According to Foresight News, there were 22 investment and financing events in the crypto market from March 4 to March 10, including 6 in tools and infrastructure, 2 in DeFi, 4 in asset management, 7 in blockchain games and NFT, and 3 in Web3. The total amount of investment and financing disclosed is about 6.6 billion US dollars, of which the payment giant Stripe raised 6.5 billion US dollars in a single financing, and the amount of financing for many other financings was not disclosed.
This week, there was one financing of over 100 million US dollars, namely, payment giant Stripe completed a financing of 6.5 billion US dollars. There were 5 financings of tens of millions of US dollars, including European payment company Emerchantpay Limited has invested 18.5 million US dollars in Web3 payment service company Ibanera; offshore RMB stablecoin issuer CNHC Group completed a 10 million US dollars A+ round of financing, led by KuCoin Ventures; Metaverse payment platform Tilia received strategic financing from J.P. Morgan Payments, and the total financing amount after the split reached 22 million US dollars.
Among the investment and financing segments, the asset management sector was hot this week, while the tools and infrastructure sectors were relatively sluggish.
Institutionally, the most active institutions this week include a16z, J.P. Morgan Payments, Animoca Brands, and Polygon
Etc., mainly focusing on NFT, blockchain games, and asset management.
Note: Fundraising from investment funds is not included in project financing.
Tools and Infrastructure
Cross-chain infrastructure TeleportDAO completes $2.5 million seed round of financing, led by AppWorks and DefinanceX
TeleportDAO, a cross-chain infrastructure based in Vancouver, Canada, announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round of financing, led by AppWorks and DefinanceX, with participation from Quantstamp, Coinlist, Candaq Fintech Group, SNZ Holding Limited and Gate Labs. TeleportDAO intends to use the funds to invest in product development and team expansion, and will expand to multiple EVM and non-EVM chains. TeleportDAO was founded in February 2022 and is led by Niusha Moshrefi (CEO). TeleportDAO created teleBTC (a decentralized Bitcoin wrapper on Polygon) and TeleSwap (a service built on its bridge that enables users to wrap/unwrap or trade between Bitcoin and Polygon without the involvement of any third-party entity). TeleportDAO was previously selected for the 2022 summer batch of "CoinList Seed".
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Smart contract wallet Soul Wallet completes $3 million seed round of financing
Soul Wallet, a smart contract wallet that supports ERC-4337, has completed a $3 million seed round of financing, with investors including Struck Crypto participating. Soul Wallet is currently undergoing internal testing and plans to launch in the third or fourth quarter. The team currently has more than a dozen people in the United States, Japan, Thailand, and China. Foresight News previously reported that Soul Wallet received the Mask Grant in November last year and also received funding from the Ethereum Foundation's Layer 2 community. Its founder Zeng Jiajun once worked as a product manager at ByteDance and Meituan.
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Cryptocurrency security firm Staging Labs raises $1.1 million
Cryptocurrency security company Staging Labs has completed a $1.1 million financing round with investors including The General Partnership, Flourish Ventures, NGC Ventures, AlphaGrep, Gaingels, a16z, Kleiner Perkins and Greylock. Individual investors include investors from ConsenSys, Coinbase, Anchorage Digital, Chainalysis, QuickNode, Merkle Science, etc. Staging Labs has launched a security product Saferoot, which can transfer assets in a wallet to other wallets when risky transactions are found. Staging Labs plans to charge users a subscription fee and a certain percentage of successfully recovered assets to generate revenue.
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Dubai VC firm Cypher Capital invests six figures in MEV solution Wallchain
Dubai-based venture capital firm Cypher Capital announced the completion of a six-figure investment in MEV solution Wallchain, which will drive Wallchain's Web3 research and development plans to achieve revenue growth, launch new MEV solutions, and activate cashback for users. Foresight News previously reported that in December 2022, Wallchain won the first prize of the BNB Chain European Innovation Incubator Project, which can provide protection for enterprises in the short term and individuals in the long term to prevent miners from using unfair practices to obtain arbitrage profits generated by DeFi transactions.
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Crypto wallet infrastructure startup Capsule completes a round of financing, led by a16z and Geometry
Crypto wallet infrastructure startup Capsule has completed a round of financing with an undisclosed amount, led by Andreessen Horowitz (through its accelerator Crypto Startup School) and Geometry, with participation from Spice Capital, Anchorage co-founders Diogo Monica and Nathan McCauley, Celo co-founders Rene Reinsberg and Marek Olszewski, and Sommelier Finance co-founder Zaki Manian. a16z's CSS accelerator program typically invests $500,000 in participating startups in exchange for 7% equity. Capsule was founded last year by Nitya Subramanian, former head of product at Layer 1 blockchain Celo, to help developers create wallets with interoperable transactions. It currently has four employees, and Subramanian is looking to add some engineers.
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Blockchain infrastructure company Smooth Labs completes $2 million seed round led by NGC Ventures
Blockchain infrastructure startup Smooth Labs has completed a $2 million seed round of financing, led by NGC Ventures, with participation from Cogitent Ventures, ArkStream Capital, and Ian Balina's Token Metrics. Smooth Labs will launch a testnet in the third quarter. Founded by Wei, a former early researcher at Celestia, and Lucie Chen, a former founding partner of cryptocurrency investment company LCC Ventures, Smooth Labs is building a blockchain infrastructure focused on parallel execution of transactions.
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DeFi
DeFi lending market Blueberry Protocol developer completes $1.2 million seed round
Composable Corp, the company behind the Ethereum DeFi lending market Blueberry Protocol, has completed a $1.2 million seed round of financing, with investors including Ashbury Ventures, Alchemix, Multisig Ventures, Pirata Capital, etc. The main members of Composable said that they will use the funds to develop the team and infrastructure. Blueberry Protocol will work with DeFi projects such as Alchemix and Olympus DAO, and integrate customized lending markets and yield strategies with many DeFi strategies at launch.
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Bitcoin Ecosystem Decentralized Exchange Alex Completes $2.5 Million Strategic Round of Financing
Alex, a decentralized exchange in the Bitcoin ecosystem, has completed a $2.5 million strategic round of financing, with participation from Trust Machines and Gossamer Capital. The exchange was co-founded by quantitative analysts Chiente Hsu and Rachel Yu. Alex completed a $5.8 million seed round in 2021, led by White Star Capital, with other backers including Cultur3 and SeaX. In addition to decentralized exchanges, Alex also provides staking, yield mining, and Launchpad services.
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Asset Management
Payment giant Stripe completes $6.5 billion in financing
Payment giant Stripe has completed a $6.5 billion Series I financing round at a valuation of $50 billion, with investors including a16z, Baillie Gifford, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, MSD Partners, Thrive Capital, GIC, Goldman Sachs and Temasek. Stripe said that this round of financing will not be used to conduct business, but will be used to provide liquidity for former and current employees and resolve employee withholding tax obligations related to equity incentives.
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European payments company Emerchantpay Limited has invested $18.5 million in Web3 payment service company Ibanera
European payments company Emerchantpay Limited has invested $18.5 million in Ibanera, a digital bank and payments company focused on providing embedded payment services for Web3 platforms, at a discounted valuation of $195 million. The funds raised will be used to support its payment platform BitLine.
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Offshore RMB Stablecoin Issuer CNHC Group Completes $10 Million Series A+ Funding, Led by KuCoin Ventures
CNHC Group, the issuer of the offshore RMB stablecoin CNHC, has completed a $10 million Series A+ round of financing, led by KuCoin Ventures, with participation from Circle and IDG Capital. The funds raised will be used to expand adoption in the Asia-Pacific region, and plans to move its headquarters from the Cayman Islands to Hong Kong. CNHC is currently issued on the Ethereum and Conflux blockchains, with a total supply of approximately 15 million.
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Metaverse payment platform Tilia receives strategic financing from J.P. Morgan Payments, bringing total financing to $22 million after the spin-off
Metaverse payment platform Tilia has completed a strategic financing, with participation from J.P. Morgan Payments, Dunamu, the operator of South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, and others. Tilia's total financing has reached US$22 million since it was spun off from its creator Linden Lab in 2022. Tilia did not disclose the specific financing data this time. Tilia is working with J.P Morgan Payments to enhance the capabilities of its entire processing platform, including providing more payments and payment methods, expanding payment currencies and supporting services.
Linden Lab officially launched Tilia in 2019. Tilia aims to make it easy for companies in the digital economy (including the Metaverse) that need financial services to pay and transact with anyone in a regulated manner. Tilia's payment products can be used standalone or as a fully integrated end-to-end solution.
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NFT and blockchain games
Game development company Bravo Ready receives strategic investment from Aptos Labs
Game development company Bravo Ready has received a strategic investment from Aptos Labs, which will be used to launch the exclusive game collaboration "Aptos Arena" between the two studios, as well as the future integration of Aptos and BR1: INFINITE. Foresight News previously reported that on July 11, 2022, Bravo Ready completed a $3 million financing, which will be used to develop the NFT game "BR1: Infinite Royale". Since then, Bravo Ready has also received strategic investment from Sino Global Capital and investment from Magic Eden Ventures, the venture capital arm of NFT market Magic Eden.
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Former Ledger executive Jean-Michel Pailhon plans to raise $25 million NFT art fund
Former Ledger executive Jean-Michel Pailhon is raising up to $25 million for an NFT art fund that will prioritize blockchain art that is "culturally influential." The fund hopes to primarily attract non-native crypto investors, with a particular focus on institutions that already hold physical art and want exposure to blockchain-based NFT art. As of last week, the fund had received soft commitments of $2-3 million from private bankers and family offices. Jean-Michel Pailhon previously worked at crypto wallet maker Ledger for nearly six years and left last month.
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Chiliz acquires 20% stake in athlete memorabilia auction site MatchWornShirt and will introduce NFT for authenticity verification
Chiliz, a blockchain solution for sports and entertainment, announced a strategic investment in MatchWornShirt (MWS), an auction site for athlete autographed memorabilia, acquiring a 20% stake in MWS for an undisclosed amount. Chiliz will bring blockchain authentication and new technology experiences to MWS memorabilia, and MWS kits will be verifiable on the Chiliz chain via NFT, providing a transparent and verifiable method to verify authenticity. In addition to authentication, the NFT will also contain match details, player data, and possible access to video clips of the game. Chiliz fan token holders will be able to access the MatchWornShirt marketplace, allowing them to bid on items in real time during the game.
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NFT Marketplace Nuqtah Completes Seed Round
Nuqtah, a Saudi Arabia-based NFT market, has completed its seed round of financing, led by Animoca Brands and participated by Polygon and others. The amount of financing was not disclosed. This round of financing will be used for product development, marketing, talent recruitment, etc. Nuqtah is the first NFT market in Saudi Arabia, licensed by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Investment, allowing individuals and enterprises to create, deploy and monetize NFT series without having to navigate complex blockchain infrastructure.
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Merit Circle, a blockchain gaming guild, invests $750,000 in Web3 game Walker World
Merit Circle, a blockchain game guild, announced a partnership with Walker World, a large-scale open world adventure and multiplayer game, and invested $750,000 in Walker World. Walker World is powered by Unreal Engine 5 and provides a dynamic gaming experience with stunning HD graphics. The team is committed to providing games that integrate technologies such as AR, VR, and blockchain.
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Web3 game studio Jungle completes $6 million in financing
Web3 game studio Jungle has completed a $6 million seed round of financing, led by Bitkraft and Framework Ventures, with participation from Delphi Digital, Karatage, Fourth Revolution Capital, Monoceros, 32bit Ventures, Stateless Ventures, Snackclub and Norte Ventures. This round of financing will be used to build the team, market and distribute the games it produces.
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Web3 eSports platform Moxy completes $10 million in financing
Moxy, a Web3 e-sports platform based on Flow, has completed a $10 million financing round, with investors including Shima Capital, Polygon, MetaTope and GSR Markets. The Moxy platform already has 23 games including Super Squad, BattleRise and Sociable Soccer. In the future, Moxy plans to hold the "Battle of the Influencers" celebrity e-sports tournament.
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Web3
Animoca Brands Japan to make strategic investment in SmartRetail
Animoca Brands Japan announced that it has committed to a strategic investment in SmartRetail, a customer analytics solution that combines facial recognition technology and can be deployed in convenience stores, gas stations, vending machines, etc. to monetize consumer traffic through valuable external advertising campaigns, thereby bringing consumers instant in-store incentives. Through the investment in SmartRetail, Animoca Brands Japan aims to build an outdoor interactive platform in Japan to provide consumers with the option of providing Web3 incentives.
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NFT portfolio management and social platform Metalink completes $6 million seed round and launches mobile app
NFT portfolio management and social platform Metalink announced a previously undisclosed $6 million seed round of financing, with investors including Guy Oseary, Gary Vaynerchuk, MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright, The Sandbox founder Sebastien Borget, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, DJ Justin Blau, Social Capital, Arrington Capital and Sound Ventures. Metalink has also launched a mobile application, creating a space with tokens as the threshold, where NFT collectors can interact, aggregate announcements and track their portfolio performance. The application also plans to launch a trading function later this year so that users can buy, sell and exchange digital assets.
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Web3 fashion technology company DressX completes $15 million Series A financing, led by Greenfield
Fashion technology company DressX has completed a $15 million Series A financing round led by Berlin-based crypto venture capital firm Greenfield, with participation from Slow Ventures, The Artemis Fund, Red Dao and Warner Music.
Currently, most of DressX’s digital fashion products are off-chain, but the company has begun to explore the world of Web3 more deeply by building its own NFT marketplace and through a partnership with exchange Crypto.com.
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other
Ripple makes strategic investment in Blockchain Founders Fund
Ripple announced a strategic investment in Blockchain Founders Fund (BFF), an early-stage venture capital fund based in Singapore. Blockchain Founders Fund will use the funds to support promising early-stage companies.
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Bloomberg: Bitcoin Opportunity Fund is seeking to raise $100 million
Bitcoin Opportunity Fund is seeking to raise $100 million. The fund, led by six investors including managing partners James Lavish and David Foley, will invest in public and private companies related to Bitcoin. The team said they have invested a large portion of their net worth in the fund. James Lavish previously served as COO at LKCM Alternative Management for 15 years. Prior to joining LKCM, James Lavish was the co-founder and managing partner of risk arbitrage hedge fund Ranger Arbitrage. David Foley has been a partner at Equity Management Associates with Larry Lepard since January 2021.
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Insider: DeFiance Capital completes "eight-figure" USD fundraising and starts investing this month
Crypto investment fund DeFiance Capital has raised an "eight-figure" amount of money, completed the first fundraising of a new fund, and started investing this month. Sources said that while this could mean anywhere between $10 million and $99 million, the initial financing amount last year was less than $50 million. DeFiance Capital founder Arthur Cheong plans to raise $100 million for the new fund and has already received commitments for nearly half of the amount.
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