Dates: 26 Feb 2024 – 3 March 2024 This week’s notable funding rounds:
Bakkt secured $50 million in a funding round. As a publicly-traded entity, Bakkt offers regulated solutions tailored for businesses and institutions operating within the cryptocurrency sector. Their suite of services, including Bakkt Trade and Bakkt Custody, ensures curated, secure, and audited trading experiences, along with institutional-grade custody services. This approach promotes a secure and regulated means of engagement with cryptocurrencies.
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Avail, backed by Founders Fund, Dragonfly Capital, SevenX Ventures, Nomad Capital, Figment, and notable individuals such as Balaji Srinivasan and Tim Beiko, raised $27 million in a Seed funding round. Avail operates as an Ethereum Data Network with a focus on enhancing data availability. Through its modular technology stack comprising Data Availability (DA), Nexus, and Fusion layers, Avail aims to unify blockchain ecosystems, offering a secure and scalable platform for users and developers alike. Its utilization of validity proofs and zero-knowledge proof-based coordination rollups enhances cryptoeconomic security.
Initia, supported by Delphi Digital, Hack VC, and others, secured $7.5 million in a Seed funding round. Initia’s network combines Layer 1 (L1) technology with application-specific Layer 2 (L2) infrastructure to create scalable and interconnected blockchains. By simplifying the process for developers to launch application-specific blockchains as L2s, Initia offers features such as native stablecoins and multi-chain bridging. Its architecture abstracts complexities from traditional modular and multi-chain systems, enabling developers to build scalable and sovereign blockchain systems with ease.
BounceBit, backed by Blockchain Capital, Breyer Capital, and numerous others, raised $6 million in a Seed funding round. BounceBit operates as a Bitcoin restaking protocol and native BTC restaking chain. It introduces a dual-token staking system secured by both Bitcoin and BounceBit tokens, blending DeFi and CeFi yield mechanisms. This allows BTC holders to earn yields through native validator staking, DeFi ecosystems, and a CeFi mirroring mechanism.
Karma3 Labs, supported by Galaxy Digital, IDEO CoLab Ventures, and others, raised $4.5 million in a Seed funding round. Karma3 Labs operates as an institution-grade staking and blockchain infrastructure platform, serving as a decentralized hub for Web3 contributors. It offers products such as ProofSquare and Institution Staking, aiming to provide fast, affordable, and high-available blockchain API services.
Brawl Studios (BitBrawl), funded by Big Brain Holdings and others, raised $3 million in a Seed funding round. Brawl Studios is a game development studio known for creating BitBrawl and BitBrawl: Kingdoms, offering a Compete-To-Earn (C2E) Player-vs-Player experience on the Solana blockchain. It aims to provide a fun and interactive gaming experience while fostering a decentralized ownership structure within the BitBrawl ecosystem.
ContributionDAO, backed by KX Ventures, Axelar Network, and others, raised $2.8 million in a Seed funding round. ContributionDAO operates as an institution-grade staking and blockchain infrastructure platform, providing Contribute-as-a-Service and Community-as-a-Service offerings.
Sphere Labs, supported by The Chernin Group, Jump Crypto, and others, raised $2.8 million in a Seed funding round. Sphere Labs acts as an operating system for stablecoins, facilitating cost-effective and secure cross-border payments for merchants in emerging markets.
Arkis, funded by gumi Cryptos Capital and others, raised $2.2 million in a Pre-seed funding round. Arkis operates as a decentralized prime broker and undercollateralized leverage protocol, offering traders smart contract-based leverage and cross-chain margining capabilities.
Open Asset, supported by Hana Ventures and others, raised $1.9 million in a Seed funding round. Open Asset specializes in providing tokenized asset issuance solutions for financial institutions, aiming to create a more efficient and secure future finance system through CBDC, DLT consulting, private digital currencies, and STO platforms.
PlayMakers, backed by RockawayX and others, raised $1.5 million in a Pre-seed funding round. PlayMakers operates as a Web3 user-generated content (UGC) API for games, allowing players to create and submit assets, extending game lifespan and generating new revenue streams for developers.
Fair Math, supported by gumi Cryptos Capital and others, raised $1.4 million in a Pre-seed funding round. Fair Math focuses on addressing privacy challenges through Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) technologies, aiming to establish a verifiable foundation for Web3 while emphasizing privacy rights.
PredX, funded by Penrose Tech and Mulana Ventures, raised $500K in a Pre-seed funding round. PredX operates as an AI-powered prediction market built on Sei Network, allowing users to propose and trade on the likelihood of various events across diverse topics.
