Weekly Financing Express | 20 projects received investments, with a total disclosed financing amount of approximately $291 million (9.4-9.10).
According to incomplete statistics from Odaily, from September 4th to September 10th, a total of 20 blockchain financing events were announced, which is a significant increase from the previous week's data (10 events). The disclosed financing amount is approximately 291 million US dollars, a significant increase from the previous week's data (38.95 million US dollars).
Last week, the project with the highest investment amount was the UK digital bank Zopa ($93 million); the on-chain IP infrastructure Story Protocol also received attention due to its good source of funding.
The following are specific financing events (Note: 1. Sorted according to disclosed amount; 2. Excluding fund raising and mergers and acquisitions events; 3. * indicates traditional companies in "traditional" fields with some business involving blockchain):
UK digital bank Zopa completes £75 million financing, led by IAG SilverStripe
On September 8th, the UK digital bank Zopa announced the completion of £75 million (approximately $93 million) financing, led by IAG SilverStripe. So far, Zopa has raised a total of £530 million.
It is reported that Zopa currently does not support direct cryptocurrency transactions, but its customers can invest in digital assets by transferring pounds (GBP) from their accounts to third-party exchanges recognized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the UK (such as eToro).
IP infrastructure Story Protocol completes a total of $54 million financing, led by a16z
On September 6th, the on-chain IP infrastructure Story Protocol has raised a total of $54 million in funding, with a16z leading the round and participation from Hashed, Endeavor, Samsung Next, dao 5, and Insignia Venture Partners.
On September 7th, Indian diversified gaming and sports media platform Nazara Technologies Limited raised $49.2 million at a valuation of $230 million, with participation from SBI Mutual Fund, SBI Magnum Global Fund, and SBI Technology Opportunities Fund.
Nazara announced that it will use the new funds to invest in new businesses such as esports and blockchain games, as well as strategic acquisitions and investments in some gaming and sports media companies.
On September 8th, on-chain invoice settlement platform Zeebu completed a $25 million presale round of financing, with participation from Bankai Ventures and other strategic investors.
It is reported that Zeebu is an on-chain invoice settlement platform for the telecommunications operator industry, supported by the ZBU token. The platform utilizes blockchain technology to provide loyalty rewards, streamline invoice settlement, and improve transparency for telecommunications operators.
On September 7th, decentralized exchange Brine Fi completed a $16.5 million financing round with a valuation of $100 million. The round was led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Elevation Capital, StarkWare, Spartan Group, Goodwater Capital, Upsparks Ventures, Protofund Ventures, and others.
Brine Fi is a non-custodial, decentralized order book supported by StarkWare that achieves transaction position privacy through zero-knowledge proofs.
On September 7th, Trident Digital Group, a cryptocurrency lending platform founded by former Coinbase executives, completed an $8 million seed round financing. The round was led by White Star Capital and New Form, with participation from CMT Digital, Joint Effects, and Permit Ventures.
Trident plans to launch a yield product related to risk-free interest rates.
LeverFi secures $5 million strategic financing from Unicorn Web3
On September 7th, LeverFi announced a $5 million strategic financing from Unicorn Web3. Through this financing, LeverFi will deepen its collaboration with Unicorn-Verse and use the investment to upgrade the LeverFi ecosystem to drive growth.
On September 7th, the cross-chain protocol Socket Protocol announced the completion of $5 million financing, with participation from Coinbase Ventures and Framework Ventures. Socket aims to connect more L1 blockchains to L2 or rollups, and the new funds will be used to expand Socket's cooperation with Coinbase, including providing cross-chain services for developers and users of Coinbase Wallet and Base network.
TRLab completes $5 million seed round financing, led by Hivemind and OKX Ventures
On September 6th, TRLab announced the completion of $5 million seed round financing, led by Hivemind Capital Partners and OKX Ventures, with participation from HashKey Capital. The funds raised in this round will be used to expand TRLab's influence in the international market and continue to collaborate with global artists, foundations, and institutions to incubate new projects.
It is reported that TRLab was co-created and led by Li Xin, the non-executive vice chairman of Christie's auction house, and Ou Jinqiao, CEO of TRLab, in 2021. It was incubated by Dragonfly Capital and has gained support from numerous art collectors and technology entrepreneurs, including Pace Gallery, Animoca Brands, BAI Capital, and founders of the online art trading platform Artsy and the Shanghai Museum of Modern Art (RAM).
Web3 domain startup D 3 Global completes $5 million seed round financing, led by Shima Capital
On September 6th, Web3 domain startup D 3 Global completed a $5 million seed round financing, led by Shima Capital. Participating investors include the Maelstrom, Lightshift, Dispersion Capital, VentureSouq, Infinite Capital under Arthur Hayes, as well as Identity Digital founder Paul Stahura.
The company stated that it has "patent-pending technology" that can bring more interoperability, practicality, and security to the Web2 and Web3 versions of the Internet. D 3 also plans to "apply for and acquire new top-level domains during the upcoming application window of ICANN to provide secure identities natively supported by all browsers and devices."
In addition, D 3 has launched an on-chain marketplace for domain names, which includes over 1,000 tokenized top-level domains.
On September 6th, chat bot service provider Glenen completed a $4.9 million oversubscribed financing round. Participants included Slow Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, South Park Commons, Spartan Group, and Coinshares. Angel investors included Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, Mike Derezin, former COO of Chainlink, Will Papper, co-founder of decentralized investment protocol Syndicate, and ISM Angels. The new financing will be used for construction, sales, and marketing.
Pop Social completes $4 million seed and strategic financing round with participation from Chainlink
On September 8th, Web3 AI social infrastructure platform Pop Social completed a $4 million seed and strategic financing round. Participants included Fundamental Labs, Ceras Ventures, Prysm Group, Chainlink, Cointelegraph, Fusion Labs, Promatrix Capital, as well as angel investors from the former executive teams of Binance and OKX.
On September 7th, decentralized insurance provider OpenCover completed a $4 million seed financing round led by NFX and Jump Crypto. In addition, they received a $200,000 contribution from Coinbase and are currently online on Base.
OpenCover CEO Jeremiah Smith said that OpenCover has launched an insurance alternative on Optimism and is currently collaborating with Aave, Uniswap, Curve, Safe, Morpho, Synthetix, Beefy, Angle, 1inch, and Yearn.
Web3 domain platform Freename completes $2.5 million seed round financing, led by Sparkle Ventures
On September 6, Web3 TLD and domain platform Freename announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round financing, led by Sparkle Ventures, with participation from Blockchain Founders Fund, Golden Record Ventures, Abalone Asset Management, and His Highness Sheikh Mayed Al Qasimi.
Freename allows users to create their own top-level domains (TLD) and second-level domains (SLD) on multiple blockchains. These Web3 domains represent a digital identity that can be used for various functions such as sending and receiving encrypted payments, sending Web2 and Web3 emails, browsing traditional websites, and building decentralized websites.
On September 5, cryptocurrency payment startup Kotani announced the completion of a $2 million pre-seed round financing, led by P1 Ventures, with participation from DCG/Luno, Flori Ventures, and others.
Kotani provides B2B solutions, connecting smart contracts of cryptocurrency platforms with mobile money APIs. Kotani has built middleware that connects blockchain with local payment networks, aiming to help a large number of users in Africa who have difficulty accessing banking services to achieve cross-border remittances.
On September 8th, the RWA Protocol Helix completed a $2 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by Saison Capital and Superscrypt, with participation from Emurgo Ventures, Comma 3 Ventures, Outlier Ventures, and Emoote, among others. The specific valuation was not disclosed. The new financing will be used to prepare for the official launch of the protocol and to hire more business development and engineering personnel.
According to the introduction, the project is incubated by Helicap, a Singapore-based private credit company. Its platform pairs proprietary credit assessment tools with various credit opportunity channels, aiming to provide blockchain-based loans for businesses in Southeast Asia.
GAM 3 S.GG completes $2 million seed round of financing, led by Mechanism Capital
On September 7th, GAM 3 S.GG completed a $2 million seed round of financing, led by Mechanism Capital, with participation from Polygon, Double Peak, ArkStream Capital, LD Capital, ROK Capital, Hyperithm, Snackclub, and Emurgo Ventures, among others. This financing will be used to expand and develop the GAM 3 S.GG game super app.
It is reported that GAM 3 S.GG is a Web3 game super app responsible for planning and creating content, focusing on top games, and showcasing reviews, guides, news, missions, annual awards, etc. Its vision is to become a one-stop shop for Web3 games.
Web3 startup Nestcoin completes $1.9 million financing with participation from Adaverse, etc.
On September 7th, Nigeria-based Web3 startup Nestcoin announced the completion of a $1.9 million new round of financing. Adaverse, Base Ecosystem Fund, Alter World, CMT Digital, Magic Fund, 4 DX Ventures, and a group of angel investors participated in the funding.
Nestcoin previously suffered losses due to storing investment funds in FTX. The new funds will be used to build a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet called Onboard, as well as expand its newly established cryptocurrency training platform Breach and cryptocurrency gaming association Metaverse Magna (MVM).
On September 7th, blockchain game BulletChain announced the completion of a $2 million private funding round. The specific investors were not disclosed. The new funds will be used to expand operations. Additionally, BulletChain will start a beta test from September 11th to 18th, and players can apply for the closed beta through an application form.
Metaverse development company Crucible completes new round of financing, led by Born Ready
On September 7th, metaverse development company Crucible announced the completion of a new round of financing. Born Ready, the Web3 technology fund under AI metaverse company Futureverse, led the investment, and the financing amount has not been disclosed yet.
