funding

South Korean enterprise-level AI data infrastructure company GraphAI announced the completion of a $12 million Series A financing round, led by K2 Investment Partners, with participation from A-Ventures and Jiyu Investment, as well as previous participants in the Pre-A round, Quad Ventures, Kiwoom Investment, and We Ventures. To date, the company has raised a total of $14.7 million.GraphAI was founded in 2022 by Professor Min-Soo Kim from the KAIST School of Computing, with the goal of providing next-generation data infrastructure for enterprise AI applications by integrating the capabilities of graph databases, vector databases, and relational databases. Its Akasic platform offers an integrated solution covering enterprise data connectivity, collection, transformation, AI inference, and intelligent agent execution environments.

AI security startup Mindgard announced the completion of a $30 million Series A funding round, led by Album VC, with participation from Karma Ventures, .406 Ventures, Atlantic Bridge, IQ Capital, and Lakestar.Mindgard was founded by Dr. Peter Garraghan in 2022 and incubated at Lancaster University in the UK, with headquarters in Boston and London. The company's platform offers Shadow AI discovery, AI red team testing, and runtime AI protection capabilities, having helped disclose over 150 high-impact AI security vulnerabilities, including issues such as the Cursor IDE zero-day code execution vulnerability, Google Antigravity trusted workspace defects, and ChatGPT image generation protection failures.

AI code verification startup Blacksmith announced the completion of a $45 million Series B financing, led by Peak XV Partners, with follow-on investments from GV and Y Combinator, bringing the company's valuation to $550 million.

According to informed sources, AI startup Discovery Loop, founded by former Google chief scientist Jeff Dean, is in talks to raise $1 billion, corresponding to a valuation of approximately $10 billion, with specific financing terms still subject to change.Discovery Loop aims to accelerate discoveries in the fields of science and engineering through automated machine learning, science and engineering, and the parallel execution of thousands of experiments. Its initial funding is led by Radical Ventures and Khosla Ventures, with participation from Lightspeed, Kleiner Perkins, and Doerr Capital, while Alphabet serves as the founding investor and cloud services partner. The founding team of Discovery Loop also includes former core researchers from Google such as Sanjay Ghemawat, Quoc Le, and Oriol Vinyals.

Swedish Stockholm AI programming startup Lovable announced the completion of a $400 million Series C funding round, bringing its post-funding valuation to $13.3 billion. This round of financing was co-led by Menlo Ventures and the EU-backed investment institution Scaleup Europe Fund (managed by EQT AB), with several venture capital firms participating, as well as new investors from Latin America and Asia, including Tencent Holdings.Lovable is dedicated to the field of AI-assisted programming and is accelerating its expansion to compete with larger rivals such as Anthropic.

Bitget announced the launch of the "Project Archimedes," establishing a special fund with a total scale of $300 million to provide capital support for quantitative trading firms, asset management institutions, and market makers. The plan includes two sub-projects: a $100 million "Capital Support Program," which focuses on supporting emerging and growth-oriented quantitative institutions that adopt market-neutral strategies; and a $200 million "Interest-Free Lending Program," aimed at institutions with mature strategies and a certain trading scale, which can obtain interest-free funds by meeting corresponding trading volume or position standards to reduce financing costs and expand strategy scale.Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated that as competition in institutional trading intensifies, capital, execution efficiency, and risk control are becoming important factors in whether strategies can achieve scalability. The Archimedes plan aims to help capable teams expand their strategy scale through capital support, with expectations to support over 50 projects in the next six months. Meanwhile, relying on Bitget's Unified Trading Account (UTA), institutions can use rToken spot positions as collateral for derivatives, allowing them to maintain tokenized stock exposure and contract strategies simultaneously without cross-account transfers, further enhancing capital efficiency.The Archimedes plan will adopt a long-term cooperation framework, implementing rolling access and phased deployment, and will regularly disclose progress such as the number of participating institutions, capital deployment scale, and strategy distribution.

Chairman Paul S. Atkins of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wrote to Robert Walley, Chairman of the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT) Operating Committee, indicating that the SEC plans to undertake a comprehensive reform of the CAT system, including adjustments to its governance structure, funding sources, and operational model.Atkins stated that during his tenure, the SEC has significantly reduced the annual operating costs of CAT by issuing exemptions and approving amendments to the CAT NMS plan, and has eliminated the requirement to report personally identifiable information (PII) to the CAT system.These reforms have lowered system costs and the scope of data collection, but CAT still faces fundamental issues regarding costs, governance, and funding mechanisms. To address these issues, the SEC released a concept request for comments on April 16, 2026, to conduct a comprehensive review of CAT and other audit trail systems and data sources used in the regulation of U.S. securities markets.The SEC indicated that it has received hundreds of feedback comments, with one core consensus being that investors and market participants want the SEC to take more responsibility for the management and funding arrangements of CAT.Atkins stated that he has asked SEC staff to propose deep reforms for CAT, including: 1. Exploring new funding sources for CAT, including the use of congressional appropriations and transaction fees under Section 31 of the Securities Exchange Act; 2. Drafting rule proposals that, if approved, would repeal Rule 613 and require exchanges, FINRA, and broker-dealers to continue using the existing CAT infrastructure and reporting standards to submit CAT data directly to the SEC or its designated agency; 3. Assessing the internal resource needs of the SEC to prepare for the SEC's future assumption of governance responsibilities for CAT.The SEC expects that this reform will involve multiple stages and will need to be advanced simultaneously, with the overall transition potentially lasting until the end of 2027.

According to The Information, citing informed sources, the AI startup Applied Compute, founded by former OpenAI researchers, is discussing a new round of financing, with a valuation expected to reach around $3 billion, more than doubling the valuation announced four months ago during the last financing round. The company is dedicated to helping businesses utilize their own data to run and customize open-source models.This financing is taking place against the backdrop of the company's recent strong revenue growth. Informed sources indicate that Applied Compute's current annualized revenue is approximately $50 million, nearly quadrupling the revenue level disclosed by its CEO Yash Patil last November. According to the sources, investor Elad Gil is negotiating to lead this round of financing, with the expected amount reaching several hundred million dollars. It is still unclear whether this valuation includes the newly injected funds. This round of financing has not yet been finalized, and specific terms may still change.

Base announces the launch of the Builder Grant Program, providing up to $5,000 in seed funding for projects actively building on Base, along with GTM and product support.Areas of interest include prediction markets, token launch platforms, new asset creation, consumer applications, agents (business, x402 implementation, autonomous trading), and DeFi (lending, looping, yield generation, vaults, tokenized stocks), among others. The application requirements are to have a launched product, build exclusively on Base, and need product and GTM assistance. Applications are now open.

According to Ai Yi's disclosure, the on-chain Changxin Storage TOP1 Air Force holds approximately $21.12 million in 1x leveraged CXMT short positions, with an entry price of around $6.5. The current price has risen to $7.28, resulting in an unrealized loss of about $2.255 million. Meanwhile, the total funding fees paid by this short position have reached $3.078 million.This position previously invested over $40 million in margin, and there is still a significant gap to the liquidation price of $15.466. However, the continuously accumulating funding costs are eroding profits, and the market speculates that this trader may still be betting on a significant correction in CXMT's price to cover current losses and achieve profitability.

The founder of the Liebit Mining Pool (B.TOP), Jiang Zhuoer, stated that stablecoins in the crypto market are still continuously flowing out. In the past month, the total market value of stablecoins has decreased, with USDT dropping from $184.2 billion to $183.1 billion, and USDC falling from $73.28 billion to $72.15 billion, a total reduction of $2.23 billion.Currently, this funding situation shows no signs of a bull market starting. Bitcoin may rebound to the range of $68,000 to $70,000 at most, followed by a final drop after squeezing out the shorts.

The U.S. Senate passed a temporary funding bill to avoid a government shutdown on the eve of the election. The vote resulted in 90 in favor and 6 against, with Senator Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) casting a vote of abstention. This does not necessarily prevent a government shutdown entirely, but it helps to avert a shutdown on October 1 (the start of the new fiscal year for the government). The House of Representatives will still need to reach a consensus on the bill after returning from recess.

AI personal assistant startup Pally announced the completion of a $5.2 million financing round, led by Cyber Fund and Y Combinator, with participation from Pioneer Fund, Founders Inc, 468 Capital, and angel investors. The company is valued at $30 million, and its main business is providing AI personal assistant services through a messaging interface.Pally was launched in 2025, with the latest version going live in June, capable of syncing with platforms like Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Granola, and Notion. After user authorization, Pally can book flights, manage inboxes, reply to messages, and make restaurant reservations. Pally utilizes Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's ChatGPT, as well as open-source models like Kimi K3 and GLM 5.2. Co-founder Haz Hubble stated that the company will not sell user data and will not use related data to train models.

According to Dealstreetasia, Singapore-based AI infrastructure startup Acrab announced the completion of a $130 million Series B funding round, with participation from Vertex Growth and others. To date, the total funding raised has exceeded $480 million.The company has built a full-stack AI computing platform that includes self-developed chips, edge AI models, and software orchestration to support the real-time operation and task execution of AI Agents. The new funds will be used to expand product capacity, enhance the technology ecosystem, and accelerate the development of the next-generation AI computing platform.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Taj Tarsha, the founder of the NFT market project Few and Far, has been charged with securities fraud and wire fraud, accused of concealing the use of funds from investors and misappropriating financing for personal consumption.According to the indictment, Tarsha raised funds from investors starting in 2022 through a SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens), claiming that the funds would be used to develop a decentralized NFT trading market and the FAR token ecosystem.Prosecutors stated that Tarsha raised over $10 million from at least 67 investors by selling approximately 95 million FAR token rights. However, shortly after the fundraising, he allegedly used investor funds for personal purposes, including online gambling, purchasing high-risk crypto assets, paying for a Miami apartment loan, interior design expenses, and personal DJ activities.The indictment documents show that Tarsha also allegedly misappropriated nearly $1 million in company funds through two bonuses that were not disclosed to investors and co-founders, as well as through high salaries. After an audit revealed anomalies in the related funds, Tarsha was accused of providing false explanations to investors, claiming that the use of funds was in line with project development needs.

According to official news, the Ethereum Foundation's "Trillion Dollar Security" (1TS) has announced a special grant to the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) to support the ongoing development of the open-source tool WEBCAT, aimed at addressing the long-standing front-end code verification security gap in Ethereum wallets and decentralized applications (DApps).WEBCAT (Web-based Code Assurance and Transparency) is an open-source tool designed to help browsers verify whether the code loaded by a website matches the version publicly released by the developer.This funding will promote the expansion of WEBCAT to Ethereum wallets and application scenarios, enabling users to verify whether the front-end pages they access have been tampered with.The Ethereum Foundation stated that while HTTPS can verify the website a user is connected to and encrypt communication, it cannot prove that the front-end code actually running on the website is the same version released by the developer. If an attacker controls the website's front-end code, they may modify the transaction receiving address without the user's knowledge or induce the user to sign transactions that do not match the content displayed on the page.The Ethereum Foundation noted that front-end attacks have become a significant security risk for blockchain infrastructure, with malicious modifications to web interfaces potentially leading to supply chain attacks, DNS hijacking subsequent attacks, and user interface deception.WEBCAT was initially developed by the Freedom of the Press Foundation to enhance the code credibility of secure communication systems like SecureDrop.With this expansion into the Ethereum ecosystem, it will complement security measures such as "Clear Signing" in the 1TS program: the former helps wallets confirm that the application front-end has not been tampered with, while the latter helps users understand the transaction content they are approving.

Citrini analyst jukan posted on platform X, stating that South Korean media reported that SK hynix subsidiary Solidigm is seeking pre-IPO financing, possibly preparing for a NASDAQ listing.The report stated that the company's target valuation in this round of financing is 50 trillion won. Solidigm is the U.S. subsidiary established by SK hynix in 2021 to take over Intel's NAND flash and SSD business, which SK hynix agreed to acquire for about 10 trillion won in 2020.

DWF Labs co-founder Andrei Grachev published a response to recent market speculation regarding DEXE trading, stating that the relevant transactions can be verified through centralized exchanges. Grachev indicated that the DWF Labs DEXE trading process is as follows: a large purchase of DEXE in 2024, partial selling for profit in 2025, another large purchase of DEXE around October 10, hedging profits in the first half of 2026, and when the funding rate turned negative, being forced to close short positions and increasing cash reserves by selling part of the DEXE spot.Grachev stated that all buying and selling operations were completed through centralized exchanges, where the trading platform holds relevant account information, and criticized some paid KOLs for spreading "misleading information."

The robotics startup Exclaim Robotics, headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, officially announced its emergence from stealth mode, completing a $4.95 million seed round of financing, which will be used to develop robotic products aimed at routine maintenance and upkeep operations for hyperscale data centers.The company is led by veteran robotics expert Helen Oleynikova, with investors including well-known early-stage investment firms in Europe.

According to TradingBeats (formerly Hyperinsight) monitoring, the whale starting with 0xf17 began synchronously selling HYPE spot today and buying to close an equivalent amount of perpetual short positions, planning to continue exiting the carry trade positions. This address previously held HYPE spot and contract short positions at a nearly 1:1 ratio, earning positive funding rates by hedging against price fluctuations. Based on a pre-reduction position of approximately 146,800 units, both legs have now been reduced to about 107,900 units, each decreasing by nearly 39,000 units, a reduction of about 26.5%.Currently, two sets of TWAP orders still in execution plan to handle a total of 90,000 HYPE: approximately 33,200 units have been sold on the spot side, with a transaction amount of about 1.8 million USD; approximately 33,100 units have been closed on the contract side, with a transaction amount of about 1.795 million USD. Including previously completed orders, the current round of contract short positions has cumulatively decreased by about 39,000 units, with the current nominal value of spot and short positions each around 5.87 million USD, and the total scale of both legs approximately 11.74 million USD, reduced by about 4.24 million USD compared to before the reduction.As the whale withdraws, the HYPE carry trade yield has also fallen from its high. According to daily statistics: the cumulative funding rate for HYPE dropped from +0.0279% on August 1 to +0.02227% on August 3, a decrease of about 20.2%; in the last 4 hours: the cumulative funding rate also decreased by 19.1% compared to the previous 4 hours. Based on the current short position size, its daily gross funding income has fallen from about 1,638 USD to 1,308 USD. Weekly statistics: from July 28 to August 3, the cumulative rate was about +0.17803%, down 16.9% from the high week of +0.21425% from July 14 to 20. The HYPE funding rate is currently reported at +0.0013%, with an expected annualized yield of about 10.9%.