According to incomplete statistics from CryptoDAO, there were about 24 investment and financing events in the global crypto industry last week (September 4-10), with a total financing amount of about US$280 million. Both the number of financings and the total financing amount were significantly higher than the previous week. Through sorting and screening, CryptoDAO selected 10 representative financing projects from the numerous financing information last week and compiled them into the following table:
In addition, Crypto DAO summarized the financing trends of last week, with the following specific analysis:
Last week, the number of projects in the Infrastructure & Tools track that announced financing was 3. Among them, the most noteworthy one is the cross-chain protocol Socket Protocol, which announced the completion of US$5 million in financing, with Coinbase Ventures and Framework Ventures participating.
The popularity of DeFi has picked up significantly, and the types of projects announced for financing include DEX, RWA protocols, decentralized insurance, and liquid pledged derivatives. Among them, Brine, a privacy DEX project supported by zero-knowledge proofs, completed US$16.5 million in financing and was valued at US$100 million.
The blockchain game track has also picked up, and entrepreneurs are still exploring more suitable paths for integrating games into the token economy and blockchain technology. Among them, Nazara Technologies Limited, an Indian diversified game and sports media platform, is turning its attention to blockchain games. In addition, Polkastarter Gaming changed its name to GAM3S.GG and completed its seed round of financing.
NFT and metaverse-related projects show the diversity of the field. The number of projects that announced the completion of financing is 5, of which the most notable is Story Protocol. It is understood that the project is designed for multimedia creators, enabling writers and artists to track the provenance of their works and leaving room for re-creation. As of now, Story Protocol has accumulated 54 million US dollars.
Other application scenarios of integrated blockchain concepts and technologies are also areas that entrepreneurs focus on. Projects that received institutional investment last week include but are not limited to British digital bank Zopa, Swiss fintech platform GenTwo, crypto payment startup Kotani, and on-chain invoice settlement platform Zeebu.
For more investment and financing details, please see below:
1. Infrastructure & Tools
Project Name: Socket Protocol
Official website: https://socket.tech/
Attention: High
On September 7, the cross-chain protocol Socket Protocol announced the completion of a $5 million financing round, with Coinbase Ventures and Framework Ventures participating in the round. The new funds will be used to expand Socket's cooperation with Coinbase, including providing cross-chain services to developers and users of Coinbase Wallet and Base network.
Project name: Freename
Official website: https://freename.io/
Attention: Medium
On September 6, Freename, a Web3 domain name and TLD provider, completed a $2.5 million seed round of financing, led by Sparkle Ventures, with participation from Blockchain Founders Fund, Golden Record Ventures, and Abalone Asset Management. It is understood that Freename allows users to create their own top-level domain names (TLDs) and second-level domain names (SLDs) on multiple blockchains. These Web3 domain names can represent digital identities and can be used for a variety of functions, such as sending and receiving encrypted payments, sending Web2 and Web3 emails, browsing traditional websites, and building decentralized websites.
Project name: D3 Global
Official website: https://d3.inc/
Attention: Medium
On September 5, domain name startup D3 Global completed a $5 million seed round of financing, led by Shima Capital and participated by Arthur Hayes' Maelstrom and other companies. It is understood that D3 Global is a startup dedicated to integrating the practicality of Web3 with existing Internet infrastructure, which can bring more interoperability to the Web2 and Web3 versions of the Internet, while creating more practicality and security.
2. DeFi/Staking
Project name: Brine
Official website: https://www.brine.fi/
Attention: Very high
On September 7, Brine, a privacy DEX project supported by zero-knowledge proof, completed a $16.5 million financing with a valuation of $100 million. This round of financing was led by Pantera Capital, and Elevation Capital, StarkWare Ltd, Spartan Group, Goodwater Capital, Upsparks Ventures, and Protofund Ventures participated. It is understood that Brine Fi is supported by Ethereum's expansion system StarkWare. It is a non-custodial, decentralized order book DEX that can achieve privacy of trading positions through zero-knowledge proof.
Project name: Helix
Official website: https://helix.helilabs.io/
Attention: Medium
On September 8, RWA protocol Helix completed a $2 million pre-seed round of financing, which was jointly led by Saison Capital and Superscrypt, and followed by Emurgo Ventures, Comma3 Ventures, Outlier Ventures, Emoote, etc. It is understood that Helix was incubated by Singapore private credit company Helicap. The project aims to provide blockchain-based loans to businesses across Southeast Asia. Its platform combines proprietary credit assessment tools with a range of credit opportunities covering multiple industries.
Project name: OpenCover
Official website: https://opencover.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 7, decentralized insurance distributor OpenCover announced the completion of a $4 million seed round of financing, led by NFX and Jump Crypto, and Coinbase also invested $200,000 in the project to support its launch on Base. It is understood that OpenCover will be launched on Optimism and is working with projects such as Aave, Uniswap, Curve, Safe, Morpho, Synthetix, Beefy, Angle, 1inch and Yearn.
Project Name: LeverFi
Official website: https://app.leverfi.io/
Attention: Medium
On September 7, LeverFi announced that it had received $5 million in strategic financing from Unicorn Web3. According to official news, this investment will be used to upgrade LeverFi and help the LeverFi ecosystem land in order to achieve broad growth goals. After this round of financing, LeverFi will expand its in-depth cooperation with Unicorn-Verse.
Project Name: Trident Digital Group
Official website: https://www.tridig.io/
Attention: Medium
On September 7, Trident Digital Group, a crypto lending platform founded by former Coinbase executives, completed an $8 million seed round of financing, led by White Star Capital and New Form, with participation from CMT Digital, Joint Effects, and Permit Ventures. It is understood that the project's founder DeMartino worked for UBS, Barclays, and HSBC, and joined Coinbase in 2021 as head of risk strategy, focusing on DeFi and derivatives trading.
Project name: Infinimos
Official website: http://infinimos.net/
Attention: Medium
On September 5, Infinimos, a Cosmos ecosystem liquidity pledge derivatives platform, announced that it had completed a $3 million seed round of financing at a valuation of $10 million, led by DG Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate the development of the platform, expand the team, and establish strategic partnerships. It is understood that Infinimos is committed to changing the staking landscape by providing liquidity pledge derivatives specific to the Cosmos ecosystem, and by leveraging Web3 technology to create a decentralized and democratized ecosystem that helps users maximize the benefits of staking while maintaining liquidity.
3. Games
Project name: Nazara
Official website: https://www.nazara.com/
Attention: High
On September 7, Nazara Technologies Limited, an Indian diversified gaming and sports media platform, completed a $49.2 million financing round, with SBI Mutual Fund, SBI Magnum Global Fund and SBI Technology Opportunities Fund participating. The company's valuation in this round of financing reached $230 million. It is understood that Nazara will use the new funds to invest in new businesses such as e-sports and blockchain games, and will also make strategic acquisitions and investments in some gaming and sports media companies.
Project name: GAM3S.GG
Official website: https://gam3s.gg/
Attention: Medium
On September 7, Polkastarter Gaming announced that it was renamed GAM3S.GG and announced that it had completed a $2 million seed round of financing, led by Mechanism Capital, with participation from Polygon, Double Peak, ArkStream Capital, LD Capital, ROK Capital, Hyperithm, Snackclub and Emurgo Ventures. It is understood that GAM3S.GG is a Web3 game information platform responsible for planning and creating content, focusing on top games, and displaying reviews, guides, news, tasks, annual awards, etc. It aims to become a one-stop shop for Web3 games.
Project name: BlockGames
Official website: https://www.blockgames.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 7, the blockchain game project BlockGames was selected into the Google Cloud Web3 Startup Program and completed its Series A financing. The investors and the specific amount of financing have not yet been disclosed. It is understood that after joining the Google Web3 Startup Program, BlockGames will automatically obtain access to Google Cloud Scale Tier products and can use Google Cloud Web3 services.
Project name: BulletChain
Official website: https://bulletchain.sg/
Attention: Medium
On September 6, GameFi project BulletChain announced the completion of a $2 million private round of financing. The specific investors were not disclosed, and the new funds will be used to expand operations.
Project Name: Antmons Entertainment
Official website: https://antmons.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 5, GameFi platform Antmons Entertainment completed a $1.8 million financing led by Oakt Ventures, with participation from CANDAQ, Ranker DAO, and Wettach Guild. This round of financing will focus on developing the game ecosystem and creating a new game brand. It is understood that Antmons Entertainment is a MetaNFT and Battle-to-Earn GameFi platform compatible with on-chain users. It has received financing from multiple investment institutions such as Kucoin Ventures and BTS Ventures.
4. NFT & Web3 Creation & Metaverse
Project name: Story Protocol
Official website: https://www.storyprotocol.xyz/
Attention: High
On September 6, the on-chain IP infrastructure Story Protocol completed a $25 million financing, and has completed a total of $54 million in financing. The latest round of financing was led by a16z, and Hashed, Endeavor, Samsung Next, dao5, Insignia Venture Partners, etc. participated. It is understood that the application built on Story Protocol is designed for creators of all media (prose, images, games, audio, etc.), enabling writers and artists to track the provenance of their works, allowing anyone to contribute and remix while capturing the value of their contributions.
Project name: Pop Social
Official website: https://www.popsocial.io/
Attention: High
On September 8, Web3 social platform Pop Social announced the completion of a $4 million seed and strategic round of financing, with participation from angel investors including Fundamental Labs, Ceras Ventures, Chainlink, Cointelegraph, Fusion Labs, Promatrix Capital, and former executives of Binance and OKX.
Project name: Crucible
Official website: https://www.crucible.network/
Attention: Medium
On September 7, Crucible, a metaverse development company, announced that it had completed a new round of financing, led by Born Ready, a Web3 technology fund under AI metaverse company Futureverse, but the specific amount has not been disclosed. It is understood that Crucible has announced a partnership with Futureverse.
Project name: TRLab
Official website: https://trlab.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 6, NFT art platform TRLab announced the completion of a $5 million seed round of financing, led by OKX Ventures and Hivemind Capital Partners, and participated by HashKey Capital, the investment arm of HashKey Group. It is understood that in the next six months, TRLab will launch several digital art experiences with well-known artists and foundations, and will hold TRLab's first offline art exhibition in November this year.
Project name: Glen
Official website: https://gleen.ai/
Attention: Medium
On September 5, Discord chatbot Gleen completed an oversubscribed financing of $4.9 million, with participation from Slow Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, South Park Commons, Spartan Group and Coinshares, and angel investors including Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, former Chainlink COO Mike Derezin, decentralized investment protocol Syndicate co-founder Will Papper and ISM Angels. It is understood that Gleen aims to provide Discord chatbot services to Web3 users, but currently mainly non-Web3 users.
V. Others
Project name: Zopa
Official website: https://www.zopa.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 8, British digital bank Zopa announced the completion of a £75 million (approximately $93 million) financing led by IAG SilverStripe. As of now, the company's total financing amount has reached £530 million. It is understood that Zopa currently does not support direct cryptocurrency transactions, but its customers can invest in digital assets by transferring British pounds (GBP) from their accounts to third-party trading platforms (such as eToro) approved and regulated by the UK financial regulator FCA.
Project name: Nestcoin
Official website: https://nestcoin.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 7, Nestcoin, a Nigeria-based Web3 startup, announced the completion of a $1.9 million strategic round of financing, with participation from Adaverse, Base Ecosystem Fund, Alter World, CMT Digital, Magic Fund, 4DX Ventures, and a group of angel investors. This round of financing will strengthen Nestcoin's balance sheet and further advance its efforts to create equal economic opportunities through Onboard. It is understood that Nestcoin was affected by the FTX crash last year.
Project Name: GenTwo
Official website: http://www.gentwo.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 5, Swiss fintech platform GenTwo completed a $15 million Series A financing round led by Point72 Ventures. The company plans to use the funds for international expansion and development of its financial engineering platform. It is understood that GenTwo's PRO platform allows investors to securitize and market any asset or investment strategy in a bankable form, and allows all investors to access non-bank assets, including real estate, art or digital assets.
Project name: Kotani
Official website: https://kotanipay.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 5, Kotani, a crypto payment startup, completed a $2 million pre-seed round of financing, led by P1 Ventures, with participation from DCG/Luno, Flori Ventures, etc. It is understood that Nairobi-based Kotani Pay connects blockchain with the local payment network through a middleware it has built, aiming to help a large number of African users who have difficulty accessing banking services to make cross-border remittances easier.
Project name: Zeebu
Official website: https://www.zeebu.com/
Attention: Medium
On September 7, the on-chain invoice settlement platform Zeebu raised $25 million in a pre-sale round of financing, with participation from several strategic investors including Bankai Ventures. It is understood that Zeebu uses blockchain technology to provide loyalty rewards, simplify invoice settlement and increase transparency for telecom operators. Zeebu has established strategic partnerships with telecom providers such as Hayo Telecom Inc., Axistel FZE, Qatar Ltd, BBT Voice Limited, Broadband Telecom Inc., BridgeVoice Inc. and Novatel doo
