{"title": "Crypto Startups Secure $66.7M in Early Stage Funding Rounds", "body": "According to Foresight News, eleven crypto startups secured a combined $66.7 million in new early-stage funding rounds this week. SynFutures, a crypto and NFT futures decentralized exchange (DEX), topped the list with a $22 million series B fundraise led by Pantera Capital, Susquehanna International Group, and HashKey Capital. In addition to the funding, SynFutures also launched version three of its exchange, featuring a new automated market maker (AMM) called Oyster, an on-chain order book, a new liquidation framework for derivatives trading, and a single-token liquidity provision method.\n\nElixir Protocol raised $7.5 million to address liquidity issues on DEXs. The DeFi protocol's funds were raised at a $100 million valuation, with Hack VC leading the round and participation from NGC Ventures, AngelList Ventures, Bloccelerate, and various angel investors. Elixir aims to help DEXs and other protocols adopt a decentralized order book model by providing liquidity for trades. Upland, a metaverse mimicking real-world terrain, raised $7 million in an extension of its 2021 series A round, with participation from existing investors C3 Venture Capital and Animoca Brands, and new investor EOS Network Ventures. Upland allows users to own virtual property mapped to real-world geography and has raised nearly $90,000 for charitable causes through sales of in-game map assets, or NFTs."}