Financing Weekly Report | 35 public financing events; LayerZero Labs completed $120 million in Series B financing with a valuation of $3 billion, with participation from a16z and Sequoia Capital

Highlights of this issue
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 35 blockchain investment and financing events around the world last week (April 3-April 9), an increase compared to the previous week; the total financing scale was approximately US$308 million, a slight decrease compared to the previous week. An overview is as follows:
DeFi’s popularity dropped slightly, with 5 investment and financing events announced, among which M^ZERO completed a $22.5 million seed round of financing, led by Pantera Capital;
The blockchain game track has warmed up again, with 4 investment and financing events announced, among which the blockchain game RACA (formerly Radio Caca) received US$16 million in financing from DWF Labs;
The NFT and Metaverse sectors have seen a slight increase in popularity, with 5 financings announced. Among them, Hong Kong NFT trading platform Ubox completed a $7 million seed round of financing, led by C² Ventures;
The heat of the infrastructure and tools track has increased significantly, with 13 events announced, among which LayerZero Labs completed a $120 million Series B financing with a valuation of $3 billion, with a16z Crypto, Christie's Auction House, Sequoia Capital and others participating in the investment;
Other Web3/crypto-related projects cooled down, with 6 events announced. Among them, Delphi Labs, the protocol development department of Delphi Digital, announced the completion of US$13.5 million in financing, led by P2P.
Two investment and financing events were announced in the centralized financial sector, among which Acre, a blockchain mortgage platform headquartered in London, UK, announced the completion of a £6.5 million seed round of financing.
Let’s take a comprehensive look at last week’s investment and financing events.
 DeFi
SwissBorg, a Swiss cryptocurrency startup, completes $23 million Series A community funding
SwissBorg, a cryptocurrency startup based in Lausanne, Switzerland, has completed a $23 million Series A community financing round with 16,600 investors participating. SwissBorg uses its yield products to connect users with decentralized financial platforms, generate yield on crypto assets in a transparent manner, and build a comprehensive crypto wealth management ecosystem.
DeFi platform M^ZERO completes $22.5 million seed round of financing, led by Pantera Capital
DeFi platform M^ZERO has completed a $22.5 million seed round of financing, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Road Capital, AirTree, Standard Crypto, SALT Fund, ParaFi Capital, Distributed Capital, Kraynos Capital, Earlybird and Mouro Capital. Luca Prosperi, CEO of M^ZERO Labs, said that M^ZERO aims to enable institutional value transfer and create a neutral infrastructure for payment flows.
Nibiru Chain Completes $8.5 Million Seed Round with a Valuation of $100 Million, Led by NGC Ventures and Others
Decentralized financial center Nibiru Chain has completed a $8.5 million seed round at a valuation of $100 million, led by Tribe Capital, Republic Capital, NGC Ventures, and Original Capital. The financing will help build the technology stack, team, and community. Nibiru Chain plans to start raising Series A financing later this year, with a target valuation of $200 million to $250 million. This summer, Nibiru plans to launch its partial algorithmic stablecoin NUSDC as well as a testnet. NUSD will be collateralized by USDC and NIBI, Nibiru's native token used for staking, utility, and governance.
DeFi protocol Thala launched on Aptos mainnet, raising $2.955 million
DeFi protocol Thala has been launched on the Aptos mainnet at 8:00 am Beijing time today. It is reported that Thala's LBP pool was closed at 7:00 am today, and finally raised $2.955 million through the public offering of ThalaLaunch, with a transaction volume of $8.28 million.
Decentralized liquidity management platform Steer Protocol completes $1.5 million seed round of financing, led by Druid Ventures
Steer Protocol, a decentralized liquidity management platform, announced the completion of a $1.5 million seed round of financing, led by Druid Ventures, with participation from Republic Capital and Big Brain Holdings. Steer Protocol solves liquidity management challenges through centralized liquidity (CL) products, enabling liquidity providers to allocate funds more efficiently, thereby increasing returns for traders and reducing slippage, while also helping DeFi protocol tokens create incentive vaults, guide liquidity and cultivate more efficient markets.
NFT & Metaverse
Hong Kong NFT trading platform Ubox completes US$7 million seed round of financing, led by C² Ventures
Hong Kong NFT trading platform Ubox has completed a $7 million seed round of financing with a valuation of $50 million, led by C² Ventures and followed by Huobi's early investors. The angel round funds will be used for platform preparation, technology research and development, team expansion and platform promotion. Ubox (ubox.io) is a new NFT trading scenario based on the perspective of Eastern culture and is now officially launched. With the core concept of "creating your digital oasis", it provides digital asset enthusiasts in the Asia-Pacific region with a safe, diversified and high value-added trading experience. It is reported that since Ubox opened for reservations on March 29, more than 300,000 users have made reservations.
Social Future, a social metaverse company, completes $6 million in financing, with Mask Network and others participating
Social Future, an AI-based social metaverse company, announced the completion of a $6 million financing round, with participation from SNZ, Everest Venture Group, Folius Ventures, Y2Z Ventures, Mask Network, and other investors, and its partners include Animoca Brands, Decentraland, Metajuice, etc. Social Future's flagship product "MAY" is built with blockchain and AI, allowing users to generate 3D virtual world images and supporting NFTs with one click, and socialize and entertain in the virtual metaverse.
ENS Vision, the ENS trading platform, completes $2 million seed round of financing, led by 1confirmation
ENS trading market ENS Vision has completed a $2 million seed round of financing, led by 1confirmation. The funds will be used to further develop its ecosystem and products.
Football Metaverse Project TOPGOAL Receives Millions of Dollars Investment from DWF Labs
Football Metaverse Project TOPGOAL announced that it has received millions of dollars in investment from DWF Labs. The new funds will be used by TOPGOAL to build a football metaverse driven by artificial intelligence and blockchain technology, further realizing its vision of bringing sports into Web3 and creating new digital and virtual experiences. TopGoal's first game product is TopManager, which will launch Football Meta Club and the cross-platform Web3 game Footballcraft in the third quarter of this year.
Metropoly, an NFT platform based on real estate assets, completes $1.1 million in pre-sale round of financing
Metropoly, an NFT platform based on real estate assets, has completed a pre-sale round of financing of US$1.1 million. The METRO token is priced at US$0.0769 per token. About 2,758 investors have participated in the pre-sale, and it is expected to be officially launched on May 1, 2023. According to reports, the project will tokenize and "NFTize" real estate assets based on blockchain, and use the liquidity advantages of NFT to achieve easier trading functions. Transaction data can also be recorded on the chain to facilitate tracking of ownership. Currently, the beta version of Metropoly's dashboard is online.
Chain Games
Blockchain game RACA receives $16 million in funding from DWF Labs
Chain game RACA (formerly Radio Caca) received $16 million in financing from DWF Labs, including the purchase of an unknown number of RACA tokens. The funds raised will help RACA advance its goals for the Web3 gaming ecosystem. It is reported that RACA was founded in 2021 and was originally the manager of NFTs of Elon Musk's mother Maye Musk. The company has launched R3 gaming infrastructure, SimCity-style sandbox game USM.WORLD, social party game Looki Looki Jazzi, cross-game DID wallet JAZ, and NFT market.
GameFi project Smart Finance completes $3 million financing, Web3 venture capital firm DWF Labs invests
Web3 venture capital firm and global digital asset market maker DWF Labs invested $3 million in Smart Finance. The new funds will be used by Smart Finance to expand its technology upgrades and community operation capabilities. Smart Finance is an automatic strategy protocol focusing on games and NFT products, also known as GameFi and NFTFi machine gun pool. Smart Finance is committed to the development and promotion of GameFi around the world, integrating the value Internet with WEB3 as the core into society in an easier and more efficient way.
Blockchain game Yuliverse announces completion of seed round financing, led by LIF
The Metaverse blockchain game Yuliverse announced the completion of its seed round of financing, led by LIF, with participation from Archerman Capital, Animoca Ventures, TKX Capital, K24 Ventures, Hummingbird Capital and Lionrock. Yuliverse provides a new way to socialize by integrating game elements, where users can discover hidden gems in the city, earn rewards, and connect with others with similar interests. In addition, Yuliverse released a free version of the game and launched a new game mode, Mission Stardust.
DegenReborn receives strategic financing from P12, CyberConnect, Galxe and Era7
Innovative life simulation game DegenReborn has completed strategic financing from P12, CyberConnect, Galxe and Era7. It is reported that DegenReborn has won awards in three well-known hackathon competitions Mask x Starkware, CyberConnect x BNB Chain and ETH Denver.
Infrastructure & Tools
LayerZero Completes $120 Million Series B Financing with a $3 Billion Valuation, with A16Z and Sequoia Capital Joining
Cross-chain interoperability protocol LayerZero Labs has completed a $120 million Series B financing with a valuation of $3 billion, with participation from a16z Crypto, Christie's Auction House, Sequoia Capital, Samsung Next, BOND, Circle Ventures and OpenSea Ventures. This round of funds will be used for growth plans, including recruitment and expansion of the company's business in the Asia-Pacific region. It is reported that LayerZero provides interoperability and cross-chain messaging infrastructure, allowing dApp developers to access multiple blockchains without the need for middlemen to facilitate cross-chain interactions.
Polyhedra Network Completes $15 Million Pre-A Round of Financing, Led by Polychain Capital
Polyhedra Network has completed a $15 million PreA round of financing, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from ABCDE, Sparkle Ventures, HashKey Capital, Foresight Ventures, Kucoin Ventures, NGC Ventures and Arcane Group. It is reported that Polyhedra Network is a startup that provides Web3 infrastructure supported by zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs and is building a set of systems focused on blockchain interoperability, scalability and privacy. These systems include zkBridge, which facilitates cross-chain asset and data transfer.
IOST receives $10 million investment from BitValue Capital
Canadian Web3 investment institution BitValue Capital announced that it will invest $10 million in IOST, which will be used for the upgrade of the IOST mainnet and the continued construction of the ecosystem. In addition, BitValue will jointly launch a $5 million ecological incentive fund with IOST to provide more support for global developers and accelerate the construction and development of the IOST ecosystem.
Crypto payment service provider Alchemy Pay receives $10 million investment from DWF Labs
Crypto payment service provider Alchemy Pay has received a $10 million investment from market maker DWF Labs at a valuation of $400 million to expand its business in South Korea. The company provides a way for cryptocurrency companies to access the legal payment system, and the new funds are aimed at and help local Korean companies achieve greater internationalization. To this end, it has previously worked with companies such as Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay and Apple Pay.
Modular blockchain Astria completes $5.5 million seed round of financing, led by Maven 11
Modular blockchain Astria has completed a $5.5 million seed round of financing, led by Maven 11, with participation from 1kx, Delphi Ventures and Figment Capital. The financing will be used to develop its shared sorter network. Astria is also developing its Astria EVM, which is powered by a shared sorter network and is planned to serve as the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) for the data availability layer of the modular blockchain Celestia.
Blockchain data indexing platform Satsuma completes $5 million seed round of financing
Blockchain data indexing platform Satsuma announced the completion of a $5 million seed round of financing, led by Initialization Capital and Archetype, with participation from OpenSea and Y Combinator. Satsuma was founded in March last year and uses The Graph's open source technology to query and index on-chain data. Satsuma is not a decentralized protocol, but a business entity that adopts the SAAS (Software as a Service) model. Satsuma obtains the blockchain data details it needs from customers and then processes the data in the form of custom APIs. Its customers include Decentraland, Aragon, and Syndicate.
Web3 co-ownership platform Lore closes $4 million round led by Multicoin Capital
Lore, a co-ownership platform from San Francisco-based Web3 Collective, has raised $4 million in a strategic funding round led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Seed Club Ventures, North Island Ventures, and others. Lore has raised a total of $7.15 million to date. The funding will support new use cases and expansion to other blockchains beyond Ethereum, starting with Polygon and Solana. The platform, currently in public beta, allows a group of people to share NFTs to expand access and utility.
ZK-RaaS Platform Opside Completes $4 Million Seed Round of Financing, Led by Web3.com Ventures
Opside, a three-layer ZK-RaaS platform, announced the completion of a $4 million seed round of financing, led by Web3.com Ventures. The funds from this round of seed financing will be used to accelerate Opside's development, expand the team and scale operations. Opside provides a general & customized ZK-Rollups SDK (software development kit) to meet the needs of developers to deploy dApps on Opside Layer3 without maintaining any infrastructure. It will focus on innovations in its ZK-RaaS & PoS+PoW hybrid consensus mechanism to fill the market gap where ZK-RaaS solutions are currently underserved. Opside will also launch a new round of Pre-alpha Testnet testnet soon to complete the preliminary construction of the three-layer architecture and ecological projects and start testnet activities.
Crypto salary payment company Franklin completes $2.9 million seed round of financing, led by CMT Digital and others
Crypto payroll company Franklin has completed a $2.9 million seed round of financing, which was co-led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and CMT Digital. It is reported that Franklin is a project developed internally by Web3 marketing company Serotonin. Franklin provides a tool to pay cryptocurrencies to employees and contractors around the world, including the United States. The project is built on the Ethereum mainnet and Polygon, providing tools for automated payroll expenditures and tax filings for selected cryptocurrencies.
Crypto token research platform Kryptview completes $1.5 million financing
Crypto token research platform Kryptview announced the release of a cryptocurrency search tool and completed a $1.5 million financing round, with participation from KuCoin, Bitpanda, GSR and Serafund. Kryptview said that on its platform, users can sort tokens according to specific criteria, such as the proportion of women in the team, whether the team has been doxxed, the location of the project headquarters, whether the project has published a white paper, etc.
KuCoin Wallet received support from HashKey Capital in its first round of financing and will be renamed Halo Wallet and operate independently
KuCoin Wallet has been renamed Halo Wallet, and the team has officially separated from KuCoin Group and will operate independently. The rebranding means that Halo Wallet will expand from Web3 wallet to the broader SocialFi, including building an ecosystem based on Web3 DID. It is reported that Halo Wallet has received the first round of financing from KuCoin Ventures, IDG, HashKey Capital, etc.
Self-custody solution Safeheron completes Pre-A+ round of financing led by Hashkey and Bixin
One-stop open source self-hosting solution Safeheron has completed its Pre-A+ round of financing, led by Hashkey Capital and Bixin Ventures. This round is the second round of financing completed by Safeheron after the $7 million Pre-A round of financing led by Yunqi Partners and Web3Vision announced in August last year. It is currently conducting a new round of A round of financing. The funds raised in this round will be used to promote engineering implementation and technical research, including the new MPC algorithm, TEE hardware isolation technology and institutional-level solutions to meet the diverse security needs of customers in different market segments.
Bitcoin wallet Mutiny Wallet completes over $300,000 in seed round financing, with Ten31 and others participating
Mutiny Wallet is a network-first and privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet. It has completed a seed round of financing of over US$300,000, with participation from Ten31, Brad Mills, Chris Hunter, American Hodl, Ti Kawamoto and NVK.
 other
Delphi Labs Completes $13.5 Million Financing, Led by P2P
Delphi Labs, the protocol R&D department of Delphi Digital, announced the completion of a $13.5 million financing, led by P2P and participated by Jump crypto. The funds will be used to establish an accelerator aimed at promoting the growth of teams in Web3 projects. This financing is the first time Delphi Labs has sought external investment. It is reported that each team in the accelerator will receive $200,000 in funding. The main part of the program will last four to six months, and the project team will be introduced to potential investors of Delphi Labs at the end of the program.
Web3 task platform Zealy completes $3.5 million pre-seed round of financing, led by Redalpine
Web3 task platform Zealy announced the completion of a $3.5 million pre-seed round of financing, led by Redalpine and participated by Connect Ventures. Zealy intends to use the funds to develop its engineering, product and design teams. It is reported that Zealy allows members to publish digital assets, physical and virtual activities and tasks, helping Web3 companies to participate, analyze and expand the community.
Web3 platform Ecosapiens completes $3.5 million seed round, led by Collaborative+Currency
Web3 carbon footprint solution company Ecosapiens has completed a $3.5 million seed round of financing, led by Collab+Currency, with participation from Celo CFO Alex Witt, former Moonbirds COO Ryan Carson, and Boost VC. It is reported that Ecosapiens will provide a range of digital infrastructure and resources, including NFTs, carbon infrastructure, chat groups, and even comic series, to enable people and businesses to easily participate and reduce their carbon footprint, use more sustainable products, and support the transition to a green economy through the communities they create.
Decentralized communication network Huddle01 completes $2.8 million seed round of financing
Decentralized real-time communication network Huddle01 has completed a $2.8 million seed round of financing, led by Hivemind, with participation from Superscrypt, M31 Capital, Protocol Labs, etc. Through the new round of financing, Huddle01 plans to develop its ecosystem to support thousands of applications and launch its node network to facilitate large-scale communication and use Huddle01 tokens as rewards. In addition, Huddle01 will launch a grant program to enable developers to build applications on Huddle01's infrastructure.
Blockchain health data wallet company Patientory completes $1.5 million financing, with participation from BackStage Capital and others
Patientory, a blockchain health data service company, announced the completion of a $1.5 million financing round, with participation from BackStage Capital, Arlan Hamilton and others. Patientory launched a "smart" health data wallet application on Wednesday, allowing users to safely store their information. Its blockchain-based and HIPAA-compliant private medical data ecosystem can synchronize medical records and wearable device health data, allowing users to better control and track their health status.
5G blockchain network Karrier One completes first round of financing
5G blockchain network Karrier One has completed its first round of financing. The amount of financing and the investors have not been disclosed. Karrier One is a decentralized mobile network that uses the Karrier One blockchain to seamlessly and anonymously connect smartphones and users, providing affordable and reliable mobile and Internet connections. It has successfully connected to 10 ground 4G nodes via satellite.
Centralized Finance
Acre Completes £6.5 Million Seed Round
Acre, a blockchain mortgage platform headquartered in London, UK, announced the completion of a £6.5 million seed round of financing. The proceeds will be used to grow users and establish new partnerships with lenders and insurance companies to help its brokers recommend and apply for appropriate financial products and services as efficiently as possible. It is reported that the Acre platform uses blockchain technology to verify consumer and property data to support the mortgage business, and the platform's annual mortgage volume has exceeded £10 billion.
Dutch cryptocurrency exchange Finst completes $4.4 million seed round, led by Deribit parent company Sentillia
Dutch cryptocurrency exchange Finst announced the completion of a €4 million ($4.4 million) seed round led by Sentillia, the parent company of cryptocurrency derivatives platform Deribit. It is reported that the financing will be used to expand Finst’s product range to promote its international expansion plan.
Institutional Funds
Kaszek Ventures has raised $975 million in two new funds to invest in blockchain and other fields
Latin American venture capital fund Kaszek Ventures has raised $975 million across two new funds, including $540 million for its early-stage fund Kaszek Ventures VI and $435 million for its later-stage investment vehicle Kaszek Ventures Opportunity-III (KVO-III). Kaszek plans to invest capital from its early-stage fund in 20 to 30 companies (at the seed, Series A and Series B stages), with investment sizes ranging from $500,000 to $25 million. Its later-stage fund will be more focused, with the company aiming to invest in 10 to 15 companies with investment sizes ranging from $10 million to $50 million.
VC firm Bitkraft raises $220 million for second ‘token’ fund
According to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 30, gaming-focused venture capital firm Bitkraft has raised $220.6 million for its second “token fund.” The fund’s total financing target is $240 million. Bitkraft’s assets under management have grown to about $600 million, a third of which is related to Web3. The company’s funds include an esports-focused fund, a general venture capital fund, and two “token” funds.
OP Crypto, a venture capital firm, has raised $28 million in funding
OP Crypto, a cryptocurrency venture capital firm founded by former Huobi executive David Gan, has raised $28 million from 22 investors. Last year, OP Crypto said it was launching a $100 million fund to support early-stage crypto VCs, called “OP Funds of Funds I.”