Recap of 7 Most Watched Project Fundings and Participation Opportunities This Summer
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Recap of 7 Most Watched Project Fundings and Participation Opportunities This Summer
Covering areas such as infrastructure, liquid staking and MEV, DePIN, AI, and L2.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Stacy Muur
Translation: TechFlow
Morpho Labs | Lending
Funding Summary
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Total raised: $69.35 million
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Latest round: Undisclosed, $50 million
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Investors: Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, Fenbushi Capital, a16z, Ribbit Capital, and others.
Overview
Morpho is considered one of the most significant phenomena in DeFi this year, with a current total value locked (TVL) exceeding $1.5 billion. It ranks as the 5th largest lending protocol on DefiLlama.
Morpho is a decentralized, non-custodial lending protocol that enables permissionless creation of immutable and efficient lending markets. Think of it as a secure marketplace for lending products, active on Ethereum and Base networks.
Early Access Opportunity
To receive future $MORPHO tokens, you must participate in the protocol as a supplier or borrower. You can enter Morpho’s estimated fully diluted valuation (FDV) into the interface to calculate the additional annual percentage yield (APY) you’ll earn once tokens launch. As a result, many borrowing pairs on Morpho offer positive annual percentage rates (APR).
Website | dApp | X | Docs | Funding Announcement | CryptoRank Profile
MegaETH | L2
Funding Summary
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Total raised: $20 million
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Latest round: Seed round, $20 million
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Investors: Dragonfly Capital, Vitalik Buterin, Joseph Lubin, Robot Ventures, and others.
Overview
MegaETH claims to be the first "real-time blockchain" with full Ethereum compatibility. In this context, “real-time” means MegaETH processes transactions immediately upon arrival and instantly publishes updates.
The concept originated from limitations in most EVM-compatible blockchains, which typically handle only three-digit transaction volumes per second (TPS). In contrast, MegaETH aims for 100,000 TPS.
To achieve this real-time performance, MegaETH leverages Ethereum's security, Optimism’s fault proof system, and its own optimized sequencer.
Early Access Opportunity
There are currently no activities targeting early participants. However, the project is recruiting developers to build on it, so a testnet launch may be imminent. Stay tuned.
Website | X | CryptoRank Profile
Sentient | AI
Funding Summary
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Total raised: $85 million
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Latest round: Seed round, $85 million
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Investors: Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Robot Ventures, Delphi Ventures, and others.
Overview
Sentient is a foundation focused on developing an open-source general artificial intelligence (AGI) platform.
It provides a blockchain protocol for AI product contracts and trading, a community-built AI innovation library, and incentives for AI developers. The foundation supports AI projects through community contributions, aiming to align AI advancement with collaborative efforts.
Early Access Opportunity
The platform has not yet launched and is listed as upcoming. However, you can join the waitlist to become an early user and gain access.
Website | X | Funding Announcement | CryptoRank Profile
Daylight Energy | DePIN
Funding Summary
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Total raised: $13.2 million
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Latest round: Series A, $9 million
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Investors: a16z, Framework Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and others.
Overview
Daylight is a DePIN protocol focused on energy distribution. It uses the Base blockchain to integrate energy devices via its app, rewarding users for using green energy.
Daylight offers solar panels, battery storage, heat pumps, and climate services with local professionals, currently available in Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
Essentially, it connects consumers with green energy providers and will incentivize participation once its token launches.
Early Access Opportunity
The Daylight protocol testnet is already live! If your country supports the Daylight app (unfortunately not mine), you can connect distributed energy resources to the app and start earning rewards.
Website | App | X | Funding Announcement | CryptoRank Profile
Particle Network | Infrastructure
Funding Summary
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Total raised: $25 million
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Latest round: Series A, $15 million
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Investors: Spartan, Hashkey Capital, Morningstar Ventures, Animoca Ventures, and others.
Overview
Particle Network is a modular chain abstraction infrastructure offering a seamless “one account, one balance, any chain” experience.
As an L1 solution, Particle Network unifies all chains through universal accounts, solving the problem of fragmented users and liquidity in Web3. With this system, users maintain a single account and balance across the entire ecosystem, eliminating the need for manual bridging or managing assets across multiple chains.
Early Access Opportunity
Particle Network’s mainnet is scheduled to launch in Q3 2024. In the meantime, users can try its chain abstraction features via Particle Pioneer, its testing and community program.
The testnet has already attracted broad participation, with over 1.3 million registered universal accounts and more than 114 million transactions.
Website | X | Funding Announcement | CryptoRank Profile
aPriori | Liquid Staking & MEV
Funding Summary
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Total raised: $10 million
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Latest round: Seed round, $8 million
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Investors: Pantera Capital, Hashed, Arrington Capital, Consensys, OKX Ventures, Binance Labs, and others.
Overview
aPriori is a Monad-based MEV-driven liquid staking platform that repurchases MEV and redistributes earnings to the protocol and ecosystem. It develops transaction-centric infrastructure to enhance Monad’s throughput and user experience.
Early Access Opportunity
aPriori’s product has not yet launched, and there is currently no early access program. However, the testnet is expected to launch shortly after the latest funding announcement, so it’s worth keeping an eye on.
Website | X | Funding Announcement | CryptoRank Profile
Pi Squared | Infrastructure
Funding Summary
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Total raised: $12.5 million
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Latest round: Seed round, $12.5 million
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Investors: Polychain Capital, Robot Ventures, Samsung Next, ABCDE, and others.
Overview
Pi Squared (Proof of Proof) provides trustless remote computation, AI, and interoperable smart contracts for any blockchain or dApp.
They are developing Pi Squared’s universal settlement layer, which ensures end-to-end correctness of general-purpose computation while adhering to typical blockchain constraints and minimizing trust assumptions.
This foundation supports next-generation L2s and application-specific chains, cross-chain bridges, multi-chain DeFi, distributed computing, and more.
Early Access Opportunity
Like aPriori, there are currently no available incentives or early access programs. However, the project holds immense potential and is definitely worth watching.
Website | X | Funding Announcement | CryptoRank Profile
Other Noteworthy Protocols
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Raised $8 million in a seed round, with investors including Hashkey Global, Polychain Capital, and others.
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Raised $7.5 million in a strategic round, with investors including GSR, Flow Traders, ArkStream Capital, and others.
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Raised $18 million in a seed round, with investors including Pantera Capital, Hashkey Capital, Tirana Ventures, and others.
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Raised $8 million in a Series A round, with investors including Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Borderless Capital, and others.
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Raised $35 million in a Series A round, with investors including Galaxy Ventures, GSR, Wintermute, and others.
How to Do Your Own Research (DYOR)?
In this analysis, I used Messari’s fundraising data. However, there are many other tools that can help analyze funding data and uncover new opportunities.
Below is a list of tools I find useful:
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