Last week, there were a total of 21 public financing events in the cryptocurrency market, with a significant increase in financing rounds and total amounts | Investment and Financing Weekly Report

Organizer: Cookies, RootData

According to incomplete statistics from RootData, during the period from September 4 to September 10, 2023, there were a total of 21 public financing events in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry, with a total financing amount of approximately $113.6 million, significantly increasing both the number of rounds and total amount.

From the distribution of sectors, the projects that received financing are mainly concentrated in the DeFi sector, with 5 DeFi projects receiving funding, including the privacy DEX Brine Finance, the cross-chain protocol Socket Protocol, the LSD platform Infinimos, the RWA credit protocol Helix, and the derivatives protocol LeverFi.

In addition, the Base Ecosystem Foundation announced its investment in 6 projects, namely the oracle-based synthetic derivatives protocol Avantis, the decentralized limit order book BSX, the on-chain self-custody service Onboard, the L2 insurance aggregator OpenCover, the on-chain creator platform Paragraph, and the on-chain financial oracle Truflation.

List of projects with financing amounts greater than $5 million last week

Data source: Rootdata

I. Infrastructure

1. Web3 domain project D3 Global completes $5 million seed round financing, led by Shima Capital
Web3 domain project D3 Global has completed a $5 million seed round financing, led by Shima Capital, with participation from Arthur Hayes's Maelstrom, Lightshift, Dispersion Capital, VentureSouq, Infinite Capital, and Identity Digital founder Paul Stahura, among others.

D3 Global stated that it possesses "patent-pending technology" that can bring more interoperability to the Web2 and Web3 internet while creating more utility and security. It plans to "apply for and obtain new top-level domains during ICANN's upcoming application window to provide secure identities supported by all browsers and devices," with these top-level domains primarily managed by ICANN or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. D3 also launched an on-chain marketplace for domain names, including the tokenization of over 1,000 top-level domains. (Source link)

II. CeFi

1. Crypto lending platform Trident Digital Group completes $8 million seed round financing, led by White Star Capital and New Form
Crypto lending platform Trident Digital Group, founded by former Coinbase executives, has completed an $8 million seed round financing, led by White Star Capital and New Form, with participation from CMT Digital, Joint Effects, and Permit Ventures. Trident will launch a yield product that ties returns to risk-free interest rates while ensuring that government bonds physically back any deposits.

It is reported that Trident's CEO DeMartino previously worked at UBS, Barclays, and HSBC, joined Coinbase in 2021 as the head of risk strategy focusing on DeFi and derivatives trading, and later served as CEO of Matrixport's U.S. operations for a year before resigning in July. Trident's Chief Business Officer Toby Norfolk-Thompson was the Chief Investment Officer of Coinbase's risk strategy and previously served as Chief Investment Officer for the U.S. and UK at Matrixport. (Source link)

III. DeFi

1. LSD platform Infinimos completes $3 million seed round financing at a $10 million valuation, led by DG Capital
Cosmos ecosystem liquid staking derivatives platform Infinimos announced the completion of $3 million in seed round financing at a $10 million valuation, led by DG Capital. The funds will be used to accelerate platform development, expand the team, and establish strategic partnerships.

Infinimos aims to change the staking landscape by providing Cosmos ecosystem-specific liquid staking derivatives, creating a decentralized and democratized ecosystem using Web3 technology to help users maximize staking while maintaining liquidity. (Source link)

2. Cross-chain protocol Socket Protocol completes $5 million financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures
Cross-chain protocol Socket Protocol announced the completion of $5 million in financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Framework Ventures. The new funds will be used to expand Socket's collaboration with Coinbase, including providing cross-chain services for developers and users of Coinbase Wallet and the Base network. (Source link)

3. Privacy DEX Brine Finance completes $16.5 million financing at a $100 million valuation, led by Pantera Capital
Privacy DEX Brine Finance, supported by zero-knowledge proofs, has completed $16.5 million in financing at a $100 million valuation, led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Elevation Capital, StarkWare Ltd, Spartan Group, Goodwater Capital, Upsparks Ventures, and Protofund Ventures.

It is reported that Brine Finance is supported by Ethereum scaling system StarkWare and is a non-custodial, decentralized order book that enables privacy for trading positions through zero-knowledge proofs. According to crypto data platform RootData, Brine Finance launched its mainnet in April this year. (Source link)

4. LeverFi announces $5 million strategic financing from Unicorn Web3
LeverFi announced it has received $5 million in strategic financing from Unicorn Web3. This financing will deepen LeverFi's collaboration with Unicorn-Verse and will be used for upgrades to the LeverFi ecosystem. (Source link)

5. RWA credit protocol Helix completes $2 million pre-seed round financing, co-led by Saison Capital and Superscrypt
RWA protocol Helix has completed $2 million in pre-seed round financing, co-led by Saison Capital and Superscrypt, with participation from Emurgo Ventures, Comma3 Ventures, Outlier Ventures, and Emoote.

It is reported that Helix is incubated by Singapore private credit company Helicap and aims to provide blockchain-based loans to businesses across Southeast Asia. Its platform combines proprietary credit assessment tools with a range of credit opportunities covering multiple industries. (Source link)

IV. Gaming

1. GameFi platform Antmons Entertainment completes $1.8 million financing, led by Oakt Ventures
GameFi platform Antmons Entertainment has completed $1.8 million in financing, led by Oakt Ventures, with participation from CANDAQ, Ranker DAO, and Wettach Guild. This round of financing will focus on developing the gaming ecosystem and creating a new gaming brand.

It is reported that Antmons Entertainment is a MetaNFT and Battle-to-Earn GameFi platform compatible with on-chain users. It has received funding from multiple investment institutions, including Kucoin Ventures and BTS Ventures. (Source link)

2. Web3 gaming information platform GAM3S.GG completes $2 million seed round financing, with participation from Polygon and LD Capital
Web3 gaming information platform Polkastarter Gaming has officially rebranded to GAM3S.GG and completed $2 million in seed round financing, led by Mechanism Capital, with participation from Polygon, Double Peak, ArkStream Capital, LD Capital, ROK Capital, Hyperithm, Snackclub, and Emurgo Ventures. (Source link)

V. Social

1. On-chain intellectual property protocol Story Protocol completes $25 million Series A financing, led by a16z
On-chain intellectual property protocol Story Protocol announced the completion of $25 million in Series A financing, led by a16z crypto. Including the $29.3 million financing completed in May this year, Story Protocol's total financing has exceeded $54 million, with other participants including Hashed, Endeavor, Samsung Next, Foresight Ventures, Dao5, Insignia Venture Partners, Alliance DAO, Mirana Ventures, and angel investors such as TPG Capital founder and chairman David Bonderman and Dapper Labs founder and CEO Roham Gharegozlou.

It is reported that Story Protocol is a protocol for creating, managing, and licensing new intellectual property on-chain, aimed at democratizing the creation of intellectual property through a global, scalable intellectual property library. It provides a streamlined framework for features such as source tracking, frictionless licensing, and revenue sharing. (Source link)

VI. NFT

1. NFT art platform TRLab completes $5 million seed round financing, led by OKX Ventures and Hivemind Capital
NFT art platform TRLab announced the completion of $5 million in seed round financing, led by OKX Ventures and Hivemind Capital Partners, with participation from HashKey Group's investment branch HashKey Capital. Hivemind and OKX Ventures will provide strategic support for TRLab in the U.S. and Asian markets, respectively.

This round of funding will be used to bring in more artists, foundations, and cultural institutions to collaborate with TRLab, expand the company's market share internationally, and integrate new technologies to enhance the digital art collection experience. In the next six months, TRLab will launch several digital art experiences in collaboration with renowned artists and foundation institutions and will hold its first offline art exhibition in November this year. (Source link)

2. Metaverse development company Crucible completes new round of financing, led by Born Ready
Metaverse development company Crucible announced it has completed a new round of financing, led by Born Ready, a Web3 technology fund under AI metaverse company Futureverse, with the financing amount not disclosed.

Additionally, Crucible announced a partnership with Futureverse to integrate its Emergence SDK into the Futureverse open metaverse ecosystem, helping game avatars, wallets, and other tools achieve greater interoperability in the metaverse. (Source link)

VII. Others

1. Base Ecosystem Foundation announces investment in 6 projects, including Avantis, OpenCover, Onboard, etc.
Coinbase's L2 blockchain Base officially announced that its ecosystem fund, Base Ecosystem Fund, has completed investments in six projects.

The projects that received investment include: Avantis (oracle-based synthetic derivatives protocol), BSX (decentralized limit order book), Onboard (on-chain self-custody service), OpenCover (L2 insurance aggregator in collaboration with underwriters such as Nexus Mutual), Paragraph (on-chain creator platform), and Truflation (on-chain financial oracle).

In addition, Base stated that it will work with relevant teams to promote the development of the Base ecosystem and bring more builders and users on-chain. (Source link)

2. Decentralized insurance provider OpenCover completes $4 million seed round financing, led by NFX and Jump Crypto
Insurance provider OpenCover has completed $4 million in seed round financing, led by NFX and Jump Crypto, and has also received $200,000 in additional funding from Coinbase, and is now live on Base.

OpenCover CEO Jeremiah Smith stated that OpenCover has also launched an insurance alternative on Optimism and is currently collaborating with Aave, Uniswap, Curve, Safe, Morpho, Synthetix, Beefy, Angle, 1inch, and Yearn. (Source link)

3. On-chain invoice settlement platform Zeebu completes $25 million pre-sale financing, with participation from Bankai Ventures
On-chain invoice settlement platform Zeebu raised $25 million in pre-sale financing, with participation from multiple strategic investors, including Bankai Ventures.

It is reported that Zeebu uses blockchain technology to provide loyalty rewards for telecom operators, streamline invoice settlements, and improve transparency. Zeebu has established strategic partnerships with telecom providers such as Hayo Telecom Inc., Axistel FZE, Qatama Ltd, BBT Voice Limited, Broadband Telecom Inc., BridgeVoice Inc., and Novatel doo, aiming to collaborate with over 100 such telecom operators to facilitate cross-border settlement processes. (Source link)