Last week, there were a total of 29 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

According to incomplete statistics from ChainCatcher, from March 29 to April 4, there were a total of 29 public financing events in the blockchain industry, mainly focused on sectors such as DeFi and NFTs. Among them, investment institutions like IOSG Ventures, NGC Ventures, AU21, and LD Capital were the most active.

1. DeFi

1. DeFi lending protocol Liquity completes $6 million Series A financing, led by Pantera Capital

On March 30, DeFi lending protocol Liquity announced the completion of a $6 million Series A financing led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Nima Capital, Alameda Research, IOSG Ventures, AngelDAO, and angel investors Bo Shen and Meltem Demirors. Liquity stated that the funds will be used to improve the on-chain lending protocol, provide zero-interest rates, and minimize DeFi governance.

Liquity was designed by Robert Lauko, a former blockchain researcher at the decentralized computing platform Dfinity, and promises to fully redeem stablecoins. Liquity completed a $2.4 million seed round financing led by Polychain Capital in September 2020, with participation from a_capital, Lemniscap, and 1kx. Liquity will launch on the Ethereum mainnet on April 5.

2. DeFi foreign exchange protocol handle.fi completes seed round financing, with Distributed Global among investors

On March 30, DeFi foreign exchange protocol handle.fi announced the completion of seed round financing, with investors including Distributed Global, Lemniscap, DACM, CMS Holdings, and OneBlock. handle.fi has not disclosed the specific amount of financing.

handle.fi will be built on Ethereum, providing stablecoin trading and exchange services pegged to multiple fiat currencies, initially pegging to the Chinese Yuan, US Dollar, Japanese Yen, Singapore Dollar, and Australian Dollar.

3. Decentralized wallet imToken completes $30 million Series B financing, led by Qiming Venture Partners

On March 31, decentralized wallet imToken announced the completion of a $30 million Series B financing led by Qiming Venture Partners, with participation from Series A investors IDG Capital and new investors Breyer Capital, HashKey, Signum Capital, Longling Investment, SNZ, and Fosun Group co-founder Liang Xinjun.

imToken plans to use the funds to accelerate the development of its next iteration, imToken 3.0, aiming to fundamentally improve user interaction with blockchain services through the implementation of keyless accounts, account recovery, and other features.

4. DeFi lending protocol NAOS Finance completes seed round financing

On March 31, DeFi lending protocol NAOS Finance announced the completion of seed round financing, with participation from Mechanism Capital, The Spartan Group, SNZ, Youbi Capital, Incuba Alpha, and Sora Ventures. NAOS Finance has not disclosed the amount of financing.

NAOS Finance aims to allow off-chain borrowers to access funds through DeFi protocols and provide risk exposure for lenders through KYC and insurance pools, connecting DeFi and off-chain assets. The NAOS team has established a network of over 2,000 SMEs, which can provide more than $250 million in revenue-generating real-world assets.

5. Fixed income DeFi protocol Blockswap Network completes $2.5 million private placement financing

On March 31, fixed income DeFi protocol Blockswap Network announced the completion of $2.5 million in private placement financing, with strategic investors including NGC Ventures, Digital Finance Group (DFG), Wave Financial, Algorand, and other venture capital funds and angel investors. Additionally, Blockswap Network is about to launch its 5-month community mining incentive program, CommunityNet.

Blockswap Network is a DeFi protocol that brings fixed income products to PoS assets, allowing users to earn staking rights through fixed income products.

6. Gro, focusing on the combination of DeFi and CeFi, completes $7.1 million seed round financing, led by Galaxy Digital and Framework

On March 31, DeFi project Gro announced the completion of $7.1 million in seed round financing led by Galaxy Digital and Framework Ventures, with participation from Variant, Northzone, Nascent, a_capital, and 3AC, as well as individual investors including founders of Aave, Compound, and Synthetix.

Gro aims to provide users with opportunities to earn by combining DeFi and CeFi, and will disclose its first product focused on optimizing stablecoin yields in the coming weeks.

7. Element Finance completes $4.4 million financing, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Placeholder

On April 1, fixed-rate lending protocol Element Finance completed $4.4 million in financing, led by Andreessen Horowitz and Placeholder, with participation from SV Angel, a_Capital, Scalar Capital, and individual investors including Compound founder Robert Leshner, Gauntlet founder Tarun Chitra, Aave founder Stani Kulechov, and Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin.

Element Finance allows users to purchase Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USDC at a discount without locking in a fixed term, and users can exchange these assets at any time.

8. Computing power coin 2.0 project BEST completes first round of million-dollar financing

On April 2, computing power coin 2.0 project BEST announced the completion of $1 million in financing, with participation from Infinity Labs, Hotbit Labs, Oasis Capital, 7 O'Clock Foundation, PolkaFund, HappyBlock, Crypto Capital, Onemax Capital, and 7star.capital.

BEST is a new computing power token system jointly created by mining companies such as Weisi Mining and Tunnel Miners, and is the first hybrid computing power Token (BTC + ETH). BEST aims to connect the entire blockchain mining system, establishing a decentralized financial ecosystem that integrates computing power finance, mining lending, mining insurance, and cross-chain ecology, making it a potential project that combines innovative finance with the mining ecosystem in the computing power coin 2.0 track.

9. Decentralized finance lending protocol Greenwood completes $2 million seed round financing, led by Polychain Capital

On April 2, decentralized finance lending protocol Greenwood announced the completion of $2 million in seed round financing, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Blockchain Capital, Robot Ventures, and Divergence Ventures, as well as individual investors including Altonomy co-founder Ricky Li and Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov.

Greenwood has launched the first phase of its V2 protocol, although this version has not yet undergone an audit. Greenwood offers a range of Ethereum-based smart contracts that allow users to borrow crypto assets at the lowest rates from Aave or Compound.

10. Flash loan platform Equalizer completes $27.5 million private placement financing, with LD Capital and NGC Ventures participating

On April 2, flash loan platform Equalizer Finance announced the completion of $27.5 million in private placement financing through the sale of EQZ tokens. The private placement took place from March 1 to March 15, 2021. Investors included LD Capital, NGC Ventures, RareStone Capital, AU21 Capital, VYSYN Capital, and others.

2. NFT

1. Crypto art platform SuperRare completes $9 million Series A financing, led by Velvet Sea and 1confirmation

On March 30, crypto art platform SuperRare completed $9 million in Series A financing, led by Velvet Sea and 1confirmation, with participation from Mark Cuban, Chamath Palihapitiya, and Marc Benioff. SuperRare plans to establish social features and explore the VR field.

2. Dapper Labs completes $305 million financing, led by Coatue, with participation from Jordan

On March 30, the development team behind popular NFT projects like Crypto Kitties and NBA Top Shot, Dapper Labs, completed $305 million in financing, raising its post-money valuation to $2.6 billion. This round was led by multinational investment fund Coatue, with other investors including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), The Chernin Group, Union Square Ventures, Venrock, and well-known athletes like Michael Jordan and Vivek Ranadive, owner of the Sacramento Kings, along with over 30 professional athletes including Kevin Durant.

Dapper Labs' game development studio brought CryptoKitties to the blockchain, which once caused congestion on the entire Ethereum network.

3. NFT brand experience company Recur completes $5 million seed round financing, led by DeFi Alliance

On March 31, NFT brand experience company Recur announced the completion of $5 million in seed round financing, led by DeFi Alliance, with participation from IOSG Ventures, Nascent, CMT Digital, Hashed, and individual investors including Gary Vaynerchuk, ConsenSys founder Joseph Lubin, and Behance founder Scott Belsky.

Recur sets the standard for decentralized continuous copyright revenue, with Recur assets currently on the Ethereum network but will gradually expand to other public chains, allowing trading of corresponding brand NFTs on its platform.

4. Enjin completes $18.9 million private placement financing, plans to establish Polkadot-based NFT blockchain Efinity

On March 31, blockchain game development platform Enjin completed $18.9 million in private placement financing to establish the Polkadot-based NFT blockchain Efinity network and ecosystem. This round was led by Crypto.com Capital, DFG Group, and Hashed, with participation from BlockTower, Blockchain.com Ventures, Hypersphere, LD Capital, HashKey Capital, GBV Capital, and others.

Enjin is suitable for Minecraft servers, clans, and gamers. It uses the most popular website builders and donation plugin systems for Minecraft servers to provide funding and development for the Minecraft community. It supports games like World of Warcraft: Legion and Star Citizen. Enjin hosts over 300,000 gaming communities, helping you reach over 19 million players.

5. NBA Top Shot data site Evaluate.market completes $1.6 million financing

On April 1, the NFT project NBA Top Shot data analysis site Evaluate.market completed $1.6 million in financing, with participation from Castle Island Ventures, Notation Capital, DraftKings' Drive, and Christian Dittmeier.

Evaluate.market was established in February this year as an NFT value calculator, allowing users to add price tags to their NFTs. Currently, Evaluate.market is expanding its team.

3. Others

1. Digital asset custody company Hex Trust completes $6 million Series A financing, led by QBN Capital

On March 30, digital asset custody company Hex Trust completed $6 million in Series A financing led by QBN Capital, with participation from Cell Rising, Radiant Tech Ventures, Kenetic Capital, HashKey, MD Labs, Distributed Capital, Borderless Capital, Genesis Block Ventures, and Henri Arslanian.

Hex Trust stated that the financing will be used to hire key technical talent in Hong Kong and Singapore to meet the growing demand for digital assets from Asian institutions, and will also improve its institutional-grade custody platform Hex Safe.

2. Moonbeam developer PureStake completes $6 million financing, led by CoinFund

On March 30, PureStake, the company developing the Moonbeam smart contract platform, announced the completion of $6 million in strategic financing led by blockchain investment firm CoinFund, with participation from IOSG Ventures, Binance Labs, ParaFi, Coinbase Ventures, and all previous seed round investors. The funds will be used to seek developer resources, build other integrations and developer tools, conduct third-party security audits, and expand into the Asian market, preparing the team for the successful launch of the Moonbeam network in 2021.

Moonbeam is an Ethereum-compatible Polkadot parachain, which completed its seed round in September 2020 and launched its testnet. PureStake provides protocol landing services and builds developer tools for blockchain networks.

3. Layer 2 DAO infrastructure protocol Metis completes $3 million Series A financing

On March 30, Layer 2 DAO infrastructure protocol Metis announced the completion of $3 million in Series A financing, with major investors including Block Dream Fund, Genblock Capital, Cryptomeria Capital, ConsensusLab, PARSIQ, YBB Foundation, Flurry Capital, Chronos Ventures, Gate.io, 7 O'Clock Foundation, and BMW Capital.

At the same time, Metis announced the launch of its own Layer 2 protocol framework, Metis Rollup, to support the construction of Web 3 economies. Compared to Optimistic Rollup, Metis Rollup is more scalable and decentralized, with shorter validation periods, supports integration with IPFS to protect privacy data, and supports microservice frameworks for rapid application development. Metis has built the DAO framework into the Layer 2 protocol, facilitating the rapid deployment, launch, and management of various decentralized innovative applications by applications and communities.

4. Polkadot ecosystem project Cere Network completes $5 million financing

On March 30, Cere Network, a decentralized data cloud and SaaS DeFi platform built on Polkadot, completed $5 million in financing to create a decentralized data cloud platform. This round of financing was led by Republic, with other investors including Woodstork, JRR, LedgerPrime, G1 Ventures, ZB, and gate.io.

Cere Network is the first decentralized data cloud platform built on Polkadot, optimized for service data integration and data collaboration. Previously, the project focused on the CRM ecosystem platform.

5. Blockchain.com completes $300 million Series C financing

On March 30, the team at cryptocurrency wallet and exchange company Blockchain.com reported that the company has completed Series C financing, raising $300 million at a post-money valuation of $5.2 billion. This financing was led by partners from DST Global, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and VY Capital, with participation from existing investors and leading investors from around the world.

6. Crypto social investment platform Kikitrade completes $8 million Series A financing

On March 31, crypto social investment platform Kikitrade announced the completion of $8 million in Series A financing, led by blockchain venture capital fund Dragonfly Capital, Xin Yuan Capital, and blockchain gaming company Animoca Brands, which will also join the Kikitrade board. Other investors include Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, Singapore venture capital fund Vulpes and Super Chain Capital, Australian venture capital fund Artesian Venture, United Financial, SNZ, and Hong Kong financial writer Muddy Waters. Kikitrade will use the funds to expand into markets in Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Australia, gradually promoting the adoption of cryptocurrency in the Asia-Pacific region.

Kikitrade is a crypto social investment platform incubated by the Asia Blockchain Group Everest Ventures Group (EVG) in March 2020.

7. Non-custodial crypto investment app Ember Fund completes $5.3 million seed round financing

On March 31, non-custodial crypto investment app provider Ember Fund completed $5.3 million in seed round financing, led by Richard Jun, co-founder of Bam Ventures, with participation from Anthos Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, and Calm Ventures. Ember Fund plans to invest the funds into its infrastructure, aiming to reach $1 billion in assets under management by the end of the year. Currently, Ember Fund's assets under management are approximately $100 million.

Ember was launched in 2019, allowing users to invest in cryptocurrency portfolios. Ember Fund plans to conduct a token issuance through a crowdfunding campaign registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the coming months. The Ember app was launched in 2019, allowing users to invest in cryptocurrency portfolios.

8. Cryptocurrency broker OVEX completes $4 million financing, led by Alameda Research

On March 31, South African cryptocurrency broker OVEX completed $4 million in financing, led by Alameda Research. OVEX CEO Jonathan Ovadia stated that OVEX is seeking more strategic investors, preparing to raise $14 million in funding.

OVEX was founded in 2017, primarily serving high-net-worth individuals and institutional clients, while also offering other services including crypto trading and crypto interest accounts.

9. Polkadot ecosystem cross-chain privacy middleware protocol Raze Network announces completion of private placement financing

On March 31, Polkadot ecosystem cross-chain privacy middleware protocol Raze Network announced the completion of private placement financing, with a specific amount of $1.7 million, with participation from OKex Block Dream Fund, Tenzor Capital, Arpa Labs, X21 Digital, Kyros Ventures, and others. Additionally, seed round investors AU21 Capital, Signum Capital, Master Ventures, and Spark Digital Capital increased their investments in this round. The Ethereum version of the Raze Network project is currently undergoing a CertiK security audit.

Raze Network aims to provide privacy protection for DeFi, offering technical solutions for transaction protection and user information anonymization. Raze Network is a cross-chain privacy protocol based on the Substrate framework, designed to maintain cross-chain audit transparency while providing end-to-end privacy protection services for the DeFi sector through zero-knowledge proof technology.

10. Bitcoin mining company Blockcap completes $38 million financing, led by Foundry under DCG

On April 1, American Bitcoin mining company Blockcap completed $38 million in financing, led by Off the Chain Capital and Foundry, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Digital Currency Group (DCG). This financing brings Blockcap's total funding to $75 million. Blockcap has purchased 42,000 ASIC miners to date, of which 12,000 are already in use. The company plans to bring another 18,000 miners online before the fourth quarter, bringing its total hash rate to 3.5 EH/s.

11. Multi-chain network Octopus Network completes $3 million seed round financing

On April 2, multi-chain network Octopus Network announced the completion of $3 million in seed round financing, with investment institutions including D1 Ventures, OKEx Block Dream Fund, Spark Digital, ChainX, Stafi, and NGC Ventures. Prior to this, Octopus Network had received a $1 million strategic investment from the NEAR Protocol Foundation.

Octopus Network provides flexible on-demand shared security for application chains, out-of-the-box cross-chain interoperability, and infrastructure services including block explorers, API access, and Indexers.

12. Social investment platform Zignaly completes $3 million private placement financing, will launch NFT-based insurance protocol

On April 2, social investment platform Zignaly announced the completion of $3 million in private placement financing, led by Parataxis Capital, with other investors including OKEx's Block Dream Fund, AscendEX (formerly BitMax), Sino Global Capital, LD Capital, AU21 Capital, DAOMaker, and GDA Capital.

Zignaly is a social investment platform that facilitates profit sharing between professional traders and users. The funds will be used to launch an NFT-based insurance protocol supported by the token Zigcoin (ZIG). The working mechanism of the insurance protocol is that users invest funds with professional traders, and if the monthly returns generated by the trader fall below the guaranteed percentage, the insurance coverage will be triggered to compensate for the difference.

13. Hedge fund competition platform Numerai raises $5 million through NMR token sale, led by Pantera

On April 3, Numerai (NMR) founder Richard Craib tweeted that Pantera Capital led a $5 million financing for NMR. Additionally, the amount of NMR staked has reached a historical high of 312,928 tokens, valued at over $17 million.

In March 2019, Numerai announced it had raised $11 million through the sale of its NMR tokens, led by blockchain investment funds Placeholder and Paradigm. In June 2020, Numerai completed $3 million in financing, with participation from Union Square Ventures, Placeholder, CoinFund, and Dragonfly Capital.

14. Privacy protection project Suterusu receives strategic investment from Fundamental Labs, assisting its Layer 2 privacy payment network expansion

On April 5, privacy protection project Suterusu announced it received strategic financing from Fundamental Labs, which will assist Suterusu in expanding its Layer 2 privacy payment network to more public chains and ecosystems.

Suterusu is a privacy protection project, claiming advantages including its original zero-knowledge proof protocol ZK-conSNARK, which is safer without "trusted setup," optimizes ZKP size, and proves faster, supporting smart contracts, and is deployed on both Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and Ethereum. Fundamental Labs is a global blockchain investment institution that adheres to long-termism and fundamental research-driven investment, focusing on blockchain foundational innovation projects that can reshape society and the economy. The fund manages over $1 billion and has invested in projects including Coinbase, Conflux, Polkadot, Vechain, Near, and Mask Network.