Last week, there were a total of 21 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, a significant decline in number | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

Organizer: Richard Lee

According to incomplete statistics from Chain Catcher, from December 13, 2021, to January 2, 2022, there were a total of 21 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry. The total number of financing events has decreased, with the chain game/metaverse track leading with 9 events. On December 28, the one-stop DeFi wallet DeBank completed a $25 million equity financing led by Sequoia China at a valuation of $200 million, with participation from institutions such as Coinbase Venture, Crypto.com, and Circle, making it the largest financing project of the week.

1. Chain Games/Metaverse

1. Parallel World Game BetaMars Completes $2.5 Million Seed Round Financing, Invested by Pluto Capital

On December 27, the metaverse game BetaMars announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round investment, primarily invested by Singapore blockchain venture capital firm Pluto Capital.

BetaMars is a metaverse game themed around "Mars colonization," aiming to establish a highly decentralized, open, and free parallel world. The project has several phases. In BetaMars 1.0, players will be divided into lords and miners, both participating in the construction of a basic world based on land and resources. In later versions 2.0 and beyond, players will explore the civilizations that created the BetaMars world.

Pluto Capital has raised a $30 million cryptocurrency fund to invest in seed funding and incubation for early blockchain projects. Its core team members come from well-known financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs and SoftBank. It has invested in several current industry giants in their early stages, including Binance, Bitmain, Polkadot, Bybit, and more. (Source link)

2. BSC Virtual Land Game Ertha Metaverse Raises $5.4 Million, with Participation from LD Capital and Others

On December 27, the metaverse land game Ertha Metaverse announced that it has raised $5.4 million, with major investors including LD Capital, Polygon Syndicate, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, Shima Capital, GD10, Genblock Capital, Dialectic Momentum 6, X21, Terranova, AU21, Zen Capital, and others.

It is understood that Ertha Metaverse is currently the most famous metaverse and Play-to-Earn project on the BSC blockchain, where players can establish governments, finance, alliances, etc., by purchasing land in the game. Each plot can collect taxes, fees, and other forms of income from transactions that occur. (Source link)

3. Metaverse Platform Ready Player Me Completes $13 Million Financing, Led by Taavet+Sten

On December 28, the metaverse platform Ready Player Me completed $13 million in financing, led by Taavet+Sten, with participation from GitHub co-founder Tom Preston-Werner, Konvoy Ventures, Samsung Next Ventures, and Tiny VC.

Ready Player Me aims to allow users to establish virtual identities in the metaverse through virtual products such as NFTs. Currently, over 1,000 project parties are using its products on the platform. Media group Warner Bros, fashion company Dior, and sportswear brand New Balance are all collaborating with Ready Player Me to integrate into the metaverse in the future. (Source link)

4. GameFi Platform GoFungibles Completes $4 Million Private Placement Financing, Led by Moonrock Capital and AU21

On December 28, according to AMBCrypto, the Polygon-based GameFi platform GoFungibles announced the completion of $4 million in private placement financing, led by Moonrock Capital, AU21, Genblock Capital, X21, and Oddiyana Ventures, with participation from Magnus Capital, Icetea Labs, InnMind, Metrix Capital, Ellipti, Oddiyana Ventures, ZBS Capital, AC Capital, Asteroid Capital, IBC Group, and BitCreed Capital.

GoFungibles aims to allow NFT assets to be freely transferred between virtual worlds. The platform recently launched its first blockchain-based P2E and P2W parkour game, MetaRun, which is planned for global release in the second quarter of 2022. Additionally, GoFungibles' cross-chain gamified marketplace is expected to launch in January 2022 in collaboration with Polygon Studios. GoFungibles will also conduct ID0 from January 11 to 13, 2022. (Source link)

5. NFT Pet Game Platform Dogami Completes $6 Million Financing, with Participation from Ubisoft and Animoca Brands

On December 28, the NFT pet game platform Dogami completed $6 million in financing, with participation from Ubisoft, Animoca Brands, and co-founders of The Sandbox.

Dogami will launch on Tezos and will offer over 300 different dogs, each with unique characteristics. Players will need to care for their virtual pets using augmented reality technology on their smartphones. Dogami pets live in a virtual world called Petaverse, where players can train, customize traits, and compete with others in challenges.

6. TsingTing Capital Announces Participation in Metaverse Sandbox Platform PlayerOne Pre-A Round Financing

On December 30, TsingTing Capital announced its participation in the Pre-A round financing of the metaverse sandbox platform PlayerOne. TsingTing Capital is committed to investing in early blockchain projects in Web 3.0 and the Metaverse, with two of its three partners being graduates of Tsinghua University. PlayerOne's angel round raised a total of $3.2 million, led by SIG, The9, and GameFi Labs.

PlayerOne is headquartered in Singapore, and its team consists of core members from well-known game engines, game public chains, exchanges, and other projects. SIG is the largest investor in TikTok, The9 was the operating company for the early World of Warcraft, and GameFi Labs is a new cryptocurrency fund focused on the GameFi track. (Source link)

7. Game NFT Project MTG Completes Seed Round Financing, with Participation from Metaverse Investment Group QGlobe

On December 31, according to CoinDesk, the NFT project More Than Gamers (MTG) completed seed round financing, with participation from the metaverse investment group QGlobe.

QGlobe is led by CEO Apollo Green and former Kava CMO Sarah Austin. Additionally, MTG will collaborate with sportswear brand Champion, which plans to offer exclusive access to virtual goods and wearables on the MTG platform. (Source link)

8. Chain Game Project Tap Fantasy Completes Multi-Million Dollar Financing, Led by NGC Ventures and LD Capital

On January 2, Tap Fantasy announced the completion of multi-million dollar financing, led by NGC Ventures and LD Capital, with participation from Krypital Group, ArkStream Capital, Cocos, Titans Ventures, MaoDAO, ICO Pantera, RedLine, NFTb, and Amplio.

Tap Fantasy is the metaverse version of the famous Facebook game Tap Tap Fantasy, which has a global community of 20 million players and over 1 million daily active users.

9. Solana Racing Chain Game DarleyGo Completes Seed Round Financing, Led by Jump Capital

On January 2, the online horse racing game DarleyGo based on Solana announced the completion of seed round financing, led by Jump Capital, with participation from Genesis Block Ventures, Waterdrip Capital, Solar Eco Fund, GuildFi, Paribus Ventures, Athena Ventures, and Panony.

DarleyGo allows players to buy, race, collect, and breed NFT horses, earning in-game assets and tokens through adventure games.

2. NFT

1. Sports NFT Platform Sportium Announces Investment from Libertus Capital, Dapper Labs, and Others

On December 28, the sports NFT platform Sportium announced on its official blog that it has received investments from Libertus Capital, Animoca Brands, Folius Ventures, Dapper Labs, among others, with Libertus Capital as the lead investor. The investment amount has not been disclosed.

Sportium is an NFT platform that encompasses various sports types, allowing various sports and professional leagues to enter the crypto space and create fan communities around officially licensed IP. Users can collect, trade, play, and earn through Sportium DApps. Sportium has also signed a memorandum with Dapper Labs to establish its sports NFT platform on the Flow mainnet. (Source link)

2. Fan Economy NFT Project Overeality Completes $5 Million Financing, Led by Danhua Capital

On December 30, according to official news, the metaverse NFT project Overeality recently completed $5 million in financing, led by Danhua Capital (DHVC). The new financing will mainly be used for the development and deployment of Overeality's mainnet and the launch of its first phase product to build a fan economy within the metaverse.

Overeality has signed cooperation agreements with top football coach José Mourinho and famous player James Rodríguez, planning to jointly release NFTs within the metaverse early next year. Additionally, Overeality has reached strategic cooperation agreements with several celebrity agencies such as CAA and Polaris for comprehensive collaboration.

The founding team of Overeality mainly comes from top research institutions such as UC Berkeley, Stanford, and MIT, and has rich experience in blockchain infrastructure development and entertainment industry management and operations.

3. Smart NFT Infrastructure Service Provider Alethea AI Receives Investment from BSC Growth Fund, Collaborating in Metaverse and NFT Ecosystem

On December 30, Alethea AI announced that it has received investment from the recently launched $1 billion growth fund of Binance Smart Chain (BSC). BSC will help Alethea AI promote the development and evolution of the first smart metaverse Noah's Ark ecosystem. BSC will collaborate with Alethea AI on metaverse partnerships, strategic NFT ecosystem support, and joint marketing and education in artificial intelligence and NFTs. As part of the new plan, Binance Smart Chain has purchased ALI tokens, although the specific amount is undisclosed.

In August, Alethea AI, the creator of the first smart NFT, raised $16 million through a token private placement. As the founder of the decentralized iNFT protocol, Alethea AI aims to embed AI animation, interaction, and generative AI capabilities into NFTs. (Source link)

4. NFT Browser NFTSCAN Completes $1.5 Million Angel Round Equity Financing, with Participation from Mask Network and Others

On December 31, NFT infrastructure NFTSCAN completed $1.5 million in angel round equity financing, with this round of financing jointly invested by Mask Network, Cipholio Ventures, SNZ, and Antalpha. The funds from this round will mainly be used for building the technical team, improving development efficiency, and promoting multi-chain NFT data development.

NFTSCAN is a professional NFT browser and data analysis platform. According to previous news, NFTSCAN received seed round financing led by Y2Z Ventures in April this year and officially launched its Ethereum NFT browser in September. (Source link)

5. NFT Lending Platform Perion Announces Completion of $8.6 Million Financing, Led by Alameda and Framework

On January 1, NFT lending platform Perion announced the completion of $8.6 million in financing, led by Alameda and Framework, with participation from Pantera Capital, Gemini, The Spartan Group, Jump Crypto, IOSG, Synthetix, and others.

Perion aims to create a decentralized organization founded, supported, and owned by gamers, helping users invest, manage, and rent NFT game assets.

3. DeFi

1. One-stop DeFi Wallet DeBank Completes $25 Million Equity Financing, Led by Sequoia China

On December 28, one-stop DeFi wallet DeBank announced on Twitter the completion of $25 million in equity financing at a valuation of $200 million, led by Sequoia China, with participation from Dragonfly, Hash Global, Youbi, as well as Coinbase Venture, Crypto.com, Circle, and Ledger.

DeBank provides a leading DeFi portfolio aggregator, supporting DeFi protocols on up to 16 public chains. (Source link)

2. Algorithmic Stablecoin Project Sperax Completes $6 Million Financing at $200 Million Valuation, with Investments from Amber Group, Alameda Research, and Others

On December 29, the algorithmic stablecoin project Sperax on Arbitrum recently completed $6 million in financing, with participation from Amber Group, Alameda Research, and DJ Steve Aoki, among others. The funds will be used to expand the Solidity development team.

Sperax launched its algorithmic stablecoin USDs on December 23. Anyone who publishes token collateral can mint dollars and earn interest payments from the income generated by their collateral. The project plans to reduce collateral requirements over time, aiming to transfer more rights to the algorithm. (Source link)

3. Dfinity Automated Market Maker InfinitySwap Completes $1.5 Million Seed Round Financing, Led by Beacon Fund

On December 29, Dfinity ecosystem automated market maker protocol InfinitySwap announced the completion of $1.5 million in financing, led by Polychain Capital's Beacon Fund, with a16z and Dfinity as limited partners, and participation from Draft Ventures, cycle_dao, and the Dfinity ecosystem fund.

InfinitySwap is known as the "Uniswap" of the Internet Computer (ICP) blockchain network, aiming to make BTC collateral mainstream through AMM. By using the Chain-Key technology of the Internet Computer, InfinitySwap will be one of the first AMMs to support staking directly from Bitcoin wallets. This is a revolutionary new technology that allows smart contracts to control BTC keys. (Source link)

4. Web3

1. Decentralized Disable Switch Application Sarcophagus Completes $3.67 Million Financing, with Participation from Inflection and Others

On December 29, the decentralized disable switch application Sarcophagus completed $3.67 million in financing, with participation from Inflection, Infinite, Lo Enterprises, and others.

Sarcophagus, incubated by Web3-focused Decent Labs, is a decentralized disable switch application built on Ethereum and Arweave, allowing users to upload files in Sarcophagus and designate a private key recipient. If the user fails to perform an action or the set time expires, the recipient will receive the private key to unlock the files stored in Arweave. Use cases include wills and trusts, password recovery, and credential storage.

Previously, Sarcophagus DAO raised $1.8 million through a token sale, led by Placeholder Ventures, with participation from Greenfield One, Blockchain.com Ventures, Coral DeFi, and Aragon co-founder Luis Iván Cuende, and Synthetix founder Kain Warwick. (Source link)

2. Metaverse Identity Issuance Protocol Kudo Money Announces Completion of $4 Million Strategic Financing, with Participation from Over 60 VCs

On December 29, the metaverse identity issuance protocol Kudo Money announced the completion of $4 million in strategic financing, with participation from over 60 VCs and ecosystem stakeholders. Participating companies include AU21 Capital, Bixin Ventures, LD Capital, Gate Labs, Digital Strats, Ex Network, Zokyo Labs, BTX Capital, Bitcoin.com, Magnus Ventures, X21, Insignious Capital, DCI Capital, Dweb3, ZBS Capital, Mih Ventures, Sentinel, Arcanum Capital, Extrawatts, Coinsummers, Damo Labs, Oasis Capital, R8 Ventures, CatcherVC, 7O Clock, Black Dragon, Scorpio VC, Tradecoin, Basics Capital, NXG, Novabit, Peech Capital, GTA ventures, Hashrate group, BlockOG, and Lumo Labs, among other early contributors.

Kudo Money is a metaverse identity issuance protocol that aims to fundamentally change how on-chain identities work by introducing a complete cryptographic identity approach. It will provide exclusive rewards to users with good on-chain behavior based on their on-chain scores. Kudo Money plans to launch its native token KUDO in the first quarter of next year. (Source link)

5. Others

1. Blockchain Security Regulatory Company BlockSec Completes $10 Million Angel Round Financing, Led by Distributed Capital

On December 27, blockchain security company BlockSec announced the completion of $10 million in angel round financing. This round was led by Distributed Capital, with participation from A&T Capital, Qchain Technology, Impossible Finance, Incuba Alpha, and the NEAR ecosystem fund MetaWeb Ventures. The funds will be used to support the BlockSec team building and new product development.

The BlockSec team was established in May 2021, focusing on safeguarding the security of the blockchain ecosystem, with a focus on the security of the entire lifecycle of smart contracts, blockchain regulation, new types of cybercrime, and blockchain architecture security based on privacy computing.

BlockSec has launched the first online analysis platform for multi-chain smart contract transactions, an online detection platform for flash loans, and an anti-money laundering tracking platform to assist project parties in improving security levels and supporting blockchain regulatory governance.

2. Crypto Startup Kirobo Receives Strategic Investment from Solana LATAM Fund

On December 28, crypto startup Kirobo announced that it has received strategic investment from the Solana LATAM Fund, with the investment amount undisclosed. The Solana LATAM Fund is the regional investment arm of the Solana Foundation.

Kirobo previously completed a $5 million strategic investment in May 2020, with participation from AI and crypto technology solution provider DigiCrypts. Recently, it launched an on-chain crypto wallet that can integrate with DeFi services. (Source link)