Funding Weekly: 21 deals raised $435 million, with established projects disclosing new financing information
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Funding Weekly: 21 deals raised $435 million, with established projects disclosing new financing information
Between November 27 and December 3, seven crypto projects raised over $5 million each.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsWritten by: TechFlow
According to RootData, between November 27 and December 3, 21 blockchain startups raised approximately $435 million in funding.
Projects that raised over $5 million include:
Content platform IZUMO completed a $12.7 million seed round;
MYX, a decentralized perpetuals exchange incubated by D11 Labs, raised $5 million in seed funding at a $50 million valuation;
Web3 consumer app Setter secured $5 million in seed funding;
Mummolin, parent company of decentralized Bitcoin mining pool OCEAN, announced completion of a $6.2 million seed round;
DeFi yield platform Coinchange closed a $10 million seed round;
Wormhole, a developer platform focused on cross-chain communication, raised $225 million in a new round at a $2.5 billion valuation;
DePIN provider Grove (formerly Pocket Network) raised $7.9 million.
Featured Projects
Wormhole
Overview: Wormhole is a leading cross-chain bridge within the Solana ecosystem and a developer platform focused on inter-blockchain communication, expanding its operations beyond Ethereum and Solana to chains such as Terra and BNB Chain. It has established Wormhole Labs to advance cross-chain technology development and adoption. Wormhole uses a PoA guardian network as an oracle combined with a permissionless relayer network to enable cross-chain message passing.
Investors: Wormhole raised $225 million at a $2.5 billion valuation, with participation from Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, and Arrington Capital.
Key Features:
1. Ranked first in Uniswap’s June 2023 cross-chain bridge assessment;
2. Compared to LayerZero, Wormhole appears more popular among non-EVM blockchains. Although Wormhole was hacked in 2022, losing 120,000 ETH, those funds have since been recovered by Jump Crypto.
Pocket Network
Overview: Grove (formerly Pocket Network), a decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) provider, is a decentralized API data service protocol enabling product and service development on its POKT network, which supports over 40 different blockchains. DePIN can be seen as a decentralized version of Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud.
Investors: Grove (formerly Pocket Network) raised $7.9 million, with participation from Avon Ventures (Fidelity), Placeholder Capital, and Druid Ventures.
Key Features:
1. Pocket Network has become the first decentralized infrastructure capable of serving applications and projects of all scales.
2. Pocket Network operates a value exchange platform centered on node supply and demand: Node providers can join the protocol by staking POKT to offer node services; node consumers—developers of various dApps—must also stake POKT to access these services.
3. DWF Labs is particularly bullish on the DePIN sector and actively seeking investment opportunities. The market cap of DePIN has already surpassed that of oracles and continues to rise steadily.
Inspect
Overview: Inspect, a Web3 social data protocol built on Twitter, is transforming dynamic markets into user-friendly platforms with real-time analytics and insights accessible to everyone.
Investors: Inspect secured funding in a new round led by Dewhales, BasementDAO, Morningstar Ventures, Kairon Labs, Optic Capital, Rarestone Ventures, Maven Capital, Zeneca (founder of The 333 Club), Chen Zhancheng (CEO of 9GAG), and Jihoz.ron (co-founder of Axie Infinity).
Key Features:
1. Provides real-time on-chain insights for any token, NFT, or trader, monitoring "smart money" in real time;
2. Converts users’ real-time social activity into tradable signals;
3. Currently has 500,000 users and launched a public sale of $INSP on December 1, running through December 4.
Breakdown of Funding by Sector:
DeFi
MYX, a decentralized perpetuals exchange incubated by D11 Labs, announced a $5 million seed round at a $50 million valuation, led by HongShan (formerly Sequoia China), with participation from Consensys, Hack VC, OKX Ventures, Foresight Ventures, Redpoint China, HashKey Capital, GSR Markets, Alti5, Leland Ventures, Cypher Capital, Bing Ventures, and Lecca Ventures. MYX will soon launch a Treasure Hunting Event to reward early community supporters, running until TGE concludes, with the first phase about to begin. It is also considering deploying key early narrative credentials on the BRC-20 network.
DeFi yield platform Coinchange raised $10 million in seed funding, co-led by G1.VC, Spirit Blockchain, Good News Ventures, K2.CA, and Atoia Ventures, with participation from Mintfox. Coinchange offers its clients an Earn API service supporting trading and earning yields on digital assets. The Earn API is a risk management platform supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and major stablecoins.
Developer platform Wormhole, focused on inter-blockchain communication, raised $225 million at a $2.5 billion valuation, with participation from Brevan Howard, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, and Arrington Capital. Wormhole also announced the formation of Wormhole Labs to drive forward cross-chain technology development and adoption.
Non-custodial fixed-income protocol Term Structure announced a $4.25 million seed round led by Cumberland DRW, with participation from Decima Fund, HashKey Capital, Longling Capital, and MZ Web3 Fund. Its testnet is currently live on Ethereum Goerli. The protocol features two core markets: In the primary market, users place orders to borrow or lend tokens at fixed rates and maturities. Once matched, borrowers receive the borrowed tokens and must repay before maturity to reclaim collateral. Lenders receive fixed-income tokens redeemable for principal and interest at maturity. In the secondary market, users trade these fixed-income tokens via an order book system.
Layer1
KuCoin Ventures announced a partnership with the TON Foundation to fund the TON ecosystem. KuCoin Ventures will allocate support to five mini-apps on TON focusing on payments or GameFi.
Gaming
Game studio Farcana received strategic investment from Animoca Brands. The funding will primarily enhance Farcana’s integration within the Bitcoin ecosystem, preparing for its upcoming token launch and full game release. Built using Unreal Engine 5, Farcana is a team-based third-person arena shooter offering competitive tournaments backed by a permanent Bitcoin prize pool. It will be among the first AAA Web3 games to launch “Free Mint” Bitcoin Ordinals.
Applications
Binance Labs announced a $3.15 million investment in Web3 education platform Open Campus. TinyTap, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, became Open Campus’s first adopter, planning to drive Web3 adoption through onboarding services. Open Campus also launched Smart Donations and a Global Educators Fund to incentivize educators to create and publish content.
Coral App announced a $3 million strategic investment from TealLink Capital. A finalist in Binance Labs’ Season 4 Incubation Program, Coral App is a metaverse multi-chain fitness, social, and data aggregation application set to deliver gamified NFT experiences. Users can own their data, earn rewards, and participate in community challenges via Coral App.
Content platform IZUMO completed a $12.7 million seed round led by ANRI and Hashed, with participation from Global Brain, Globis Capital Partners, Sfermion, HashKey Capital, Everyrealm, Ethereal Ventures, Emoote, and Kun Gao (founder of Crunchyroll). This brings IZUMO’s total funding to $14.8 million. IZUMO has been actively involved in pioneering tech initiatives like “Ailis” and “SAI by IZUMO.” It is currently developing a platform enabling creators worldwide to connect with fans and monetize content. A beta version is scheduled for Q1 2024 (January–March), with a full public launch expected later this year.
Web3 consumer app Setter raised $5 million in seed funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from Marcy Ventures Partners, Superlayer, Thirty Five Ventures, and retired tennis star Serena Williams. The app aims to help brands innovate exclusive product launches and offer limited-edition products to customers. Setter seeks to address “the complexity and unfriendliness of current wallet technology,” delivering a seamless Web3 experience to broader audiences. Initially focusing on streetwear and sneaker brands, it plans to expand into fashion, luxury, and consumer collectibles.
Web3 video streaming platform Rad completed a new funding round led by Ayre Ventures, with the amount undisclosed. Rad has integrated the BSV blockchain into its transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) and open/limited edition NFT video publishing and purchasing process. Additionally, Rad has integrated with mobile and web wallet HandCash, allowing users to stream funds directly to apps, games, and websites to facilitate payments. Users can create and purchase content on Rad without browser plugins, and the platform supports other payment methods. Currently, Rad supports PlayStation 5, PSVR, Oculus Quest, iOS, and Google TV, among others.
Infrastructure
Wind, a Singapore-based remittance company built on Polygon blockchain, announced a $3.8 million Pre-Seed round led by Global Founders Capital and Spartan Group, with participation from Saison Capital, Alumni Ventures, and Tiny VC. Wind is a non-custodial wallet allowing users to manage their own assets, charging less than 0.3% of transaction value. In September, it also received a grant from the XRP Ledger Accelerator program launched by Tenity and Ripple.
Web3 social data protocol Inspect announced a new funding round with participation from Dewhales, BasementDAO, Morningstar Ventures, Kairon Labs, Optic Capital, Rarestone Ventures, Maven Capital, Zeneca (founder of The 333 Club), Chen Zhancheng (CEO of 9GAG), and Jihoz.ron (co-founder of Axie Infinity). Inspect is turning dynamic markets into user-friendly platforms equipped with real-time analytics and insights accessible to all.
Crypto financial operating system startup Acctual raised $3.85 million in seed funding, with participation from Alchemy Ventures, OrangeDAO, Soma Capital, Ryan Selkis (founder of Messari), and Prajit Nanu (founder of Nium). Acctual provides bill management software for crypto startups, ensuring correct payments to vendors or crypto wallet addresses, monitoring and approving invoices, and syncing crypto invoices and payments to QuickBooks or Zero to reduce fraud and spam.
Bitcoin open-source wallet and Ordinals/BRC-20 infrastructure and service provider UniSat received a strategic investment from BTC NEXT, a Bitcoin ecosystem investment and management fund. Meanwhile, Element and UniSat have entered a comprehensive strategic partnership to develop a marketplace supporting BRC-20 inscription tokens and NFTs for Bitcoin Ordinals.
Decentralized physical infrastructure (DePIN) provider Grove (formerly Pocket Network) raised $7.9 million, with participation from Avon Ventures (Fidelity), Placeholder Capital, and Druid Ventures. Grove will use the funds to establish new partnerships and drive mainstream DePIN adoption. Seen as a decentralized alternative to AWS or Google Cloud, Grove offers Web3 infrastructure for building products and services on its POKT network, which supports over 40 different blockchains.
Decentralized identity management solution Gataca completed a €1.3 million (~$1.41 million) strategic round, with participation from Signature Ventures, U.S. fund SBXi, and several early supporters. The funds will support new product and feature development and team expansion. Signature Ventures has also joined Gataca’s cap table as a new financial partner.
Others
Crypto tax firm Waltio announced a €1.8 million (~$1.97 million) raise, with angel investors including Crédit Agricole Capital Développement, Julien Bouteloup (founder of Stake Capital), and Clément Coeurdeuil (co-founder of Budget Insight). The funding will allow Waltio to continue enhancing its product to simplify crypto tax monitoring and reporting, accelerating international expansion.
Mummolin, parent company of decentralized Bitcoin mining pool OCEAN, announced completion of a $6.2 million seed round, led by Jack Dorsey, with participation from Accomplice, Barefoot Bitcoin Fund, MoonKite, NewLayer Capital, and Bitcoin Opportunity Fund. OCEAN Pool is the first transparent and non-custodial platform where miners receive block rewards directly from coinbase transactions, eliminating risks associated with traditional pools withholding payments from individual miners.
Hong Kong-based Web3.0 incubator Web3Labs completed a strategic funding round exceeding $2 million, with participation from Foresight Ventures, VCB Technology, Waterdrip Capital, Cipholio Ventures, NextGen Venture Partners, and Qtum Foundation. Web3Labs serves as a one-stop entry point for Web3 startups, aiming to respond to Hong Kong SAR government policy declarations by helping global Web3 companies establish operations in Hong Kong through on-the-ground services, investment acceleration, technical collaboration, and compliance support. It currently operates physical incubators in Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Hangzhou, and Beijing.
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