Cryptoday 1.05 | OpenSea announces $300 million funding round at a $13.3 billion valuation, led by Paradigm and Coatue
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Cryptoday 1.05 | OpenSea announces $300 million funding round at a $13.3 billion valuation, led by Paradigm and Coatue
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Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsCryptoday is a daily news column under TechFlow, focusing not on "news," but on asset movements.
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Funding Movements
NFT Game Starbots Raises $2.4 Million, Backed by AU21 Capital and Others
On January 5, it was announced that Starbots, an NFT-based robot combat game on Solana, has completed a private placement funding round of $2.4 million. The round was participated in by Impossible Finance, Defi Alliance, Solar Eco Fund, Parsiq, OKEx Blockdream Ventures, TomoChain, Good Game Guilds, Real Deal Guild, Gamee Studio, LuaVentures, Kyber Network, Solscan, Kyros Ventures, BigCoin Capital, TK Ventures, Exnetwork Capital, Hub Capital, AU21 Capital, Basics Capital, Formless Capital, and Quadhorn Guild. Starbots is a Solana-based NFT game where players can assemble robots according to different strategies, win battles, complete missions, and conquer new territories to earn GEAR tokens.
Decentralized Streaming Platform Livepeer Raises $20 Million in B+ Round Led by Tiger Global and DCG
According to The Block, decentralized video streaming network Livepeer has raised $20 million in a Series B+ equity financing round led by Tiger Global, Digital Currency Group (DCG), Northzone, Warburg Serres, and angel investors including UK hedge fund manager Alan Howard. Livepeer is an Ethereum-based decentralized streaming platform designed to transcode videos in a distributed and cost-efficient manner. Transcoding refers to reformatting raw video files to ensure optimal viewing experiences. Anyone can join Livepeer as a transcoder and earn fees paid in ETH or stablecoins. In July 2021, Livepeer previously raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Digital Currency Group.
OpenSea Completes $300 Million Funding at $13.3 Billion Valuation, Led by Paradigm and Coatue
OpenSea announced the completion of a $300 million Series C funding round at a post-money valuation of $13.3 billion, led by Paradigm and Coatue. The funds will primarily be used to accelerate product development, significantly improve customer support and security, make meaningful investments into the broader NFT and Web3 communities, and expand its team. Additionally, OpenSea has appointed Shiva Rajaraman, former VP of Business at Meta, as its new Vice President of Product. The company will continue focusing on lowering the barrier to entry for NFTs by introducing features that abstract blockchain complexity and simplify processes, helping users discover, manage, and showcase their NFTs with better tools, analytics, and presentations. OpenSea was valued at $1.5 billion during its Series B round in July last year.
DeFi
DeFi Platform Dot.Finance Migrates to Moonbeam
Decentralized finance protocol Dot.Finance announced its migration from Binance Smart Chain (BSC) to Moonbeam, the second parachain on Polkadot. The project will also launch immediately on Moonriver. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, Dot.Finance won the second parachain auction at the end of November, raising 35 million DOT (approximately $1.4 billion) from a total of 200,000 participants. Polkadot was created by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood to enable interoperability among blockchains. The parachain model reflects the belief that the future of Web3 will involve many different types of blockchains working together. There are 100 slots available on the relay chain—the core Polkadot blockchain responsible for finalizing transactions—and each slot can be leased for up to 96 weeks.
NFT/GameFi
The Sandbox Announces Collaboration with Shu Qi and Other Hong Kong Partners to Build Mega City in Metaverse
The land-based sandbox game The Sandbox today announced partnerships with multiple individuals and organizations from film, music, entertainment, performing arts, finance, real estate, and gaming industries to jointly create a large cultural hub called Mega City. New partners are joining The Sandbox’s virtual world by acquiring LAND NFTs in the open metaverse and building immersive experiences within Mega City. To celebrate these new collaborations, The Sandbox will launch a new round of LAND sales on January 13, 2022, allowing players to purchase plots located near the new partners. Partners who have already acquired LAND in The Sandbox metaverse to build Mega City include Adrian Cheng, a Hong Kong cultural entrepreneur; Sun Hung Kai & Co., a leading alternative investment firm; PwC Hong Kong, a professional services company; Times Capital, a blockchain-focused investment and asset management firm; filmmaker/director/actor Derek Yee; international superstar Shu Qi; renowned musician Dough-Boy; gaming IP Little Fighter; and local illustrator Zimai Gao.
DreamVerse to Launch on OKX NFT Marketplace, Offering Limited-Time Blind Box Sale of 400 Land NFTs
DreamVerse land NFT blind boxes will go live on the OKX NFT marketplace at 8:00 PM HKT on January 5, launching a limited-time minting event. A total of 400 DreamVerse land NFT blind boxes will be offered, priced at 0.25 ETH each, with a maximum of five NFTs per user. DreamVerse is a highly realistic virtual world that meticulously recreates top-tier IPs from celebrities, movies, animations, games, and the real world. It holds numerous IPs, including 3D character NFT rights and metaverse licensing for several major works by Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka, and has partnered with Tracy McGrady, granting him the right to build "McGrady Manor" in the metaverse.
Others
Celer cBridge Partners with OpenDAO to Enable Multi-Chain Expansion Through Open Native Asset Standard
On January 5, cBridge, the cross-chain bridge developed by Layer-2 scaling platform Celer, announced a partnership with decentralized autonomous organization OpenDAO to achieve multi-chain expansion through an open native asset standard, eliminating vendor lock-in. Users can now use cBridge to quickly and cost-effectively bridge SOS tokens across Ethereum, Avalanche, BSC, Metis, Fantom, Moonriver, Celo, OEC, HECO, and xDAI.
Harmony to Allocate $50–100 Million to DAOs This Year and Launch Bitcoin Bridge
Sharding blockchain project Harmony has set multiple goals for this year, including a budget of $380 million for Q4 2021 to Q3 2022. This will fund approximately 100 DAOs, allocating $500,000 to $1 million each; 1,000 grants; around ten partnerships; 100 porting projects; 500 new launches; 50 investments; and 10 hackathons. The remaining $200 million is expected to go into the network's treasury reserve. Harmony stated that funds will be directed toward: Research DAO, aimed at directly applying top research outcomes into production; Basic DAO, supporting income-at-will contributors; Wallet DAO, focused on enhancing security for all users; and Liquidity DAO, targeting organic market-making. Harmony will also launch a Bitcoin bridge on January 24, enabling users to utilize BTC within DeFi applications, although transaction speed and fees will depend on the Harmony network.
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