Funding Weekly: 40 deals raised approximately $210 million, with AI and Bitcoin ecosystem drawing significant attention
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Funding Weekly: 40 deals raised approximately $210 million, with AI and Bitcoin ecosystem drawing significant attention
Between March 4 and March 10, 10 blockchain projects raised over $5 million each.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy TechFlow
According to RootData, between March 4 and March 10, 40 blockchain startups announced a total of $209.75 million in funding.
Projects raising over $5 million include:
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Decentralized data marketplace Masa Network raised $8.75 million in a public sale;
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Cosmos ecosystem development platform Cosmology secured $5 million in seed funding;
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Open-source cryptography firm Zama, focused on privacy-preserving applications, raised $73 million in Series A funding;
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Web3 investment firm Mirana Ventures will purchase $8 million worth of Toncoin on the secondary market;
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Solana-based decentralized compute network io.net raised $30 million in Series A funding;
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Decentralized AI network Sahara secured $6 million in seed funding;
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Institutional-grade crypto services platform Utila raised $11.5 million in seed funding;
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DWF Labs will acquire $10 million worth of TokenFi tokens;
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Crypto payments company Baanx completed a $20 million Series A round;
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DePIN+AI project Privasea raised $5 million in seed funding.
Spotlight Projects
io.net
Overview: io.net is a decentralized computing network enabling developers to build, execute, and scale ML applications on the Solana blockchain. It aggregates 1 million GPUs into the world's largest GPU collective and DePIN infrastructure.
Investors: The Solana-based decentralized compute network io.net raised $30 million in its Series A round, led by Hack VC. Participants include Multicoin Capital, 6th Man Ventures, M13, Delphi Digital, Solana Labs, Aptos Labs, Foresight Ventures, Longhash, SevenX, ArkStream, Animoca Brands, Continue Capital, MH Ventures, OKX, as well as key figures such as Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Aptos co-founders Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, Yat Siu from Animoca Brands, and Jin Kang from Perlone Capital.
Features:
1. Launched its first-phase points rewards program on March 1, running until April 28, rewarding users based on GPU contributions. The IO token will launch on April 28.
2. io.net aggregates underutilized GPUs from independent data centers, crypto miners, and blockchain projects like Filecoin and Render.
3. Within 10 days of the Ignition campaign, the number of GPU miners surged from 26,000 to over 51,000.
Zama
Overview: Zama is an open-source cryptography company building cutting-edge Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) solutions for blockchain and artificial intelligence.
Investors: Zama raised $73 million in its Series A round, co-led by Multicoin Capital and Protocol Labs. Other investors include Metaplanet, Blockchange Ventures, Vsquared Ventures, Stake Capital, Juan Benet (Filecoin founder), Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana co-founder), and Gavin Wood (Ethereum and Polkadot co-founder).
Features:
1. Enables anyone to build end-to-end encrypted applications out-of-the-box. Developers can get started without prior cryptography knowledge.
2. Users can leverage the Concrete framework to convert AI models into FHE equivalents and perform training and inference on encrypted data.
3. Aims to make FHE extremely fast—scaling confidential blockchains to over 1,000 transactions per second and generating tens of encrypted LLM tokens per second.
Privasea
Overview: Privasea is a decentralized AI network that enables data value circulation through FHEML. It provides distributed computing resources for FHE AI operations, powered by Zama’s Concrete Machine Learning and incentivized via the $PRVA token.
Investors: DePIN+AI project Privasea raised $5 million in seed funding. Early backers include Binance Labs, MH Ventures, K300, Gate Labs, 1NVST, and Zephyrus Capital.
Features:
1. Integrates FHEML into a distributed computing crowdsourcing network and combines it with self-developed DePIN mining hardware to create an FHE compute network supporting all L1 and L2 blockchains.
2. Privasea is launching its first decentralized application using FHE technology—“ImHuman” dApp. This innovative app leverages FHE to securely execute “Proof of Human” in digital environments, offering a reliable and tamper-proof method for verifying human users.
3. Backed by Binance Labs.
Breakdown of Funding by Sector:
Bitcoin Ecosystem
Satoshi Lab, an investment lab jointly launched by Web3 Labs and Waterdrip Capital, announced an investment in Bitcoin-native DeFi protocol bitSmiley. Specific terms were not disclosed.
Bitcoin L2 network Mirror L2 announced its first fundraising round with undisclosed amount. Investors include UTXO (investment arm of Bitcoin Magazine), Conflux, and IMO Ventures. Mirror L2 is a decentralized Proof-of-Stake BTC L2 compatible with EVM and uses BTC as gas.
Taproot Labs announced on X a strategic investment from Waterdrip Capital, Satoshi Lab, and Negentropy Capital. Taproot Labs focuses on developing Bitcoin Layer-2 applications and a multi-chain asset trading platform based on the Lightning Network’s Taproot Assets Protocol. The company has launched two product lines—Taproot Chain and Taproot Exchange—and aims to provide stable, high-speed, and secure application-layer solutions for the BTC ecosystem.
Bitcoin Layer-2 solution Bison Labs announced a Pre-Seed round led by Portal Ventures, UTXO Fund, Domo (creator of BRC-20), and Linus Chuang (Chief Product Officer at Magic Eden), with participation from Waterdrip Capital, Startup Labs, and Satoshi Lab. Bison Labs is a sovereign rollup on Bitcoin using ZK proofs, featuring minimal trust assumptions and maximum security.
Ordinals wallet Oyl raised $3 million in equity financing, led by Arca—a venture firm previously focused on Ethereum NFT investments. Other participants include crypto entrepreneur Arthur Hayes, anonymous BRC-20 standard creator Domo, and NFT funds Kanosei and FlamingoDAO. Oyl is set to officially launch in the coming weeks, offering an “in-wallet” Ordinals trading platform.
AI
DePIN+AI project Privasea raised $5 million in seed funding. Backers include Binance Labs, MH Ventures, K300, Gate Labs, 1NVST, and Zephyrus Capital. Privasea integrates FHEML into a distributed computing network combined with proprietary DePIN mining hardware, creating an FHE compute network supporting all L1 and L2 chains. Funds will be used to expand the FHEML network and promote its FHE-powered “Proof of Human” dApp.
Decentralized AI network Sahara raised $6 million in seed funding, led by Polychain Capital. Participants include Samsung Next, Matrix Partners, Motherson Group, dao5, Geekcartel, Canonical Crypto, Nomad Capital, Dispersion Capital, Alumni Ventures, Tangent Ventures, Coho Deeptech, and angel investor Sandeep Nailwal. Sahara is a trustless, permissionless, privacy-centric network that creates custom Knowledge Agents (Sahara KA) for individuals and enterprises. Through this decentralized network, users can monetize and automate their knowledge capital using AI.
Solana-based decentralized compute network io.net announced on X a $30 million Series A round led by Hack VC, with participation from Multicoin Capital, 6th Man Ventures, M13, Delphi Digital, Solana Labs, Aptos Labs, Foresight Ventures, Longhash, SevenX, ArkStream, Animoca Brands, Continue Capital, MH Ventures, OKX, and key figures including Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Aptos co-founders Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, Yat Siu of Animoca Brands, and Jin Kang of Perlone Capital. The funds will be used to build a decentralized GPU network addressing AI compute shortages.
Binance Labs announced an investment in QnA3.AI, an AI-powered Web3 knowledge-sharing and search platform.
DeFi
Fee-hedging protocol Hedgehog raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round. Investors include Marshland Capital, Tenzor Capital, Prometeus Ventures, 3Commas Capital, and Nothing Research. Hedgehog aims to create an asset reflecting current Ethereum transaction fees—specifically, the moving average price across the last 50 blocks. Once created, users can go long or short on this asset to hedge future fee fluctuations.
Liquidity aggregator protocol Orion announced an investment from DWF Labs, which agreed to lock up its ORN tokens for 12 months. Orion is transitioning toward becoming a DeFi infrastructure provider—Lumia.
Binance Labs announced an investment in UXUY, a decentralized multi-chain trading platform, to support the growth of the Bitcoin Lightning Network ecosystem. UXUY is part of Binance Labs’ sixth incubation cohort and was invited to speak at Binance Blockchain Week in Istanbul.
Binance Labs announced an investment in Derivio, a decentralized structured derivatives ecosystem built on zkSync.
Hedge fund Gotbit announced a strategic investment in Poolz Finance.
RWA
Digital asset market maker and multi-stage Web3 investment firm DWF Labs will purchase $10 million worth of TokenFi tokens as part of its vision to support TokenFi as a leader in tokenization. The acquisition will occur over two years from TokenFi’s treasury to develop AI-integrated products such as TokenFi Generative AI for NFTs and TokenFi AI Smart Contract Auditor.
L1
Venture fund LBank Labs invested in Versatus, a universal dApp engine aimed at overcoming one of the biggest barriers to Web3 adoption—developer shortage.
Web3 investment firm Mirana Ventures announced a new long-term partnership with TON, including a planned $8 million purchase of Toncoin on the secondary market. Mirana’s managing partner David Toh noted that TON’s integration with Telegram offers unique advantages for accelerating large-scale adoption of token governance. The collaboration will provide financial backing to TON and long-term support for building Telegram’s Web3 SuperApp, while promoting cross-chain cooperation with networks like Mantle.
Morningstar Ventures announced an investment in COTI to support its ecosystem and development of L2 privacy solutions.
L2
Highly scalable blockchain SX Network announced a strategic funding round led by Draper Dragon, with CMCC Global, CMS Holdings, and several angel investors participating. Terms were not disclosed. SX Network uses blockchain to enhance fairness and transparency by publishing every betting transaction on-chain. Its app is expected to launch on Arbitrum in the coming weeks.
Modular blockchain project Blackwing raised $4.5 million in a new round led by Hashed and Gumi Cryptos. The funds will be used to develop a modular Layer-2 blockchain enabling non-liquidated leveraged trading of crypto assets, reducing forced liquidation risks for users.
SocialFi
Web3 social platform Beoble announced a strategic funding round with participation from Animoca Brands. Terms were not disclosed. Beoble will provide its chat functionality to companies and projects under Animoca Brands to enhance community engagement and interaction across the Web3 ecosystem.
OKX Ventures made a strategic investment in DeBox, a social DAO with decentralized organizational features. DeBox integrates Web3 experiences into a social communication platform capable of managing on-chain assets and transaction data. Tools like DeSwap enable interoperability with major public chains such as Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, and zkSync Era.
GameFi
Binance Labs announced an investment in Cellula, a fully on-chain autonomous life simulation strategy game.
Infrastructure & Tools
On-chain points infrastructure developer Stack raised $3 million in seed funding, led by Archetype. Participants include Coinbase Ventures, Scalar Capital, A.Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, Nadav Hollander, Henri Stern, Cooper Turley, and Colin Armstrong. Stack builds frameworks for allocating and tracking on-chain points, including point distribution, leaderboards, and trustless token redemption services, allowing users to exchange points for ERC-20 tokens, ETH, or other assets.
Open-source cryptography firm Zama, helping developers build privacy-preserving apps, raised $73 million in Series A funding, co-led by Multicoin Capital and Protocol Labs. Other investors include Metaplanet, Blockchange Ventures, Vsquared Ventures, Stake Capital, Juan Benet (Filecoin founder), Anatoly Yakovenko (Solana co-founder), and Gavin Wood (Ethereum and Polkadot co-founder). Zama specializes in Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) to strengthen data confidentiality. The company plans to use the funds to further develop its FHE tools, aiming for a 1,000x performance improvement to support broader applications.
Cosmos ecosystem development platform Cosmology raised $5 million in seed funding, led by Galileo and Lemniscap, with participation from Dispersion, HashKey, Tuesday Capital, Osmosis Foundation, Chorus One, and Informal Systems. Valuation was not disclosed. Cosmology offers a full-stack development environment with tools for Tendermint, Cosmos SDK, and Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol, simplifying the development of Cosmos-based applications.
Decentralized data marketplace Masa Network announced its CoinList community sale received 6.4x oversubscription. Masa raised $8.75 million through CoinList’s public sale. According to its announcement, the initial allocation of 63,554,660 MASA tokens sold out in just 17 minutes, raising $5 million; an additional $3.75 million worth of tokens also sold out.
Blockchain and digital asset investment firm Spirit Blockchain Capital announced a strategic investment in CryptoSlam, an NFT cross-chain analytics platform, forming a partnership. Terms were not disclosed.
Web3 wallet operating platform DreamOS raised $2.1 million in seed funding, led by Arca. Other investors include Hack VC, Mantle, Polygon Ventures, Karatage, Selini Capital, No Limit Holdings, and angel investors. The team aims to transform how users interact with digital assets through DreamOS, offering intuitive UX to onboard non-crypto users into Web3.
Cross-chain communication layer Zeus Network announced an angel round from Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Mechanism Capital founder Andrew Kang, and Stacks co-creator Muneeb Ali. Zeus Network connects Bitcoin and Solana and has been actively shaping the cross-chain future since December 2023. It is currently participating in Jupiter LFG launchpad voting and has received over 50% of votes.
CeFi & Others
Web3 fan collaboration platform Hypercomic announced a Series A round led by Logan Ventures. While specific terms were not disclosed, the company’s valuation in this round was close to 11 billion KRW (~$8.26 million). New funds will be used to expand Korean IP globally.
Crypto payments company Baanx raised $20 million in a Series A round, with participation from Ledger, Tezos, Chiron, and a UK commercial bank. The funds will support its service launch in the U.S. and Latin America this year. The company claims over 150,000 users and its native BXX token.
Institutional-grade crypto services platform Utila raised $11.5 million in seed funding, with participation from NFX, Wing VC, Framework Ventures, and others. Utila helps institutions and developers securely manage digital assets via its non-custodial, chain-agnostic wallets. The company claims to already serve dozens of institutional investors and native crypto firms, facilitating over $3 billion in transactions in the past six months.
Crypto on/off-ramp provider Onramp Money announced a strategic seed round with undisclosed amount. FunFair Ventures, the VC arm of FunFair Technologies Group, participated and formed a strategic partnership.
Crypto risk analytics startup Agio Rating announced $4.6 million in funding across two rounds, conducted in 2023 but only recently disclosed. Investors include Superscrypt, Portage, MS&AD Ventures, and several angels. Agio Rating aims to become the “Moody’s of crypto,” helping market makers, brokers, and lenders assess counterparty risk in digital assets. It has already rated 32 crypto companies.
AI-powered digital asset credit rating project Synnax Tech announced a $1 million Pre-Seed round on X, led by No Limit Holdings, with participation from Bitscale Capital, MH Ventures, Edessa Capital, and Ryze Labs. Synnax aims to build an AI-driven credit rating standard for digital assets and use decentralized networks to solve core issues like data opacity in the current ratings market.
Web3 security firm GoPlus Security raised $4 million in a “Private II+” private placement round. Investors include Binance Labs, SevenX Ventures, Redpoint China Ventures, Avalanche, and Crypto.com. The company has now raised $15 million total and plans to use the funds to expand its user security network, focusing on transparency and user empowerment.
Web3 API service provider Kravata raised $3.6 million in seed funding. Participants include Volt Capital, Framework Ventures, Circle Ventures, Magma Partners, and SIMMA Capital. Kravata offers a user-friendly, secure way to connect Web2 experiences to Web3. Through APIs, clients can seamlessly integrate Web3 capabilities into their services without internal tech development burdens, ensuring compliance and continuous support at every step.
Dubai-based cybersecurity and blockchain firm Infinity Capital announced the acquisition of Andro, a crypto asset preservation solutions provider. Terms were not disclosed.
Blockchain loyalty program startup tookeez announced a new round of $1.5 million, backed by Moroccan investment firm Azur Innovation Fund. The company did not disclose valuation details.
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