contract trading, combining off-chain order matching and on-chain settlement.
20. Bitski
Bitski raised an undisclosed amount in a round of M&A financing, with Phantom as the investor.
About Bitski
Bitski is an NFT and digital collectibles wallet.
21. Coinfirm
Coinfirm raised an undisclosed amount in a round of M&A financing, with Lukka as the investor.
About Coinfirm
Coinfirm is a leading European blockchain analytics company focused on compliance, anti-money laundering (AML) detection and advanced blockchain analytics. It provides industry-leading solutions to analyze and manage risks in the blockchain financial ecosystem, aiming to create a safer blockchain economy by focusing on crypto AML compliance and illicit asset tracking.
22.ELFi Protocol
ELFi Protocol raised $5 million in a round of funding, with investors including IDG Capital and KuCoin Ventures.
About ELFi Protocol
ELFi Protocol is a decentralized derivatives trading platform that supports segregated and cross-margin models, provides leveraged trading through multi-asset pools, and liquidity providers earn income through transaction fees and lending fees. It features a hyper-combination trading model, supports assets such as BTC, ETH, and SOL, as well as new token-based liquidity pools to provide competitive annual yields, and supports LSD asset re-hypothecation and altcoin contract markets.
24. Monad
Monad raised an undisclosed amount in a round of funding, with OKX Ventures (formerly OKEx Blockdream Ventures) as the investor.
About Monad
Monad is a new proof-of-stake (PoS) Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible Layer 1 blockchain designed to improve the entire Ethereum ecosystem and decentralized computing platform. Monad provides orders of magnitude higher throughput than existing smart contract blockchains through algorithmic improvements to the virtual machine design and Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus mechanism, supporting 10,000 smart contract transactions per second (tps).
25.Sorbet
Sorbet raised an undisclosed amount in a round of funding, with Adaverse as the investor.
About Sorbet
Sorbet is a platform dedicated to improving financial accessibility for the unbanked by simplifying the use of dApps and leveraging blockchain technology, including stablecoins and DeFi solutions. By integrating project management tools and simplifying payment processes, Sorbet aims to enhance the freelancer experience and enable creative professionals to thrive in a supportive and collaborative community.
26. RunesTerminal
RunesTerminal raised an undisclosed amount in a round of financing from investors including Cogitent Ventures, Coin Merge Strategy (CMS), Waterdrip Capital, NxGen, iAngels Capital, Pentos Ventures, Zephyrus Capital, Laser Digital, Genesis Block Ventures Capital (GBV), The DuckDao, Fusion7 Venture Capital, Pragma Ventures, Optic Capital, DEXTools, SeedThrift Ventures, Acquire Fi, Basics Capital, YAY Network, Nabais Capital, NewTribe Capital and x21 Digital.
About RunesTerminal
RunesTerminal is the infrastructure provider for Runes Protocol, the first launch pad designed specifically for the evolution of the Bitcoin ecosystem. It offers RunesScan for exploration, RunesPad for project launch, RunesEtch for issuing new runes, and RunesBook as a comprehensive encyclopedia, aiming to drive innovation and development on the Bitcoin blockchain and provide a competitive advantage to early adopters.
27. Nexis Network
Nexis Network raised an undisclosed amount in a private round of financing, with Castrum Capital as the investor.
About Nexis Network
Nexis Network is an open source EVM blockchain platform designed to support decentralized projects and applications, capable of completing up to 75,000 transactions per second instantly with extremely low fees. Nexis Network aims to create a transparent, community-driven ecosystem that integrates innovative technologies to solve scalability, security, and decentralization issues. The platform supports Ethereum-based dApps and DeFi protocols, using its native token NZT for transactions, payments, and staking to maintain consensus.
28. Bitlayer
Bitlayer raised an undisclosed amount in a round of funding from OKX Ventures (formerly OKEx Blockdream Ventures).
About Bitlayer
Bitlayer claims to be the first Bitcoin security-equivalent Layer 2 solution, built on BitVM. This innovative platform aims to enhance the scalability, efficiency and security of Bitcoin transactions through its key pillar solutions, looking forward to the future of the Bitcoin ecosystem. Bitlayer aims to empower developers and users in the Bitcoin community by providing advanced infrastructure and supporting the development of decentralized networks.
Source: Crypto Fundraising, Golden Finance
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