Last week, there were a total of 36 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

According to incomplete statistics from ChainCatcher, between March 22 and March 28, there were a total of 36 public financing events in the blockchain industry, mainly focused on sectors such as DeFi and NFTs. Among them, investment institutions like AU21, LD Capital, NGC Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures were the most active, with AU21 participating 7 times.

1. DeFi

1. Multi-chain privacy payment protocol Exploit Network completes $1.5 million seed round financing

On March 23, multi-chain privacy payment protocol Exploit Network announced that it recently completed a $1.5 million seed round financing, with participation from 7 institutions and listed companies, including BlockCapital and HashFund. The team stated that they will use the funds to hire more technical engineers to realize the use cases of Web 3.0 multi-chain interoperability.

2. Decentralized wallet XDEFI Wallet completes $1.2 million seed round financing, led by Mechanical Capital

On March 25, decentralized wallet XDEFI Wallet announced the completion of a $1.2 million seed round investment led by Mechanical Capital, with participation from Delphi Ventures, Morningstar Ventures, Alameda Research, ShapeShift CEO Erik Voorhees, Zapper co-founder Sebastien Audet, Suhail Gangji, and Aave integration lead Marc Zeller.

XDEFI is an extension of a decentralized wallet that allows users to easily access a decentralized future through a web browser. Users can receive, send, and store digital assets; connect to any blockchain application; seamlessly swap between protocols; and access DeFi localized features.

3. Yield tokenization protocol APWine completes $1 million seed round financing, with participation from Spartan Group and others

On March 25, yield tokenization protocol APWine announced the completion of $1 million in seed round financing, with investors including Delphi Ventures, The Spartan Group, DeFi Alliance, Rarestone Capital, and several other investment institutions, project parties, and individual investors. APWine officially stated that it allocated 3 million APW tokens (6% of the total supply) to seed round investors at a price of $0.3333 per token, to be released linearly over two years. Additionally, APWine is about to undergo an audit and release a Post-Beta version, and will subsequently launch a liquidity mining program.

APWine is a protocol for yield tokenization, allowing speculation on APY changes for unrealized yields. Users can tokenize and sell future yield rights by staking yield-bearing tokens from Aave or Yearn (such as aDAI, yUSD, etc.).

4. On-chain options protocol Charm Finance completes seed round financing, led by Divergence Ventures

On March 25, on-chain options protocol Charm Finance announced its seed round financing, with the amount undisclosed, led by Divergence Ventures, with participation from DeFiance Capital and Delphi Ventures. The team stated that previously, the Charm platform achieved a trading volume of $3.8 million with $580,000 in liquidity, and plans to launch the Charm governance token in the future.

Charm Finance creates liquidity for decentralized options using a distinctly different design approach, employing simple yet profound mathematical models commonly found in prediction markets, applied to DeFi options products.

5. Prediction market Zeitgeist completes $1.5 million seed round financing, with participation from D1 Ventures and others

On March 25, the prediction market Zeitgeist based on the Polkadot ecosystem completed $1.5 million in seed round financing, with participation from D1 Ventures, Genblock Capital, AU21 Capital, co-founders of Digital Renaissance, and individuals from the Web3 Foundation.

Zeitgeist is a blockchain for prediction markets and the future world, creating, trading, and resolving cross-chain protocols for prediction markets, as well as governance mechanisms and arbitration systems for overseeing the network.

6. Aggregation protocol OpenOcean.Finance completes new round of financing, with follow-on investment from Altonomy and LD Capital

On March 26, aggregation protocol OpenOcean.Finance officially announced that it has completed a financial round of financing, with specific amounts not disclosed. Altonomy and LD Capital followed up after the strategic round, with participation from investment institutions such as AU21, FBG, TRON Foundation, DAO Maker, Asymmetries Technologies, LIAN Group, and partners from Republic.co.

OpenOcean.Finance aims to bridge the decentralized and centralized exchange ecosystems through aggregation, becoming a one-stop trading entry for users. It currently aggregates mainstream DEXs (decentralized exchanges) and centralized exchanges like Binance on major public chains such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, Ontology, and Tron, using smart order book routing and a deeply optimized smart path algorithm to help users trade at optimal prices with low slippage.

2. NFT

1. NFT auction protocol TopBidder completes $1.2 million seed round financing, led by NGC Ventures

On March 22, the NFT auction protocol TopBidder Protocol based on radical market theory completed $1.2 million in seed round financing, led by NGC Ventures, with participation from several NFT community KOLs. The team stated that the project has been fully developed and is currently in the public testing phase, with an official launch expected in early April.

TopBidder is a radical auction protocol for crypto NFT assets, especially for crypto artworks and digital collectibles. Bidders can earn ETH in auctions and receive governance tokens BID.

2. Decentralized exchange protocol KingSwap, integrated with NFT auctions, completes $5 million financing, led by MNS Capital

On March 22, DeFi protocol KingSwap announced the completion of $5 million in strategic financing, led by MNS Capital, with follow-on investments from Ark Capital, Oaktree Capital, S.U Fund, Xianlu Capital, Longyue Capital, and others.

KingSwap provides a multi-chain on-chain asset smart flash exchange decentralized solution, allowing individuals and institutions to easily execute smart contract-based flash exchange protocols on OKExChain and Ethereum. KingSwap will also provide essential underlying infrastructure for NFTs, supporting NFT auctions, trading, copyright transfers, and empowering high-quality NFT projects comprehensively. Additionally, KingSwap will launch an innovative IFO feature in version 2 to promote the rapid development of the OKExChain decentralized ecosystem.

3. On-chain sports and gaming platform Rage.Fan completes $1.6 million private placement financing

On March 23, on-chain sports and gaming platform Rage.Fan completed $1.6 million in private placement financing, with investors including Genesis Block Ventures Capital, X21 Digital, AU21 Capital, Spark Digital, and Vendetta Capital. Rage.Fan will use this round of financing to launch the world's first sports oracle and Geo uNFT, enhancing sports enthusiasts' engagement on the platform.

4. Sports card market Dibbs secures $2.8 million seed round financing, led by Courtside Ventures

On March 23, the application Dibbs, which allows users to trade partial rights to sports cards in real-time, announced it has secured $2.8 million in seed round financing, led by Courtside Ventures, with other investors including Founder Collective, JDS Sports, and sports card investors, as well as former NBA player Channing Frye, WHOOP founder Will Ahmed, and Flatiron Health co-founder Nat Turner.

Dibbs was founded last September and is currently in the testing phase, with about 4,500 users registered and another 35,000 users waiting to register, planning to officially launch next month. The funding will help the startup expand overseas, including deeper incursions into sports such as soccer, tennis, and golf, and explore physical cards, pure digital cards, and hybrids of both.

5. NFT platform Polkamon completes $740,000 strategic round financing, with participation from Carnival Ventures, Moonrock Capital, and others

On March 24, NFT platform Polkamon completed $740,000 in strategic round financing, led by Moonrock Capital and Morningstar Ventures, with other investors including Ascensive Assets, Divergence Ventures, Carnival Ventures, and DFG.

Polkamon is an animated digital NFT collection platform, where each Polkamon is an independent and authentic NFT. Additionally, the Polkamon NFT series can be integrated into other games, artworks, and blockchain-related products.

6. NFT social media platform Nifty's completes pre-seed round financing, with participation from Mark Cuban, Joseph Lubin, and others

On March 24, Nifty's, a social media platform focused on NFTs co-founded by former NBA new media distribution senior vice president Jeff Marsilio, announced the completion of pre-seed round financing, with investors including Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, ConsenSys CEO and founder Joseph Lubin, DeFi whale 0xb1, and institutional investors Draper Drago, Future Positive, among others. Future Positive was founded by Fred Blackford and Twitter and Medium co-founder Biz Stone. Currently, Nifty's has not disclosed the financing scale.

Nifty Gateway aims to introduce NFTs to the world, helping one billion people collect and engage with NFTs. It was co-founded by Duncan Cock Foster and Griffin Cock Foster, who are passionate about NFTs and wish to introduce them to the world.

7. Genesis Shards, focused on the NFT 1.5 market, raises $2.7 million, with participation from LD Capital, Spark Digital Capital, and others

On March 24, the decentralized ecosystem Genesis Shards based on Polkadot raised $2.7 million, with investors including 3Commas, Block Dream Fund under OKEx, LD Capital, Spark Digital Capital, and AU21 Capital. Individual investors such as ParaFi Capital partner Santiago Roel Santos also participated.

Genesis Shards focuses on projects in the NFT 1.5 market, aiming to solve the liquidity issues of NFTs pre-IDO. It is said that this round of financing will transform NFTs into liquidity tools for Pre-IDO tokens and cross-chain DeFi product suites.

8. NFT trading platform WHALE completes $1.5 million private round financing, led by Galaxy Interactive

On March 25, WHALE announced the completion of $1.5 million in private round financing, led by Galaxy Interactive, with participation from Metapurse, HashKey, D1 Ventures, and SevenX Ventures. It is understood that the WHALE tokens sold in this round and future token financing are donated by WhaleShark to the community, accounting for 10% of the total token supply, and these funds will be fully used to support the WHALE community and the WHALE treasury.

WHALE was founded by one of the largest individual buyers of NFTs in the crypto asset market, WhaleShark. The WHALE token has the following functions: specifically purchasing NFTs from WHALE partners (such as artists, games, collectibles, etc.); specifically renting on-chain properties or artworks from the "treasury" portfolio; WHALE can be used to pay for WhaleShark's business consulting and other services at a rate of 1 WHALE per minute; used to submit proposals or vote in the WHALE DAO; the founders of the WHALE token also consider adding other functional mechanisms in the future, planning to use all "treasury" asset sales revenue or rent to purchase more NFTs, thereby adding value to the "treasury."

9. NFT brand experience company RECUR secures $5 million seed round financing, led by DeFi Alliance

On March 27, NFT brand experience company RECUR announced it has secured $5 million in seed round financing, led by DeFi Alliance, with other investors and institutions including Gary Vaynerchuk, Courtside VC, Joseph Lubin (institution not disclosed), Gemini (Tyler Cameron Winklevoss), and others.

RECUR is a new technology company specializing in designing and developing on-chain brand experiences, allowing fans to purchase, collect, and resell digital products and collectibles (NFTs), with the first branded NFT fan experience project set to launch this summer. It is reported that RECUR was co-founded by industry veterans Zach Bruch and Trevor George, a pioneer in the digital licensing industry.

3. Others

1. Ethereum Layer 2 network Connext raises $2.2 million, expected to launch the entire network within six months

On March 22, Ethereum Layer 2 network Connext raised $2.2 million in seed funding, led by Polychain Capital, with 1kx and Huobi Capital also participating in the investment. Founder Arjun Bhuptani stated that with the new funds, Connext hopes to expand the liquidity of the early network and grow its team to launch the entire network.

Connext is a second-layer scaling platform that helps Ethereum projects achieve millions of users in blockchain applications, providing users with fast transactions.

2. Cryptocurrency portfolio management platform CoinStats completes $1.2 million financing

On March 22, cryptocurrency portfolio management platform CoinStats completed $1.2 million in financing, with participation from Imperii Capital, Stefan Cohen, Jonathan Weiner, and other private investors.

CoinStats provides cryptocurrency market data from 300 exchanges and supports over 8,000 digital assets.

3. Japanese exchange DeCurret raises over $60 million, with investors including NTT, SBI Holdings, and others

On March 23, Japanese cryptocurrency exchange DeCurret raised 6.7 billion yen (approximately $61.61 million) through third-party capital increases, with 10 companies participating in the capital increase through DeCurret's third-party placement. In addition to existing shareholders IIJ, KDDI, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mitsubishi UFJ Bank, and ALSOK, the other five new companies investing are NTT, Japan Post Bank, SBI Holdings, Mitsubishi Corporation, and SECOM.

The funds will be used for the comprehensive development of the digital currency platform.

4. Decentralized cloud storage aggregator ColdStack completes $600,000 financing, with participation from AU21 and others

On March 24, decentralized cloud storage aggregator ColdStack completed its first round of $600,000 financing, with participation from Genesis Block Ventures, Spark Digital Capital, Black Edge Capital, AU21, X21 Digital, and others. ColdStack stated that after completing this round of financing, its current focus is on ColdStack's public offering and launching the CLS token.

ColdStack aims to provide decentralized cloud storage capabilities to any project within and outside the crypto community in the most affordable, simple, and fast manner.

5. Blockchain.com completes $300 million financing, led by DST Global and others

On March 24, cryptocurrency exchange and wallet provider Blockchain.com completed $300 million in financing, led by DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and VY Capital, bringing the company's valuation to $5.2 billion. Previously, in February, Blockchain.com announced it had completed $120 million in strategic financing, with investors including Moore Strategic Ventures (Louis Bacon), Kyle Bass, Access Industries, and Rovida Advisors.

Blockchain is the world's most popular Bitcoin wallet, simple and secure. It allows for quick transactions without expensive intermediaries while providing developers with tools and real-time trading data to help users analyze the emerging digital economy.

6. Bitcoin rewards app Lolli raises $5 million, with participation from Seven Seven Six and others

On March 24, Bitcoin rewards app Lolli recently announced the completion of $5 million in Pre-A round financing, with investors including the venture capital firm Seven Seven Six co-founded by Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian, tennis star Serena Williams (wife of Alexis Ohanian), Night Media, and influencers like Casey Neistat and Phil DeFranco. The funds will be used to develop the Lolli mobile application and for international expansion.

Lolli is a Bitcoin rewards platform that has partnered with various brands, allowing consumers to earn Bitcoin by purchasing products and services from partner brands. Lolli has raised $5.25 million in its previous two rounds of financing, bringing the total financing amount to $10.25 million to date.

7. Blockchain data provider Covalent raises $2 million, led by Hashed Ventures

On March 24, blockchain data provider Covalent raised $2 million in strategic financing. Covalent founder Ganesh Swami stated that this is a token financing. Hashed Ventures led the round, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, Delphi Ventures, and others.

Covalent is dedicated to solving the significant infrastructure issues that hinder blockchain adoption. They provide a unified API that brings complete transparency and visibility to assets across all blockchain networks. Their solution connects the world of databases with distributed blockchain technology. Its first version was built during a hackathon in the fall of 2017.

8. Zero-knowledge proof research institution Starkware announces $75 million financing, led by Paradigm

On March 25, zero-knowledge proof research institution Starkware announced that it has completed $75 million in financing, led by Paradigm, with participation from Sequoia, Founders Fund, Pantera, Three Arrows, and Alameda Research. In 2018, StarkWare completed two rounds of financing of $6 million and $30 million, respectively. Thus far, Starkware has raised a total of $111 million.

StarkWare's product line under development includes the Layer 2 scaling solution ZK Rollup "StarkNet," which has completed its foundational build (Phase 0), including the Turing-complete framework Cairo, STARK software stack, and Layer 2 scaling engine StarkEx, with Phase 1 expected to be deployed in the coming months; StarkWare has also proposed a solution called DeFi Pooling, which significantly reduces gas fee costs for participating in DeFi operations.

9. Web3 technology infrastructure project Saito completes $2 million strategic financing, led by DFG and others

On March 25, Web3 technology infrastructure project Saito announced the completion of $2 million in financing, led by DFG, Candaq, Spark Digital, and Block Dream Fund, with participation from dozens of investment institutions including In Blockchain, NGC, AU21, Master Ventures, Momtemum 6, and BlockSync.

Saito aims to allow DApps to run on an open network layer without closed plugins, private APIs, or in open infrastructure, while providing funding for nodes that provide routing and user infrastructure in Saito and other public chains.

10. No-code blockchain automation and data platform Esprezzo announces $2 million financing, with participation from Mark Cuban and others

On March 25, no-code blockchain automation and data platform Esprezzo announced $2 million in oversubscribed investment, with participation from Mark Cuban, Arrington Capital, CMS Holdings, LongHash, Youbi, TBD Angels, Zag Capital, and others. Esprezzo is developing a suite of products, including Dispatch, a no-code automation platform, and various blockchain smart tools.

The Esprezzo platform can integrate data from multiple blockchains, smart contracts, legacy databases, Oracles, and other information sources, consolidating it into a unified API to provide everything needed to build the next generation of web applications.

11. Hord, a crypto portfolio tracking tool, completes $1 million seed round financing, led by LD Capital and DAO Maker

On March 25, Hord announced the completion of $1 million in seed round financing, led by LD Capital and DAO Maker, with participation from Bella, Gate.io, AU21, and others.

Hord Fund is a data protocol that allows market leaders to broadcast their portfolio holdings; provides smart contracts that use the broadcasted data to seamlessly reflect real-time portfolio changes of market leaders; creates liquidity for the entire portfolio by tokenizing them; the protocol aims to facilitate the most common social games in crypto. The Hord App is used to track crypto portfolios.

12. Crypto data provider Lukka completes $53 million Series D financing, with participation from Soros Fund

On March 25, the fund founded by billionaire investor George Soros invested $53 million in Lukka's Series D financing. According to the company, Lukka's valuation is approximately $200 million, with S&P Global and CPA.com also participating in this round of investment.

Founded in 2014, Lukka aims to convert crypto asset data into auditable information to automate accounting, auditing, and tax processes, targeting funds, fund managers, OTC trading firms, proprietary trading firms, exchanges, miners, accounting firms, and more.

13. Digital anti-fraud solution Sardine completes $4.6 million seed round financing

On March 25, digital anti-fraud solution Sardine announced the completion of $4.6 million in seed round financing, led by XYZ Ventures, with other investment institutions including 11.2 Capital, Village Global, and Coinbase Ventures, as well as 25 angel investors, including former WealthFront CEO and president Adam Nash, Greylock partner John Lilly, former Coinbase vice president Dan Romero, Scalar Capital co-founder and managing director Linda Xie, and others.

Sardine launched the first fraud prevention as a service (FaaS) targeting digital enterprises, aiming to detect all types of financial crimes, from identity fraud during account opening to payment fraud during account funding. Previously, the company was incubated as part of Sweat Equity Ventures. Sardine co-founder and CEO Soups Ranjan previously worked at Coinbase.

14. CasperLabs Option3 sells out within 20 minutes after launch, raising $12 million

On March 26, CasperLabs Option3 sold out within 20 minutes after launch, raising a total of $12 million. According to previous reports, when Option1 sales began on March 23, there were already over 230,000 independent registered accounts on CoinList. In the Option1 phase, 800 million CSPR tokens sold out in 2.5 hours, raising $12 million; Option2 sold 400 million CSPR tokens, raising $8 million. Additionally, the Casper team is working with CoinList to explore providing additional participation opportunities for the community. Details are currently being formulated, and specific information about the "Option4" plan will be announced soon.

CasperLabs aims to provide the highly anticipated Casper protocol upgrade, focusing on achieving this upgrade as quickly as possible, providing a more focused new platform for Vlad Zamfir, who leads the CBC project on Ethereum. The network relies on PoS rather than computational power to achieve consensus and address scalability issues.

15. Crypto bank Avanti completes $37 million Series A financing, with participation from Binance US, Coinbase, and others

On March 26, crypto bank Avanti completed $37 million in Series A financing. Major participants in this round include Coinbase Ventures, Binance US, Morgan Creek Digital, Madison Paige Ventures, AP Capital, and Susquehanna Private Equity Investments, with the University of Wyoming (UW), which previously led angel investments, still participating.

Avanti has applied for a banking charter under Wyoming's special purpose depository institution (SPDI) law and may operate under the name Avanti Bank & Trust. Avanti aims to become a compliant bridge for the U.S. dollar payment system and a custodian for digital assets, meeting the strictest institutional regulatory standards.

16. Ethereum push notification service EPNS completes $660,000 seed extension round financing, valued at $12 million

On March 26, Ethereum push notification service EPNS announced the completion of $660,000 in seed extension round financing, valued at $12 million, with oversubscription of 10 times. Participants include True Ventures, Binance Labs, Mysterio, IOSG, Bixin, Bitscale, LD Capital, as well as individual investors such as Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and Aave institutional business head Ajit Tripathi. This round of private financing was conducted based on the SAFT token agreement, selling 5.5% of the yet-to-be-released governance token PUSH to these investors in advance.

EPNS is a decentralized DeFi protocol for sending notifications, allowing any user to send notifications on Ethereum unrelated to the platform, which can be received on mobile devices, Chrome, and elsewhere.

17. Jiahua Blockchain secures 40 million RMB investment from Guoxiong Capital Limited

On March 26, "Jiahua Blockchain" secured 40 million RMB in Series A financing, with the investor being Guoxiong Capital Limited. Jiahua Blockchain is a platform for training blockchain professionals and communication psychology projects, currently having a total registered user base of 600,000, with over 30,000 daily active users.

18. Decentralized API indexing protocol The APIS completes $3.5 million private round financing

On March 26, decentralized API indexing protocol The APIS announced the completion of $3.5 million in private round financing, led by Insignius Capital, BlackDragon, Exnetwork Capital, Martix pool, CSP DAO, and Master Ventures, with participation from Fairum Ventures and KOLs such as Jagga, Moneykingg, and Crypto Now, totaling 27 investors and overseas KOLs participating in this round of financing. The private round sold approximately 7 million API tokens, which will have a 1-year linear unlocking period after being listed on exchanges, with the 7 million API tokens sold in the private round accounting for 7% of the total supply of 100 million tokens.

The APIS is an indexing protocol for open networks used for querying and writing, helping users easily and instantly access multi-blockchain data and build decentralized applications, making on-chain APIs open and accessible, providing convenient and practical infrastructure and scaling tools for a decentralized world.

19. Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis announces $100 million raised at a valuation of over $2 billion

On March 26, blockchain analysis company Chainalysis announced that it has completed $100 million in Series D financing, doubling its valuation to over $2 billion. This round was led by investment firm Paradigm, with existing supporters Addition, Ribbit, and TIME Ventures participating.

Founded in 2014, Chainalysis primarily provides Bitcoin transaction analysis software for cryptocurrency exchanges, international law enforcement agencies, and other clients, helping users comply with regulatory requirements, assess risks, and identify illegal activities, aiming to become a bridge between digital currencies and traditional banks. Notably, the company assisted in the investigation of the Mt. Gox bankruptcy case.

20. Web3 personal token platform Meta Network completes $2 million new round of financing

On March 28, Web3 personal token platform Meta Network announced that it has officially completed a new round of $2 million financing recently, with participating institutions and individuals including NGC Ventures, Cyberight Capital, OG Labs, YFII community developer Gao Jin, MCDEX founder Liu Jie, dForce founder Mindao, Binance Research analyst Calvin Chu, Orange Book editor Li Yang, 499 DAOs, OG Labs, and Primitive Crypto partner Dovey Wan. Additionally, previous investor Tony Tao continued to increase his investment.

Meta Network (formerly known as Matataki) is a protocol that helps creators create personal tokens, allowing third-party developers to build various application scenarios based on personal tokens provided by Meta Network's SDK.

21. Personal finance app Ziglu completes £6.1 million seed round financing

On March 29, personal finance app Ziglu completed £6.1 million in seed round financing, raising approximately £900,000 through the Angel Investment Network. Ziglu provides secure and easy access to cryptocurrency channels by integrating GBP accounts and Mastercard debit cards.