Dates: 28 Jan – 03 Feb 2024 This week’s most impressive capital infusion:
This week, the largest funding round was dominated by Portal, a decentralized exchange and wallet on the Bitcoin blockchain. The impressive amount of $34M was raised in a Seed funding round from notable investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Arrington Capital, OKX Ventures, and Gate Ventures.
Portal offers a unique Layer 2 atomic swap feature that allows for seamless and secure cryptocurrency transactions across different blockchains. By prioritizing trust minimization and security, Portal eliminates the need for wrapped tokens or intermediaries, providing users with a fully non-custodial experience.
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Another noteworthy funding round this week was Velar, a DeFi liquidity protocol on Bitcoin. They raised $3.5M in a Seed funding round from a diverse group of investors including Black Edge Capital, Coin Merge Strategy, and Genesis Block Ventures Capital. Velar aims to unlock Bitcoin’s potential by offering a suite of sophisticated DeFi products, including the world’s first Decentralized Perpetual Derivatives Exchange (PerpDEX) on Bitcoin.
Clusters, a crosschain name service, also secured a significant amount of funding this week, with $9M raised in a Seed round. This innovative project addresses issues such as address fragmentation and wallet management complexity across multiple blockchains. With a multi-chain name service, Clusters simplifies domain name preemption and offers a cohesive solution for users across various blockchains and wallets.
Pixelmon Labs, a decentralized gaming brand featuring mythical creatures, received $8M in funding from notable investors including Animoca Brands and Delphi Digital. As a subsidiary under the Web3 venture capital LiquidX Studios, Pixelmon Labs is focused on developing multiple games and implementing the Mon Protocol, an intellectual property fractionalization system that distributes ownership of trademarkable game characters among NFT holders.
Reboot World, a decentralized metaverse project, raised $2.5M from investors including ZMT Capital and Signum Capital. This project aims to redefine virtual world interactions and economy by leveraging blockchain technology to enable a dynamic and user-driven environment. With a wide range of activities such as gaming, social interactions, and digital asset creation and trading, Reboot World fosters a community-driven ecosystem.
Ithaca Protocol, a non-custodial composable option protocol, raised $2.5M in a Pre-seed round from notable investors including Cumberland (DRW), Wintermute, and Room40 Ventures. Their mission is to establish a permissionless cross-chain infrastructure for optimal risk sharing across time and event horizons, and their platform offers a range of features including an Option Trading Protocol, Algorithmic Market Maker, and cross-chain interoperability powered by Axelar.
YAC (Yet Another Company), a company focused on creating accessible financial products for every internet user, raised $1M in a Pre-seed round from investors such as LambdaClass and C² Ventures. Their projects, including Yet Another Bridge (YAB) and Aligned Layer, address challenges within the Ethereum ecosystem and offer innovative solutions for building secure, transparent, and inclusive financial markets.
BBOX, a perpetual futures DEX, received $2.7M in funding from investors such as Hashed and Arrington Capital. This platform optimizes the trading experience and provides liquidity providers with enhanced yield opportunities by leveraging dynamic AMMs, multi-asset signaling, and OEV capturing.
Doubler, an open financial strategy tool, raised an undisclosed amount in a Seed round from investors including Youbi Capital and Bixin Ventures. The protocol utilizes the “martingale” strategy to optimize cryptocurrency asset investment strategies and minimize risks, while also allowing users to create fund pools and engage in collaborative risk-sharing within a community-driven environment.
Finally, Gevulot, a Layer 1 blockchain focused on zero-knowledge proofs, raised $6M in a Seed round from investors such as Variant.
Vermilion Studios (Forgotten Playland) has emerged victorious in their quest for funding, securing a staggering $7 million in a Seed round from Merit Circle, The Spartan Group, C² Ventures, and Paper Ventures.
Forgotten Playland is a free-to-play social party game, inviting players to explore the whimsical world of an abandoned attic. With their trusty customizable Plushies by their side, players can engage in imaginative and competitive mini-games, including the crowd-favorite Bump-A-Ball. A dynamic Social Hub serves as the central gathering place, while deep customization options for Plushies add a personal touch to the gaming experience.
Meanwhile, PublicAI has also struck gold, securing a $2 million investment in their Seed round from IOBC Capital, Foresight Ventures, Solana Foundation, and Everstate Capital. Their groundbreaking platform, powered by Web3 technology, revolutionizes the world of AI data infrastructure and annotation. By leveraging blockchain, PublicAI creates a trustless and global labor market, tackling ethical concerns such as data contamination and domain expertise.
But that’s not all. Infrared has raised an impressive $2.5 million in their Seed round, with contributions from a star-studded list of investors such as Synergis Capital*, NGC Ventures, and Tribe Capital. This pioneering platform implements the Proof of Liquidity (PoL) consensus mechanism within the Berachain ecosystem. With a focus on reimagining liquid staking and incorporating unique soulbound elements of BGT, Infrared offers a user-friendly interface for BGT-staking and rewards liquidity providers with trading fees, native emissions, and the ability to claim liquid BGT via iBGT. In addition, $IRED holders will receive performance fees, making this a highly profitable opportunity for all involved.
