Which early projects are leading crypto venture capital firms betting on recently? | 3.1-3.15

整理：Zeyi, Chain Catcher

In this article, Chain Catcher will introduce early projects recently backed by leading crypto venture capital firms (March 1-15), including basic information, official websites, related reports, etc., to help readers further understand potential projects for the future.

1. Dialect

On March 2, the messaging notification project Dialect on the Solana chain announced the completion of a $4.1 million seed round financing, co-led by Multicoin Capital and Jump Capital.

Dialect is a messaging notification platform launched on the Solana mainnet, and its tools will help Web 3 developers send notifications automatically triggered by on-chain events. In addition to push notifications, Dialect can also assist developers in building wallet-to-wallet chat in their Web 3 applications.

Users are accustomed to being immediately alerted by Web 2 applications when new information appears, from email and follow requests to stock price fluctuation messages. In Web 3, without services like Dialect, push notifications are difficult to achieve; this service will monitor on-chain activities and send alerts directly to mobile devices associated with crypto wallets.

Dialect's CEO Osborn stated that this will mark a significant improvement in the convenience of Web 3. Osborn explained that, for example, if some proposals are announced to "become a DAO," users will receive a notification saying, "Hey, this wallet has submitted this proposal, and you can read the proposal in the message." However, the notification also includes options to 'approve', 'like', 'accept', or 'reject'.

Official website: https://www.dialect.to/

Related articles: Dialect Raises $4.1M to Bring 'Smart Messaging' to Solana

2. Praxis

On March 4, the crypto city community Praxis completed a $15 million Series A financing, led by Paradigm, with participation from Three Arrows Capital, Alameda Research, and others. The funds will be used to establish Praxis's real estate, governance, and engineering teams.

Praxis is a decentralized crypto city community dedicated to building urban structures through community autonomy.

Praxis claims to be a grassroots movement of modern pioneers establishing urban crypto nations, organized as a membership-based community. Users need to join as members to build this city. From establishing culture and researching ancient wonders to visiting potential urban sites and designing urban infrastructure, each member can play a role in the development of Praxis's future home.

Official website: https://www.praxissociety.com/

Related articles: Introducing Praxis

3. Espresso Systems

On March 7, the Web 3 application scaling and privacy system Espresso Systems announced the completion of $32 million in financing, led by Greylock Partners and Electric Capital, with participation from Sequoia Capital.

Espresso Systems, founded in 2020, is a Web3 privacy solution with core team members primarily from Stanford University. Its first-layer blockchain will use ZK-Rollups to achieve higher throughput and lower gas fees while prioritizing user privacy and decentralization.

Compared to other privacy public chains, the main feature of this project's privacy solution is configurability. Specifically, the Ethereum configurable asset privacy (CAPE) smart contract application that the project plans to develop allows asset creators on the blockchain to customize who can view specific information about the ownership and transfer of these assets, which can be set to public, private, or transparent only to selected parties. This solution will support the creation and wrapping of ERC-20 tokens and will also support NFTs in the future.

The project states that this solution is particularly suitable for creating financial institutions or currency service enterprises based on blockchain assets, as it allows them to balance customer privacy needs with institutional risk management and compliance requirements.

Official website: https://www.espressosys.com/

Related reading: Understanding Sequoia's Investment in Privacy Public Chain Espresso: What is Configurable Asset Privacy?

4. Socket

On March 7, the cross-chain infrastructure Socket (formerly Movr Network) announced the completion of a $5 million seed round financing, led by Framework Ventures, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Lightspeed, and others. The funds will be used to support Socket's expansion into a multi-chain ecosystem.

Socket aims to achieve seamless transfer of assets and information between all chains, thereby unifying the multi-chain ecosystem. Socket addresses the multi-chain issues faced by applications and enables developers to build unified applications that share liquidity and state across chains. It acts as a meta-layer, providing seamless cross-chain connectivity through a single integration.

The Socket API allows developers to insert Socket's meta-layer through an easy-to-use API and build applications with interoperability as a core part of the application infrastructure. It enables developers to easily interact with the multi-chain world and engage with on-chain Socket contracts across different chains.

Recently, Socket launched a new application called Bungee, aimed at addressing the need for users to frequently conduct cross-chain token transfers.

Official website: https://www.socket.tech/

Related articles: It's Time for a Unified Multi-Chain Ecosystem

5. EthSign

On March 9, the electronic protocol signing platform EthSign announced the completion of a $12 million seed round financing, with Sequoia Capital participating simultaneously from China, the U.S., and India, along with notable institutions such as Mirana Ventures, Amber Group, and Circle Ventures.

EthSign was founded in 2019 by Potter Li, Xin Yan, and Jack X, headquartered in Singapore, providing an electronic signature platform that utilizes blockchain technology to offer a decentralized, customizable, and transparent version of traditional signature services. EthSign allows users to electronically sign and manage agreements. Users can log into EthSign via cryptocurrency wallets like MetaMask to sign electronically and upload documents.

The platform aims to address data security issues caused by over-reliance on centralized vendors and to rebuild trust in electronic signature services. With its Web3 technology (smart contract platform, decentralized identity, and decentralized storage network), EthSign enables users to securely and seamlessly comment, edit, and access each version of electronic agreements.

The company currently does not charge for its services but plans to tax custodial transactions after the execution platform is launched. Its current users include Amber Group and MetaMask.

EthSign founder Potter Li said, "Initially, we built EthSign as a decentralized version of Docusign for traditional and Web3 entities to conduct PDF agreements on the blockchain. But in reality, EthSign will catalyze the arrival of the next era of agreements, where the execution of terms can be trustless and automated."

Reportedly, the team's first product, EthSign Signatures, has already launched and has over 10,000 users. EthSign is now planning to launch an execution platform called "Smart Agreements," allowing users to execute signed agreements via smart contracts based on predetermined conditions.

Official website: https://ethsign.xyz/

Related reading: EthSign with Global Participation from Sequoia: The Web3 New Track Triggered by WeChat "Small Agreements"

6. Cega

On March 9, the Solana-based DeFi derivatives protocol Cega announced the completion of a $4.3 million seed round financing, led by Dragonfly Capital Partners, with participation from Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and others, valuing the company at $60 million.

Cega is a decentralized finance application built on Solana that creates exotic derivatives contracts for retail investors and consumer-facing staking products. Cega brings together a team of former derivatives traders, developers, and founders, along with a community of experts in the field. This expertise will help Cega develop exotic structured products that can generate high yields and provide built-in downside protection for investors.

Cega's products can combine basic options (such as call/put options) with advanced option features to create packaged products for investors. The company's first exotic options product is a fixed coupon, which includes a bundle of put options and a call option with knock-in and knock-out barriers. This exotic structured product benefits retail investors by offering higher yields, built-in downside protection, and compounded returns.

Joey Krug, co-CIO of Pantera Capital, stated, "Cega is opening up new untapped potential layers for decentralized derivatives, where we see a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity to disrupt traditional finance. Exotic options have proven to be important tools for transforming and managing risk—now DeFi gives us the chance to rebuild these tools with greater transparency and efficiency."

Official website: https://cega.fi/

Related articles: Introducing Cega, The Decentralized Exotic Derivatives Protocol

7. Swim Protocol

On March 9, the multi-chain AMM bridging pool Swim Protocol announced the completion of a $4 million seed round financing, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from FTX, Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, and others.

Swim Protocol creates a cross-chain liquidity platform that combines existing stable asset AMM with Wormhole's bridging technology, allowing users to swap native assets on one chain for other native assets supported by the protocol, thus eliminating the need for wrapped assets.

Swim Protocol's vision is to create a fast, seamless token exchange experience and establish connections between blockchain smart contracts, ultimately creating a network of native asset pools across multiple blockchains, allowing users to switch seamlessly from one blockchain to another through Swim Protocol without using wrapped assets or centralized exchanges.

Users can directly interact with Swim Protocol liquidity pools using native assets across multiple blockchains. Initially, the protocol will support stable asset liquidity pools on Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Solana to facilitate trading between these blockchains. Liquidity pools on any blockchain are connected through Wormhole, which helps support cross-chain relay transaction requests. When Swim Protocol's smart contract receives a transaction request, the algorithm evaluates the transaction scale and outflow pool situation to determine slippage, thereby providing the best execution price.

Official website: https://swim.io/

Related articles: Swim's Design

8. Upstream

On March 10, the DAO launch and management tool Upstream completed a $12.5 million Series A financing at a valuation of $80 million, led by Boldstart Ventures, with participation from Tiger Global, Ibex Investors, and others.

Upstream Collectives is a virtual community with a shared Ethereum wallet. Members contribute to the collective and vote on how to use these funds. Building on the infrastructure of its first product, "Upstream Communities," community wallets, governance procedures, and voting processes have been added so that the community can self-manage and fund itself. The project's vision is for future communities to be transparent, fair, and managed by community members, forming a close-knit collective.

The project is a multifunctional platform capable of establishing and operating a DAO or autonomous community, designed to centralize the scattered functions currently needed to operate a DAO, such as finance, governance and voting, token thresholds, and communication, all on the Upstream Collectives platform.

Operating a DAO with a plethora of separate tools is challenging. DAOs may use Discord for communication, Snapshot for voting, Coordinape for payments, and so on. Upstream Collectives aims to bring together all the foundational functions needed to run a DAO.

Users can create a new DAO on Upstream or become a member of an existing collective. For joining an existing DAO, users can connect their wallets and then request to join. Existing collective members vote to approve "join requests," with their voting power weighted by the number of collective tokens they hold.

Official website: https://upstreamapp.com/collectives

Related reading: Introducing Upstream Collectives

9. Katana

On March 11, the Solana-based DeFi protocol Katana announced the completion of a $5 million seed round financing, led by Framework Ventures, with participation from Electric Capital, Founders Fund, and others.

Katana is a structured products and automated vault strategy based on Solana, offering a range of investment products across risk ranges, allowing users to passively access the best opportunities for yield generation on Solana. Katana aims to provide complex, sustainable, and composable yield products that users can mix and match to achieve their desired risk.

Katana's yields do not rely on liquidity mining programs but rather on price behavior, providing a diversified and more sustainable source of yield. Its core product suite consists of automated vault strategies and structured products—similar to Yearn and Ribbon Finance on Ethereum.

After winning the Solana Ignition hackathon earlier in 2021, Katana has developed into the second-largest structured options protocol on Solana, with a TVL exceeding $37 million by the end of the year. It supports a total of 14 different vault strategies, including Luna, FTT, and more.

Official website: https://katana.so/

Related articles: Introducing Katana

10. Zecrey

On March 11, the zkRollup-based Layer 2 privacy cross-chain protocol Zecrey announced the completion of a $4 million angel round financing, led by Spartan Group and Shima Capital.

Zecrey is a one-stop high-performance general privacy cross-chain protocol based on zkRollup, providing high-performance, low-cost privacy solutions for digital assets across multi-chain ecosystems such as Ethereum, Near, Solana, and BNB Chain, and helping users easily manage, exchange, and bridge assets across multiple chains, achieving privacy cross-chain services for digital assets on different public chains.

The protocol is based on an account model and uses the Sigma protocol as a privacy algorithm to generate privacy proofs for high efficiency. By connecting to various blockchains and Layer 2 protocols through the Zecrey wallet, it addresses the two major issues of privacy and isolation in a multi-chain ecosystem.

Zecrey is an early pioneer in aggregating multi-chain networks. To establish a thriving multi-chain ecosystem, the Zecrey wallet can connect to different blockchain networks to manage assets. Therefore, multi-chain assets can be managed in a single wallet categorized by network and aggregated in Zecrey's second layer for efficient use.

Zecrey's cross-chain bridge is based on its own L1 and L2. Users deposit some assets from L1 to L2, thus aggregating assets from different blockchains to L2. Transactions on L2 are privacy-protected. Users can also withdraw some assets back to L1. In this way, the entire cross-chain transaction is completed, and the transaction details are kept private.

Official website: https://www.zecrey.com/

Related reading: How does the Zecrey Protocol protect account privacy?

11. Magic Eden

On March 14, the NFT marketplace Magic Eden on Solana completed $27 million in financing, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, Greylock, and others.

Magic Eden is a platform for creating and selling NFTs based on Solana, equivalent to OpenSea on Solana. Currently, users can launch NFTs on Magic Eden with no fees, and the platform earns 2% from each future transaction. This lowers the entry barrier for new and experienced NFT buyers and creators. Currently, Magic Eden only accepts a few projects, with an application cycle of two to three days, but the official introduction states that it will open to more people in the future.

Magic Eden is seen as the NFT entry point for the Solana ecosystem. According to Li Jin, co-founder of Variant Fund, the current user count of Magic Eden is about half that of OpenSea on Ethereum, even though it handles twice the transaction volume of the latter.

In addition to the NFT marketplace, Magic Eden has also established MagicDAO, where users can vote on which NFT series to display on the homepage. Magic Eden supports NFT series creators with long-term vision. The platform aims to build a strong community, and the key to this large goal is collaboration and cooperation among members.

Official website: https://magiceden.io/

Related reading: What is Magic Eden, NFT platform made for the Solana Network?

12. Angelic

On March 14, the blockchain game developer Angelic announced the completion of $10 million in financing, led by Pantera Capital, Animoca Brands, Solana Ventures, and Everyrealm, with participation from OKX Blockdream Ventures, Mechanism Capital, and others.

Angelic's flagship game, "Angle," is a multiplayer strategy role-playing blockchain game set in a sci-fi metaverse, featuring a deep game layer enriched by complex backstories, combining turn-based strategic combat with narrative RPG elements. Players can collaborate with factions, form guilds, compete in armed conflicts over territories, and establish bonds that will affect the colonial system and other regions.

Due to Angelic's DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) mechanism, the game will allow for true ownership, independence, and voting rights—even influencing the outcomes of Angelic's evolving story and game development. Additionally, players can utilize Angelic's seamlessly integrated play-to-earn mechanism if they wish.

Official website: https://angelicthegame.com/

Related reading: So what exactly is Angelic?

13. Gauntlet

On March 15, the crypto startup Gauntlet announced the completion of $23.8 million in financing, led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from Polychain and Paradigm, reaching a valuation of $1 billion. Gauntlet stated that the funds will be used to hire more employees and expand into new industry verticals, including gaming.

Gauntlet is a simulation platform for building financial models for blockchain protocols and applications to avoid vulnerabilities that could lead to significant losses. Gauntlet's simulation testing methodology has been industrially applied in high-frequency trading, and the technology is relatively mature. Compared to other projects focused on code security, Gauntlet is one of the few in the market focusing on financial model security.

Gauntlet's platform serves DeFi protocols and decentralized organizations, allowing startups and project teams to simulate and stress-test how their protocol decisions will perform in the real world, using agent-based simulations to adjust key parameters of the protocol, thereby optimizing capital efficiency, costs, risks, and incentives.

Users of the Gauntlet platform include protocols like Aave, Compound, and SushiSwap. The platform has already integrated EVM, supporting the execution of Solidity and Vyper contracts.

Official website: https://gauntlet.network/

Related articles: Introducing Gauntlet

14. Aptos

On March 15, the public chain project Aptos, initiated by former team members of Facebook's stablecoin project Diem, completed a $200 million strategic financing round, led by a16z, with participation from Tiger Global, Katie Haun, Multicoin Capital, Three Arrows Capital, FTX Ventures, and Coinbase Ventures.

Aptos aims to build a more scalable blockchain using the Move programming language and BFT consensus protocol, designed to serve billions of users and meet the needs of large enterprise clients early on.

Aptos plans to launch an incentivized testnet and mainnet in the second and third quarters of this year, with many companies, including Anchorage, Binance, Blockorus, and Coinbase, expressing plans to develop on Aptos.

Official website: https://aptoslabs.com/

Related reading: Why Multicoin Capital Invested in the Aptos Public Chain?