Funding Weekly: 32 Deals Raised $382 Million—Which Projects Are Particularly Worth Watching?
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Funding Weekly: 32 Deals Raised $382 Million—Which Projects Are Particularly Worth Watching?
Between November 13 and November 19, nine Web3 projects raised over $5 million each.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAccording to RootData, 32 blockchain startups raised over $382 million between November 13 and November 19.
Projects that raised more than $5 million include:
Cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com ($110 million in Series E funding)
Blockchain payments company Fnality ($95 million in Series B funding)
Robert Leshner's new company Superstate, founder of Compound ($14 million in Series A funding)
U.S. fintech firm CFX Labs ($9.5 million seed round, funds will be used to expand its Solana-based stablecoin payment and remittance network)
Web3 K-Pop project Modhaus ($8 million in Series A funding)
Bitcoin ecosystem NFT project Taproot Wizards ($7.5 million in funding)
Crypto trading platform OMTrade ($6 million in seed funding)
Bazooka Tango, developer of the Web3 tactical collectible card game Shardbound ($5 million in funding)
Web3 social networking platform Sleek (formerly ChapterX) ($5 million in seed funding)
Featured Projects
EthXY
Overview: EthXY’s latest product is a Telegram chat-based MMORPG that displays character interactions through chat windows. EthXY has implemented innovations on the Base network, allowing users to easily complete on-chain gaming directly within the chat interface.
Investors: Participating investors include a16z CSS23 Accelerator, Orange DAO, Pioneer Fund, WWVentures, nonce Classic, Pepper Ventures, Founderheads, Space Whale Capital, MH Ventures, and others.
Highlights:
1. Selected for the a16z CSS23 Accelerator program; 2. Essentially a fully on-chain gambling game;
3. Game based on Telegram chat windows, leveraging Telegram’s existing broad user base.
Taproot Wizards
Overview: Taproot Wizards is a Bitcoin-native NFT project initiated by crypto developer Udi Wertheimer, commemorating Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade and celebrating the iconic “Bitcoin Wizard,” a classic figure in the Bitcoin community.
Investors: Led by Standard Crypto, with participation from Geometry, Collider Ventures, StarkWare, UTXO Management, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Masterkey, and Newman Capital.
Highlights:
1. Widely regarded within the community as Bitcoin’s most authentic and original meme NFT.
2. The project issued only 2,121 wizard NFTs—a number symbolizing Bitcoin’s total supply cap of 21 million. Currently, fewer than 1% of Ordinals have been distributed.
3. No public sale plan announced; 100 whitelist spots were raffled to Bitcoin Wizard holders in March, with secondary market prices peaking at 0.5 BTC.
4. The Ordinals have already been gifted to active community members who participated in its “Wizard School” or demonstrated strong fandom—such as getting tattoos or recording shower videos dressed as wizards to earn eligibility.
Shardbound
Overview: Shardbound is an upcoming multiplayer online game combining elements of trading card games (TCG), tactical gameplay, and digital collectibles. Described as a blend of Hearthstone and Final Fantasy Tactics, the game is set on a fantasy island floating above Earth, where players use their decks to cast spells and summon minions in combat. Players can also earn achievements and login rewards such as weapons and loot boxes.
Investors: Led by Bitkraft Ventures, with RW3 Ventures, Sfermion, Foresight Ventures, and Builder Capital participating.
Highlights:
1. Developed in partnership with Web3 publisher Immutable, offering players enhanced in-game features.
2. Developer Bazooka Tango was founded in 2019 by Bo Daly and Stephan Sherman, veterans of the AAA gaming industry who previously developed and launched the MOBA title Vainglory.
3. Bazooka Tango plans to release a public beta later this year, with full launch scheduled for 2024, available on Steam, Epic, Apple Store, and Google Play Store, with expansion to other platforms planned in the future.
Sleek
Overview: Sleek (formerly ChapterX), launched in April this year, is a blockchain-based social media platform enabling users to connect via digital cards and Telegram bots.
Investors: Backed by Binance Labs, Shima Capital, Spartan Group, Symbolic Capital, Market Across, Big Brain Holdings, and others.
Highlights:
1. ChapterX (now Sleek) was part of Season 4 of the Binance Labs Incubation Program.
2. Chase Guo, another co-founder of Sleek, previously served as Investment Director at Binance Labs before founding ChapterX (now Sleek).
3. Sleek also plans to launch a knowledge marketplace, allowing domain or subject matter experts to tokenize their expertise and monetize it. The marketplace is expected to launch in the first half of next year.
Breakdown of funding by sector:
DeFi
Curve ecosystem yield management protocol Napier Finance has completed a $1 million pre-seed round, with participants including Michael Egorov, founder of Curve Finance, C2tP and Winthorpe—co-founders of Convex Finance, Charlie—co-founder of DeFiLlama, B Dash Ventures, FLICKSHOT, and others. Napier Labs enables users to adopt diversified yield strategies, and any fixed-term asset can be listed on Napier. Through incentive mechanisms from Curve and Convex Finance, liquidity providers earn trading fees, CRV, CVX, and Napier’s native token NPR. Napier optimizes fixed-term assets via its AMM and achieves seamless synchronization with Curve v2.The Napier token NPR uses a veToken model, where holders of veNPR can participate in incentivizing the minting of PTs/YTs or adjust minting and swap fees for selected assets.
Decentralized cross-chain trading platform Kinetix Network has closed a seven-figure strategic funding round led by Factor and Gnosis Chain. The funds will support Kinetix’s development on Gnosis Chain. Kinetix plans to launch its public testnet on Gnosis Chain early next year. The three-month testing phase aims to identify vulnerabilities and refine user experience.
Rho Protocol, a decentralized trading platform launched by former Copper CPO Alex Ryvkin, has announced completion of a $2.2 million pre-seed round led by Speedinvest, with participation from KeyrockTrading, Re7Capital, daedalus, and Copper CEO Dmitry Tokarev. The platform will focus on the interest rate derivatives market, enabling participants to hedge against or profit from significant volatility in crypto-native interest rates. Ryvkin plans to launch Rho Labs in December.
Gaming
GameFi project EthXY has raised $1.6 million in a Pre-Seed round, backed by a16z CSS23 Accelerator, Orange DAO, Pioneer Fund, WWVentures, nonce Classic, Pepper Ventures, Founderheads, Space Whale Capital, MH Ventures, and others. EthXY’s latest product is a Telegram chat-based MMORPG that showcases character interactions via chat windows. Innovations on the Base network allow users to seamlessly engage in on-chain gameplay directly through the chat interface.
The first P2E football game on the TON blockchain, Fanton, has received investment from TONcoin.Fund. This funding will help Fanton expand services and introduce new features like multiplayer modes and personalized tournaments to boost player engagement.
Bazooka Tango, developer of the Web3 tactical collectible card game Shardbound, has raised $5 million in funding led by Bitkraft Ventures, with RW3 Ventures, Sfermion, Foresight Ventures, and Builder Capital participating. Shardbound is being developed in collaboration with web3 publisher Immutable. Bazooka Tango will launch a public beta later this year, with a full release in 2024 on Steam, Epic, Apple Store, and Google Play Store. In addition to developing Shardbound, the company will use the funds to grow its team and develop three additional games currently in progress.
Layer1
Layer-1 blockchain project Sei has received a strategic investment from Circle, the issuer of USD Coin, and will integrate native USDC onto the Sei blockchain.
Layer2
Kinto, an Ethereum Layer2 built using OP Stack, has completed a $3.5 million seed round with participation from SkyBridge Capital, Kraynos, Soft Holdings, Deep Ventures, Modular, Tane, and Robot Ventures. It aims to connect financial institutions and real-world assets (RWA) through DeFi. Kinto is described as the “first KYC-enabled Layer 2 blockchain capable of supporting modern financial institutions and decentralized protocols.” Only KYC-verified entities can transact on the network, helping eliminate the anonymity-driven exploits and scams prevalent on DeFi platforms. The network also offers insurance and developer incentives funded by transaction fees.
Kakarot zkEVM, a modular zkEVM launched by Starknet, has completed its seed round led by Stake Capital Group and LongHash Ventures, with participation from Eterna Capital, Fenbushi Capital, OKX Ventures, Foresight Ventures, and others. The funds will be used to expand the team and accelerate development of its Ethereum scaling solution. The team is currently working through thousands of official tests (Hive and execution tests) designed by the Ethereum Foundation. Upon completion, the new EVM will be deployed on a standalone testnet (possibly by end of year).
NFT
Bitcoin-native NFT project Taproot Wizards has raised $7.5 million, led by Standard Crypto, with Geometry, Collider Ventures, StarkWare, UTXO Management, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Masterkey, and Newman Capital participating. The funds will be used to rebuild the "Wizard Village" on Bitcoin, symbolizing aspirations to compete with major blockchains like Ethereum and Solana. Taproot Wizards aims to revive the culture of building and innovation on Bitcoin. The project has a limited issuance of 2,121 wizard NFTs—symbolic of Bitcoin’s 21 million maximum supply. Currently, fewer than 1% of Taproot Wizards’ Ordinals have been distributed. Co-founder Udi Wertheimer stated they avoided a public launch schedule to prevent hype, instead focusing on finding mission-driven individuals rather than JPEG speculators. Ordinals have already been distributed to active community members who participated in the “Wizard School” or demonstrated deep loyalty—some even getting tattoos or recording shower videos in wizard costumes to qualify.
Infrastructure & Tools
Decentralized data composability protocol Glacier Network has raised $2.9 million in a seed round, with participation from Foresight X, UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital, Cogitent Ventures, Gate Labs, and others. Additionally, Glacier has received grants from Arweave’s PermaDAO, Stanford Boundless Hackathon, Aptos Grant Dao, and Foresight X Accelerator. Glacier aims to build a composable, modular, and scalable Layer2 data-driven network for large-scale dApps, driving trustless data primitive use cases for DApps based on decentralized databases (DDB). It provides a programmable data composability solution powered by ZK-rollups, enabling seamless handling of datasets from Arweave, Filecoin, BNB Greenfield, and others via NoSQL GlacierDB.
Binance Labs has invested in the native token ARKM of Arkham, an AI-powered blockchain intelligence and data platform. Arkham aims to de-anonymize blockchain transactions and enhance self-regulation by allowing users to visualize anyone’s blockchain activity through its intelligent platform, powered by its proprietary AI engine ULTRA. This engine algorithmically links addresses to real-world entities and offers searchable, sortable transaction histories on entity and token pages, along with network visualizations mapping entity relationships and capital flows, increasing transparency across the crypto industry.
Web3 API platform Uniblock has announced a $2.3 million funding round, with participation from Cadenza, Blockchain Founders Fund, Side Door Ventures, AQN, Serafund, and Outsider Ventures. Uniblock aims to unify the fragmented market by integrating blockchain tools such as Alchemy, thirdweb, Moralis, Parsiq, Covalent, and QuickNode into a single, user-friendly platform.
U.S. fintech firm CFX Labs has raised $9.5 million in a seed round, with investors including Shima Capital, Decasonic, Antalpha, CMT Digital, Corazon Capital, Kraken Ventures, New Form Capital, and the Philippines-based Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust. The funds will be used to expand globally its Solana-based stablecoin payment and remittance network. CFX Labs’ payment network enables users to send and receive fiat-equivalent dollars to countries like India, Mexico, and Nigeria using the company’s proprietary stablecoin fxUSD and the Solana (SOL) blockchain as the transaction rail. Customers can initiate transfers from physical convenience stores across the U.S., including Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, and Rite-Aid. When users deposit cash, they receive digital dollars in the company’s MoveMoney embedded wallet.
Decentralized privacy protocol Hinkal has raised $4.1 million, led by Draper Associates, with Psalion, NGC Ventures, Aquanow, No limit Holdings, Orange DAO, Draper Dragon, and Web3.com Ventures participating. Founded by Stanford graduate Giorgi Koreli and his PhD brother Nika Koreli, Hinkal focuses on providing end-to-end privacy strategies for liquidity and large transactions. The protocol uses stealth addresses, hidden pools, and decentralized identifiers (DID) to meet the needs of sophisticated DeFi traders with minimal privacy cost and high compliance.
Blockchain interoperability developer Union Labs has raised $4 million in a seed round, with Galileo, Semantic Ventures, Tioga Capital, Nascent, Lightshift, and Chorus One participating, to build a cross-chain bridge connecting different Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks using zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs. Union’s ZK bridge architecture includes two key components that enable projects to bring Cosmos’ Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol to Ethereum: the CometBLS consensus mechanism and the Galois zero-knowledge proof system. CometBLS allows native transfer of any asset across chains without relying on third parties, oracles, or multisig (MPC). According to the team, CometBLS enhances Cosmos’ Tendermint consensus.
Mobile gaming revenue platform Artifact Lab has raised $2 million in a Pre-Seed round led by RW3 Ventures and IOSG Ventures, with Raptor Group, Cypher Capital, and HerculesDAO participating. The funds will support platform development, team expansion, and growth acceleration. Founded in 2023, Artifact Labs introduces an innovative approach to user monetization in games and mobile apps. The platform provides players with a unified, user-owned profile, addressing privacy and geographic regulatory challenges while enabling publishers to increase CPM rates. It also facilitates meaningful one-on-one interactions between brands and players while respecting user privacy.
Crypto trading platform OMTrade has raised $6 million in a seed round led by Find Satoshi Lab (developer of STPN), Folius Ventures, and Incuba Alpha, with participation from KSK Fund (backed by former Japanese soccer captain Keisuke Honda) and a star-studded lineup of Web3 founders, Web2 entrepreneurs, hedge fund managers, and traders. OMTrade is currently testing its Alpha version. Core team members include a Forbes 30 Under 30 serial entrepreneur, a full-stack developer who led over 20 DeFi/NFT projects, and the lead architect of a top 5 global futures trading desk.
Cryptocurrency exchange Blockchain.com has raised $110 million in a Series E round led by UK-based Kingsway Capital, with Baillie Gifford, Lakestar, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Coinbase Ventures participating. After raising an undisclosed amount in a Series D round in March 2022, the company reached a $14 billion valuation. However, in this Series E round, Blockchain.com’s valuation is less than half of that. Following the round, Manny Stotz, founder and CEO of Kingsway Capital, and Nicolas Brand, partner at Lakestar, joined Blockchain.com’s board of directors.
Applications
South Korea-based blockchain K-pop startup (Web3 K-Pop project) Modhaus has raised $8 million in a Series A round led by Sfermion, with SM Culture Partners, Laguna Investment, KDDI Open Innovation Fund III, and Foresight Ventures participating. The new funding will drive further development and introduce more blockchain-based use cases into the Korean entertainment industry. Founded in December 2021, Modhaus formed TripleS—a K-pop girl group with over 1.74 million YouTube subscribers—through its NFT voting system. Cosmo, under Modhaus, is a blockchain-powered entertainment platform where fans can purchase NFT photo cards and use them as voting tokens within the COSMO app.
Baton, a company developing blockchain-based music collaboration protocols, has raised $4.2 million, led by BITKRAFT Ventures, with Techstars, Dorm Room Fund, NYU Innovation Venture Fund, Berkeley Center for Entrepreneurship, Dark Arts, Franklin Templeton, and Harmonic Future participating. Baton has already built blockchain-based music and hybrid media collaboration protocols aimed at helping creators share musical assets, track intellectual property, and receive proper incentives.
Web3 social protocol beoble has raised $2 million in a Pre-Seed round, with participation from DCG, Samsung Next, HashKey Capital, GBV Capital, Token Bay Capital, and Momentum 6. The funds will be used to enhance the Web3 social user experience and improve platform functionality.
Web3 social networking platform Sleek (formerly ChapterX) has raised $5 million in a seed round, with Binance Labs, Shima Capital, Spartan Group, Symbolic Capital, Market Across, and Big Brain Holdings participating. Chase Guo, another co-founder of Sleek, previously served as Investment Director at Binance Labs before launching ChapterX (now Sleek). ChapterX was part of Season 4 of the Binance Labs Incubation Program. Launched in April this year, Sleek is a blockchain-based social media platform that helps people connect via digital cards and Telegram bots. Sleek offers two card variants—prism and premium—at approximately $30 and $35 respectively. Sleek also plans to launch a knowledge marketplace, enabling domain or topic experts to tokenize their knowledge and generate income. The marketplace is expected to launch in the first half of next year.
Others
Foresight Ventures has acquired a majority stake in crypto media outlet The Block at a $70 million valuation. The Block will continue operating independently and maintain its current business lines. As part of the deal, Forest Bai, CEO of Foresight Ventures, will serve as Chairman of The Block’s board, and Tony Cheng, Partner at Foresight Ventures, will join the board. Larry Cermak will remain CEO of The Block.
Terraform Labs, developer of Terra, has acquired cross-chain portfolio management and analytics startup Pulsar Finance; terms were not disclosed. This acquisition will integrate Pulsar’s products into TFL’s cross-chain wallet Station, enabling users to manage tokens, vote, and access applications across different chains from a single convenient location.
Cryptocurrency group BGX has made a strategic investment in BC Technology Group, parent company of Hong Kong-licensed virtual asset exchange OSL, subscribing to approximately HK$710 million (over $91.1 million) in new shares.
Robert Leshner, founder of Compound, has raised $14 million in a Series A round for his new company Superstate, led by Distributed Global and CoinFund, with Arrington Capital, Breyer Capital, CMT Digital, Department of XYZ, Folius Ventures, Galaxy Digital, HackVC, Modular Capital, Nascent, and Road Capital Management participating. Superstate focuses on developing regulated, compliant investment vehicles using public blockchains accessible to U.S. investors. Funds will be used for team expansion, creating private funds for institutional investors, and establishing frameworks for tokenized public funds. Earlier this year, Superstate filed to create a short-term U.S. government bond fund using the Ethereum blockchain as a secondary recordkeeping layer.
Venture capital firm Menlo Ventures has raised $1.35 billion in new capital, primarily targeting next-generation AI startups. Amy Wu, Menlo Ventures’ Consumer and Gaming Partner (former head of FTX Ventures), stated the firm will use these funds to back founders in consumer, gaming, and blockchain sectors.
Fintech firm Fnality has raised $95 million in a Series B round led by Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas, with DTCC, Euroclear, Nomura Securities, and WisdomTree participating. Fnality is focused on tokenizing major currencies backed by central bank-held cash. Previously known as Utility Settlement Coin, Fnality aims to bring cash on-chain to enable delivery-versus-payment (DvP) in wholesale banking using shared ledgers.
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