Web3 infrastructure company Spatial Labs completes $10 million seed round
According to media reports, Web3 infrastructure company Spatial Labs has completed a $10 million seed round of financing, led by Blockchain Capital and participated by Jay-Z's Marcy Venture. It is reported that Spatial Labs is a web3 infrastructure company focused on improving the metaverse and business. It was previously reported that Spatial Labs completed a $4 million pre-seed round of financing on November 30, 2022.
Yuanverse e-commerce company Emria completed a $10 million Series A round of financing, with Sony Innovation Fund and others participating in the investment
On January 25, the Metaverse as a Service (MaaS) platform Empire announced the completion of a $10 million Series A financing round, with Sony Innovation Fund, Stanford Capital Partners, Base10 Partners, Daphi, Concept Ventures, Background Capital and others participating. It is reported that the Metaverse platform built by Empire can create an immersive virtual shopping experience for brands in the retail industry and build Metaverse stores. Its current partners include luxury giants such as Bloomingdales, Dior and Lacoste.
Crypto infrastructure firm Blockstream raises $125 million for bitcoin mining
Crypto infrastructure company Blockstream said in a press release that it raised $125 million in convertible notes and secured loan financing to expand its Bitcoin mining hosting service, according to media reports. The company raised $210 million in August at a valuation of $3.2 billion, the statement said, and said it would use the proceeds of the new capital to expand its mining facilities to meet strong demand for large-scale hosting services. Blockstream's new round of financing did not mention the company's valuation. However, Bloomberg reported on December 7 that the company is seeking to raise funds at a valuation that is 70% lower than its previous round of financing (less than $1 billion).
QuickNode completes US$60 million in Series B financing at US$800 million valuation
According to media reports, blockchain development platform QuickNode announced that it has completed a US$60 million Series B financing at a valuation of US$800 million. 10T Holdings, LLC led the investment, with participation from Tiger Global, 776, Protocol Labs and QED. The new funding will be used to accelerate the company's global expansion and further empower builders to lay the foundation for a decentralized, globally connected future and simplify the Web2 to Web3 transition.
Web3 social platform Plai Labs secures $32 million in seed funding
According to media reports, Web3 social platform builder Plai Labs said on Thursday that the company raised $32 million in a seed round of financing led by cryptocurrency investment company a16z. Plai Labs, led by several former executives from game studio Jam City and traditional social platform Myspace, aims to use the funds to grow its team and hire developers to build a decentralized social platform that combines Web3 and artificial intelligence. Josh Brooks, executive vice president of marketing and operations at Plai Labs, is the former senior vice president of corporate marketing and recruiting at Jam City. He also previously served as Myspace's vice president of programming and music.
Sports NFT company Candy Digital raises over $38 million
According to media reports, sports-focused NFT company Candy Digital announced an extended Series A financing earlier this month, but did not specify the amount. Previous media reports said sports marketer Fanatics was selling its 60% stake in Candy Digital, but again that amount was not included. Candy Digital has raised $38,449,997 from 14 investors in an equity offering, more than half of the total $68,188,480 the company is seeking to raise through the sale, according to the filing. Candy Digital was founded by Galaxy Digital, Gary Vaynerchuk and Fanatics in 2021 during the sports NFT craze and has a partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB). The startup raised $100 million in Series A funding in October of that year at a $1.5 billion valuation.
ZKP hardware startup Ulvetanna raises $15 million
According to media reports, Ulvetanna, a zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) hardware company, has completed a US$15 million seed round of financing at a valuation of US$55 million. Bain Capital Crypto and Paradigm led the investment, and Jump Crypto participated. This round of equity financing closed in June last year. It is reported that Ulvetanna is building hardware designed to accelerate the process of generating ZKP, a cryptographic authentication method that can prove specific information without revealing the content of said information. In the crypto space, this technology has historically been used for scaling solutions for blockchain networks, especially Ethereum.
Web3 gaming platform Intella X announced the completion of US$12 million in financing, with participation from Animoca Brands and others
On January 18, Web3 gaming platform Intella X announced the completion of a $12 million financing round, with participation from Polygon, Animoca Brands, Magic Eden, Planetarium, Big Brain Holdings, Crit Ventures, JoyCity, Pearl Abyss, XL Games, Wemix and Global Coin Research. Intella X is a Web3 gaming platform developed by South Korean gaming company Neowiz in collaboration with Polygon, which aims to eliminate high barriers to entry and improve user experience in Web3 through features such as simplified wallet creation and meta-transactions. The platform will reward contributors to its ecosystem, including game developers and users, with its native tokens, and redistribute its revenue share back to contributors through its decentralized revenue distribution protocol. The platform is scheduled to go live later in the first quarter, and the products launched will also include Intella X's proprietary Web3 wallet, decentralized exchange, NFT market, Launchpad and some games.
Ethereum startup Obol Labs secures $12.5 million in funding
According to media reports, Ethereum startup Obol Labs completed US$12.5 million in financing. This round of financing was jointly led by Pantera and Archetype, aiming to build decentralized validator technology (DVT) on Ethereum. The company believes that this technology can solve Some of the biggest pain points with Ethereum’s new validator class.
Carry1st completed a new round of financing of US$27 million, led by BITKRAFT Ventures
According to news on January 17, Web3 and social game publisher Carry1st completed the latest round of financing of US$27 million, led by BITKRAFT Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), TTV Capital, Alumni Ventures, Lateral Capital, Kepple Ventures and Konvoy. The Cape Town-based mobile games publisher will use the funds to develop, license and publish new games and expand its monetization-as-a-service offering, Pay1st. It was reported in January 2022 that Carry1st completed a US$20 million Series A financing, with a16z leading the investment and Google’s parent company participating.
Cryptocurrency market maker CyberX completes $15 million Series A funding
According to media reports, cryptocurrency market maker Cyber X has completed a $15 million Series A financing round, led by Foresight Ventures. Founder Zack Fan said that the company's valuation has risen to "several hundred million dollars" and that no other investors participated in the deal. "Although other investors were also interested, the company ultimately chose a single investor." The funds will be used to improve its proprietary risk management framework, which monitors on-chain and off-chain data in real time.
Crypto wallet The Easy Company completes $14.2 million in seed round financing
On January 10, the "social" crypto wallet The Easy Company completed a $14.2 million seed round of financing, with participation from Lobby Capital, Relay Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, Tapestry, Upside and Scribble, as well as angel investors from traditional social media and web3. The funds will be used to continue building social products and will also be used to expand blockchain support.
Industrial metaverse company Worlds completes US$21.2 million in Series A financing
According to media reports, industrial metaverse company Worlds completed a $21.2 million Series A financing, led by Moneta Ventures, with participation from Align Capital, Green Park, Golf Ventures, Chevron Technology Ventures, Piva Capital, Perot Jain and Capital Factory. The company changed its name from Hypergiant Sensory Sciences to Worlds, a company that builds digital twins of shop floor operations for industrial companies to improve their productivity or efficiency. The new name will reflect its efforts to market what it calls 4D infrastructure for building industrial metaverses. s hard work. The company said its other customers include Chevron, Petronas and Hillwood Development Company.
Web3 automated code audit platform MetaTrust completes approximately US$10 million in seed round financing
According to news on January 9, Liu Yang, co-founder of MetaTrust, a Web3 automated code audit platform, said in an interview that MetaTrust has completed approximately US$10 million in seed round financing from M23, Redpoint Ventures, ABCDE Capital, Longhash, Hash Global, SNZ, and Yunqi Capital. , GGV, Fellows Fund, Aimtop Ventures and many other venture capital institutions participated in the investment. MetaTrust plans to launch four products in the first quarter of 2023 and will seek its next round of funding once it achieves revenue and profit targets.
Italian exchange Young Platform completes €16 million in financing
According to news on January 4, Italian cryptocurrency trading platform Young Platform announced on the same day that it had received approval from the French Financial Market Authority (Autorité des Marchés Financier) to operate as a digital asset service provider in the country. In addition, Young Platform also disclosed that it had completed a financing of 16 million euros about 6 months ago, with Azimut leading the investment.
Blockchain carbon credit trading platform AirCarbon announces $15 million in financing
According to media reports, blockchain carbon credit trading platform AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) said it completed a US$15 million convertible note, led by Singapore-based TRIREC. The startup offers voluntary carbon credits and the trading of various blockchain-based tokenized carbon assets. Other backers in this pre-Series B round include Thailand’s Banpu Public Company and Mubadala Investment Company PJSC, following Mubadala’s earlier funding round in November. This brings the total funding raised to $25 million, including an investment by Deutsche Börse in March as part of a strategic partnership with Deutsche Börse-owned European Energy Exchange (EEX).
Cryptocurrency investment firm Cypher Capital injects $10 million into TON
According to news on December 29, Cypher Capital, a multi-strategy cryptocurrency investment company based in the United Arab Emirates, has invested US$10 million in Telegram Layer 1 proof-of-stake blockchain continuation project The Open Network (TON) to support its construction of the foundation of the blockchain. facility. Bill Qian, chairman of Cypher Capital and a member of the TON Foundation board of directors, said that the new funds will promote the application of TON in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Turkey and India markets. It is unclear how many Telegram users have tried services on the TON blockchain. According to data provided by tontech, the number of accounts on the TON network has grown steadily and exceeded 1.6 million in December, but the number of active users is unknown.
Galaxy to acquire Bitcoin miner Argo’s Helios facility for $65 million and provide it with a $35 million loan
On December 28, bitcoin mining company Argo Blockchain agreed to sell its Helios mining facility in Texas to Galaxy Digital for $65 million to avoid bankruptcy. At the same time, Argo Blockchain will also receive a $35 million rescue loan from Galaxy Digital, which is secured by the former's mining equipment. As previously reported, on December 13, Argo Blockchain submitted a document to the London Stock Exchange, saying it was in advanced negotiations to sell some of its assets and conduct equipment financing transactions to strengthen its balance sheet and improve liquidity.
SBI and Square Enix will invest more than $50 million in blockchain game developer gumi
On December 23, mobile game developer gumi announced that it had accepted investments from SBI Holdings and Japanese game giant Square Enix Holdings, and would raise 7 billion yen (about 52.79 million U.S. dollars) through a third-party allotment to the two companies on January 11, 2023. Based on voting rights, SBI Holdings' investment ratio in gumi is about 22%, and Square Enix Holdings' investment ratio in gumi is about 3%. The funds raised will be used to develop games that utilize blockchain technology, as well as to invest in companies related to the next-generation Internet Web3 technology. It is reported that gumi is committed to developing a blockchain game that allows users to hold and trade in-game props as NFTs. The company will cooperate with SBI Holdings and Square Enix Holdings in game development and operations.
Decentralized reputation scoring platform Finxeed signs a $10 million strategic investment agreement with DBank
According to news on December 23, the decentralized reputation scoring platform Finxeed announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with DBank Group, and DBank plans to provide it with a strategic investment of US$10 million. Finxeed will use the funds to create a trust network to enhance trust, transparency and security in Web3, especially in the DeFi field. DeBank will also help Finxeed expand its product suite to improve better trusted community building, news and media sources, and on-chain transaction scoring and certification services.
NFT company Utopia Group completes €10 million in financing
According to media reports, NFT company Utopia Group announced the completion of 10 million euros in financing. This round of financing was led by Asterius VC and will provide consulting service support for its first NFT series Utopia Avatars.
