Funding Weekly: 17 Deals Raised $495 Million—Which Projects Are Worth Watching?
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Funding Weekly: 17 Deals Raised $495 Million—Which Projects Are Worth Watching?
Between November 20 and November 26, 17 blockchain startups raised over $495 million in funding.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsWritten by: TechFlow
According to RootData, between November 20 and November 26, 17 blockchain startups raised over $495 million in funding.
Featured Projects
Blast
Overview: Blast is an Optimistic Rollup-based Layer 2 network launched by Pacman, founder of the NFT marketplace Blur. Blast's early access program is now live, available only to invited users who will earn Blast Points. Participants can earn yields (4% in ETH + 5% in stablecoins) and Blast Points before the mainnet launch in February 2024. Early members earn additional points based on bridging activity and referrals.
Investors: Blast raised $20 million, with participation from Paradigm, Standard Crypto, eGirl Capital, Andrew Kang (co-founder of Capital), Hasu (strategic advisor at Lido), Larry Cermak (CEO of The Block), and others.
Highlights:
1. Strong community anticipation for a potential airdrop, following Blur’s precedent;
2. Close future integration expected between Blast and Blur; Pacman also raised an additional $40 million (possibly including Blast’s funding) to support the Blur ecosystem, focusing on building L2 applications for NFTs and advancing NFTs on Ethereum L1;
3. Blast’s TVL could rank between Optimism, Arbitrum, Lido, and Rocket Pool.
BP-FLAC
Overview: BP-FLAC is a Turing-complete blockchain network designed to support large-scale AI computing and intelligent applications. As a pioneering public blockchain in artificial intelligence, its key innovations include:
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Solving data privacy issues in AI training through CUDA-based zk-algorithm optimization.
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Integrating a large number of high-performance A100 GPUs into the blockchain to ensure stable computational power.
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Launching an innovative RWA standard for chips, providing a standardized and secure framework for chip-based token issuance and exchange.
Investors: BP-FLAC raised $10 million, backed by Eureka Partners, Westlabs, Mybitdata Ltd., DecentraLabs, tech giants Amazon and NVIDIA, and Alkhabeer Fund, among others.
Highlights:
1. First public blockchain infrastructure dedicated to generative AI;
2. Plans to transition from testnet to incentivized mainnet mapping by mid-2024, rewarding early contributors upon mainnet launch;
3. Backing from industry leaders Amazon and NVIDIA.
MATR1X
MATR1X is a Web3 entertainment platform integrating gaming, esports, IP, and NFTs. Its first game, MATR1X FIRE, is the first mobile shooter in the metaverse and already has over 200,000 shooting game users.
Investors: Matr1x FIRE raised $10 million in its Series A-2 round, co-led by Folius Ventures and SevenX, with participation from ABCDE Capital, Jambo, Initiate Capital, and Find Satoshi Lab (creator of Stepn and the upcoming Gas Hero game). Total funding has reached $20 million.
Highlights:
1. Preparing to launch its third NFT collection, MATR1X KUKU;
2. Often described as the mobile Web3 version of CSGO, backed by a team with extensive game development experience;
3. Matr1xFIRE features two tokens: FIRE, the in-game native token used for various in-game expenditures, and MAX, the governance token for the Matr1x ecosystem, which allows holders to participate in ecosystem decisions. Neither token is listed on centralized exchanges yet.
Saga
Overview: Saga is a Layer 1 platform offering developers a suite for automatic deployment of application-specific chains, aiming to become a scalable infrastructure layer for Web3—making launching new chains as simple as deploying a smart contract. Saga is already part of the infrastructure enabling Polygon’s “supernets” and Avalanche’s “subnets.” The project aims to become a universal infrastructure platform supporting various types of decentralized applications.
Investors: Layer 1 project Saga raised $5 million in seed funding, led by Placeholder.
Highlights:
1. Saga’s streamlined deployment pipeline enables developers to launch a full Cosmos blockchain within two minutes;
2. Saga plans to distribute airdrops first to testnet participants, then to the broader community, with relatively high eligibility requirements;
3. Saga also plans to introduce customizable parallel chains called chainlets to support individual applications.
Funding details by sector:
DeFi
Uniswap-based DeFi protocol Panoptic announced a $7 million seed round led by Greenfield Capital, with participation from HashKey, gumi Cryptos Capital (gCC), L1D, Heartcore Capital, Comma3, and Zee Prime Capital, to support development of its perpetual options DEX. The funds will help Panoptic further develop its platform during the current beta phase ahead of its Ethereum mainnet launch and V2 release.
Intent-based derivatives trading protocol IntentX announced a $2.5 million seed round led by Magnus Capital, with Agnostic Fund, Prismatic Capital, MS2 Capital, Coral DeFi, Contango Digital Assets, and Castle Capital participating. IntentX has launched its Open Beta, offering trading across more than 180 perpetual pairs. On IntentX, market makers can allocate liquidity instantly to fulfill specific trade intents.
Base ecosystem DEX and launchpad Citadel completed a $1.6 million IDO, aiming to support the Base ecosystem through flexible and sustainable liquidity strategies, providing tools for protocol launches, liquidity creation, and growth on Base.
AI
First generative AI infrastructure blockchain BP-FLAC raised $10 million, backed by Eureka Partners, Westlabs, Mybitdata Ltd., DecentraLabs, tech giants Amazon and NVIDIA, and Alkhabeer Fund. Funds will support key initiatives such as GPU compute allocation, establishing global GPU computing centers, low-code AI training platforms, and AIGC services. BP-FLAC aims to democratize and decentralize AI training using blockchain technology, building a scalable and secure platform that allows individuals and organizations worldwide to contribute computing resources to a shared pool, enabling anyone to train powerful AI models anytime.
Gaming
Web3 mobile shooter Matr1x FIRE announced a $10 million Series A-2 round co-led by Folius Ventures and SevenX, with participation from ABCDE Capital, Jambo, Initiate Capital, and Find Satoshi Lab (maker of Stepn and the upcoming Gas Hero game), bringing total funding to $20 million.
Metaverse IP company Poglin announced investment from Animoca Brands, with amount undisclosed. Upcoming updates, feature releases, and exclusive collaborations will be revealed soon. Poglin is building a Web3 IP platform spanning video games, anime, and comics.
Layer 1
Layer 1 project Saga raised $5 million in seed funding, led by Placeholder. Saga plans to launch its mainnet in January next year. It will first airdrop tokens to testnet participants, followed by the wider community, with high qualification thresholds. Saga also plans to roll out customizable parallel chains (chainlets) to support individual applications. Saga is already part of the infrastructure enabling Polygon’s “supernets” and Avalanche’s “subnets,” aiming to become a universal infrastructure platform serving diverse decentralized applications.
Layer 2
Optimistic Rollup-based Layer 2 network Blast raised $20 million, with participation from Paradigm, Standard Crypto, eGirl Capital, Andrew Kang (co-founder of Capital), Hasu (Lido strategic advisor), Larry Cermak (CEO of The Block), and others. Announced by Pacman, founder of NFT marketplace Blur.
Infrastructure & Tools
Web3 SocialFi and anti-virus software De.Fi completed a token sale raising over $5 million worth of DEFI tokens. The company reported support from HOF Capital, OKX Ventures, Huobi Ventures, MEXC, and directors from Coinbase and Binance.
Zeal, a crypto wallet launched by Hannes Graah, former VP of Growth at Revolut, has completed a funding round with participation from Galaxy Digital, Framework Ventures, Variant Fund, and Northzone. The amount raised was not disclosed. Zeal is a self-custodial crypto wallet designed to seamlessly manage Web3 assets across EVM networks and applications. Currently invite-only, it plans a public launch in Q1 2024. Zeal will allow users to transfer USDC stablecoins to their bank accounts for free.
Data privacy solution Privy raised $18 million in Series A funding, led by Paradigm, with Sequoia Capital participating. Huang, former partner at Sequoia and board member at Stripe, will join Privy’s board. Privy offers wallet connectors and embedded self-custodial wallets that onboard “any user” to applications, regardless of prior crypto experience.
One-click Rollup deployment framework Vistara announced Pre-Seed funding led by D1 Ventures and Factor, with participation from Nick White and Mustafa Al-Bassam, co-founders of Celestia Labs. Vistara is building a Hardware Availability Layer (HAL) to support modular network adoption. Its recently launched Vimana CLI simplifies node operations across different networks.
Others
Bullish, a cryptocurrency exchange operated by Tom Farley, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, has acquired 100% of CoinDesk, a media company focused on cryptocurrency, in an all-cash transaction. Financial terms were not disclosed. CoinDesk’s parent company, Digital Currency Group, originally acquired the media outlet for $500,000 in 2016.
Cryptocurrency data provider CoinGecko has acquired NFT data infrastructure provider Zash. Terms were not disclosed. Zash offers over four times the NFT data coverage of other alternatives. CoinGecko plans to integrate Zash’s NFT data infrastructure into its existing API products by Q2 2024. Zash’s customers and partners will gain access to CoinGecko’s crypto data APIs.
Fence, a Madrid-based blockchain-powered debt automation management platform, raised €1.8 million in Pre-Seed funding, led by Semantic.vc, with participation from Crane Earth, Actyus, and a group of angel investors. Fence is a SaaS platform designed to streamline operations for capital providers and asset originators by minimizing low-value tasks. It leverages blockchain via backend smart contracts to automate capital and asset flows while ensuring compliance with credit agreement terms such as concentration limits or performance triggers.
Crypto mining firm Phoenix Group (PHX) completed a $370 million IPO on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), oversubscribed 33 times. PHX will issue 907,323,529 shares, set to begin trading on December 4. Phoenix Group operates mining services through hosting and cloud-based solutions and also runs M2, a cryptocurrency exchange with its native token MMX.
Canadian Bitcoin mining company Bitfarms raised 60 million CAD (approximately $44 million) through a private placement. The company expects to complete the financing on November 28 by issuing 44 million common shares to select U.S. institutional investors. The private placement also includes warrants with a three-year exercise period and an exercise price of $1.17. Net proceeds will primarily fund the purchase of mining equipment, expansion of mining infrastructure, and improvement of working capital.
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