Highlights of this issue
According to incomplete statistics from LianGuaiNews, there were 18 blockchain investment and financing events worldwide last week (8.14-8.20), with a total funding scale exceeding 199 million US dollars, as follows:
- DeFi announced 1 investment and financing event. Ellipsis Labs, the Solana ecosystem DEX developer, completed a $3.3 million seed round financing, led by Electric Capital;
- In the NFT and Metaverse field, there were 2 investment and financing events. Among them, the Metaverse project ZepetoX completed a $13 million seed round financing, led by Jump Crypto;
- No investment and financing events were announced in the Blockchain Gaming track;
- In the Infrastructure and Tools track, there were 5 financing events. Among them, Layer 1 blockchain operator ZetaChain completed a $27 million equity financing, with investors including Blockchain.com and Human Capital;
- In the Other Web3/Crypto-related Projects field, there were 9 financing events. Among them, Jada AI, an artificial intelligence project using blockchain technology, raised $25 million, with participation from alternative investment group LDA Capital;
- In the field of Centralized Finance, there was 1 financing event. Cryptocurrency custody company BitGo raised $100 million at a valuation of $1.75 billion, with investors undisclosed.
DeFi
Ellipsis Labs raised $3.3 million in seed round financing, led by Electric Capital
Solana ecosystem DEX developer Ellipsis Labs announced the completion of a $3.3 million seed round financing, led by Electric Capital, with participation from Robot Ventures, Anagram, Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron, and Monad Labs CEO Keone Hon, among others.
- Binance Research Account Abstract Report Current Development and Future Outlook, Ecosystem Landscape and Feasible Use Cases
- Viewpoint From the perspective of the future development direction of the blockchain industry, ICP may be the innovative driving force of blockchain 3.0.
- New Paper from LianGuai Paradigm The Openness Issue of Whole-Chain Games
NFT & Metaverse
ZepetoX, the Metaverse project, raised $13 million in seed round financing, led by Jump Crypto
ZepetoX, a 3D Metaverse platform built in collaboration between Zepeto, the largest “Web2” Metaverse platform in Asia with a valuation exceeding $1 billion, owned by Korean Internet giant Naver, and Jump Crypto, raised $13 million in seed round financing, led by Jump Crypto. Participating investors include Collab+Currency, LianGuairataxis, MZ Web3 Fund, and Everest Ventures Group. ZepetoX allows developers and users to build projects based on blockchain technology and plans to launch its first NFT land sales in the coming months.
MasterExchange, the NFT music royalty market, raised $2.7 million
MasterExchange, the NFT music royalty market, raised $2.7 million, with participation from Vectr Fintech, Claes-Henrik Julander, and Rob Small, among others. MasterExchange has launched its first Initial Music Offering (IMO) product, “Sofia,” and sold out. Founded by artificial intelligence and blockchain experts Alexander Fred-Ojala, MasterExchange allows music creators to raise funds by selling a portion of their future income (i.e., music royalties) to support early-stage creation. It is expected to launch more IMOs in the fall of this year. According to the MasterExchange official website, royalty shares are tradable assets on the MasterExchange platform, and each royalty share is unique and associated with an NFT on Polygon. However, the NFTs are held by external encrypted custodians, and users do not interact directly with NFTs when using MasterExchange.
Infrastructure & Tools
Layer 1 blockchain operator ZetaChain completes $27 million equity financing
ZetaChain, a Layer 1 blockchain operator focusing on interoperability, has completed a $27 million equity financing round. Investors include Blockchain.com, Human Capital, and others. The valuation has not been disclosed. Founded in 2021, ZetaChain is about to launch its mainnet, aiming to unify multiple blockchains (including Ethereum, Polygon, BSC, and even non-smart contract chains like Bitcoin and Dogecoin) on one platform. The project has currently deployed over 27,000 decentralized application contracts on its network, covering Defi, NFT, social, identity, and gaming protocols. According to today’s announcement, over 1.7 million users have participated in ZetaChain’s testnet.
New public chain Linera raises $6 million in a new round of financing, led by Borderless Capital
Linera, a Layer-1 blockchain created by former Meta engineers, has received $6 million in new financing, led by venture capital fund Borderless Capital. Other participants include Laser Digital Ventures (Nomura Securities), Flow Traders, Eterna Capital, DFG, and Jsquare. The new funds will be used to “expand the team, launch the development and test networks of the protocol, cultivate strategic influence in the Asia-Pacific region, and continue to develop its developer academy.” The project aims to bring Web2-like scaling capabilities into Web3 applications by allowing an unlimited number of smaller user chains.
Cryptographic technology provider LianGuaiDO Labs completes $3 million seed financing
Cryptographic technology provider LianGuaiDO Labs announced that it completed a $3 million seed financing round six months ago, with undisclosed financing institutions. The beta version product LianGuaiDO is about to launch internal testing. LianGuaiDO will allow users to perform proof calculations and create credit credentials on browser plugins or mobile devices. In the future, it will integrate proof systems such as zk-SNARKs and technologies like zkVM to provide publicly verifiable on-chain data application logic and privacy protection. LianGuaiDO also plans to collaborate with cryptographers, contract engineers, data scientists, and others to build a standardized protocol-driven framework. LianGuaiDO is dedicated to building a decentralized credit ecosystem, integrating off-chain data through interactive zero-knowledge proofs (IZK) and secure multiparty computation (MPC) technologies.
Cryptocurrency payment company CityLianGuaiy completes seed financing of over $2 million, with participation from Tether and others
Cryptocurrency payment company CityLianGuaiy has completed a seed financing round of over 2 million euros (approximately $2.17 million), including $500,000 in cryptocurrency investments from Tether, Presto Ventures, and other angel investors. This round of financing will be used for market expansion and the development of the B2C platform. CityLianGuaiy, founded by Eralp Hatipoglu (CEO) and Beka Kemertelidze, is committed to helping corporate clients receive cryptocurrency payments through four methods: web-integrated payments, POS terminals, email invoices, and personal initial deposits, and converting them into fiat currency.
Web3 security company Aegis completes multi-million dollar seed round financing and plans to start a new round of financing soon
Web3 security company Aegis announced the completion of a multi-million dollar seed round financing, with investment from Generative Ventures, Aurora Venture Capital, and Risk Peak Evergreen. Next, Aegis will continue to launch new security features such as anti-Rugpulls and plans to start a new round of financing in the near future. Aegis was founded in 2022 and was incubated from another global blockchain security company called “Pard Shield”. Aegis’s target market is mainly in North America and Southeast Asia, with a current user base of 140,000. Currently, Aegis’s product exists as a plugin in browsers, providing protection functions for pre-, during-, and post-transaction stages. After the transaction is completed, Aegis reduces asset losses caused by excessive wallet and signature authorization through the function of revoking authorization.
Other
Jada, an AI project using blockchain technology, completes $25 million in financing with participation from LDA Capital
Jada AI, an artificial intelligence project using blockchain technology, has completed a $25 million financing round with participation from alternative investment group LDA Capital. The funds will be used to expand the project’s development team and add new organizations. Jada AI provides AI services that assist in decision-making and expanding organizational operations. The project operates in a blockchain-based environment, with AI computations executed between nodes participating in the network.
Dinari, a Web3 corporate equity trading company, completes $7.5 million in seed round financing
According to The Block, Web3 corporate equity trading company Dinari has raised $7.5 million in seed funding. Investors in this round include Third Kind Venture Capital, 500 Global, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, Sancus Ventures, Version One VC, and members of Susquehanna International Group company SPEILLLP. In addition to announcing seed financing, Dinari also stated that it will launch a trading platform called dShare, which will match tokens with underlying securities on a 1:1 basis. Due to regulatory reasons, the dShare platform will provide services for securities such as Apple or Tesla stocks to users outside the United States, using wallets on the Arbitrum network.
Lore, a blockchain analytics platform developer, completes $2.3 million in financing
Shuttle Labs, the developer of the blockchain analytics platform Lore Explorer, has completed a $2.3 million new financing round with participation from SALT.org, Arca, Balaji Srinivasan, and Floodgate. The new funds will be used to build Lore’s AI browser and EVM-compatible network analysis tools. Lore Explorer is an AI-centric on-chain data analysis solution that has integrated a deep large language model (LLM) to make blockchain analysis conversational. On Lore, users can choose to have transactions translated into simple but detailed English provided by their legal master’s degree holders, who have been trained on billions of transactions and protocol documents.
JKLabs completes $2 million pre-seed round financing, aiming to solve project governance problems
JKLabs announced the completion of a $2 million pre-seed round of financing, with participation from 1kx, Boys Club, Seed Club Ventures, and more than 90 angel investors. Sean McCaffrey, co-founder of JKLabs, said that decision-making often becomes difficult due to internal disputes, low transparency, and legal complexity between community members and investors. JKLabs aims to address some governance issues through its jokerace platform, which allows projects to launch competitions and hackathons, distribute grants, provide incentives to on-chain community members, and determine voting weight through on-chain reputation.
TON ecosystem LaunchLianGuaid platform TonUP receives six-figure investment from TONcoin.Fund
TON ecosystem LaunchLianGuaid platform TonUP announced a six-figure investment from TONcoin.Fund. TONcoin.Fund is a $250 million TON-based fund dedicated to supporting founders and various key projects, with a focus on DeFi. Each project will receive funding ranging from $50,000 to $250,000. In addition to funding, each investment will receive collaboration and guidance from accelerator partners.
Otherside ecosystem data aggregation service Otherdex completes strategic round of financing with participation from “Jimmy Key” buyer Adam Weitsman
Otherside ecosystem data aggregation service and exploration platform Otherdex announced the completion of a strategic round of financing with participation from Adam Weitsman, CEO of Upstate Shredding. The specific amount of financing has not been disclosed. The new funds will be used to accelerate the development of Otherside ecosystem exploration tools. It is reported that Adam Weitsman previously purchased the “Jimmy Key (Dookie Dash Golden Key)” for approximately $1.6 million (1000 ETH). In addition to the investment, Weitsman will also join the Otherdex board and become an active partner in the project.
Social Media:
Web3 social data website Port3 Network completes multimillion-dollar financing and receives grants from companies such as Binance Labs
Web3 social data portal Port3 Network announced on Twitter that it has completed a multimillion-dollar new round of financing with participation from EMURGO, Adaverse Accelerator, Gate Labs, and others, bringing the total financing amount to $10 million. In addition, Port3 Network has also received grants from Binance Labs, Mask Network, and Aptos. The new round of financing and grants will be used to promote its on-chain interactive automation language BQL, which enables various on-chain interaction workflows. Users can simply click to run and execute complex interactions such as transactions and arbitrage. Established in 2022, Port3 Network is a portal website for acquiring and aggregating Web3 social data. Port3’s SoQuest application allows projects to incentivize users to share their data and drive traffic through tasks and rewards.
friend.tech completes seed round investment with participation from LianGuairadigm
friend.tech tweeted that it has completed a seed round of investment with participation from LianGuairadigm. Earlier this year, friend.tech also collaborated with LianGuairadigm to build new online social interactive tools. In addition, friend.tech stated that it has distributed initial Friday score airdrops to 44,000 users and will distribute 100 million points during a six-month testing phase. Each airdrop will take place on Fridays, and the points will be recorded off-chain and have special uses after the testing phase ends. friend.tech stated that the airdrops will be based on user activity before Thursday each week, and the criteria will be updated weekly. Users are not advised to use any specific method to earn points. friend.tech reserves the right to modify the previous points distribution if any issues arise.
Bitcoin social networking platform Orange Pill completes $250,000 pre-seed financing round, led by Lightning Ventures
Bitcoin social networking platform Orange Pill has completed a $250,000 pre-seed financing round, led by Lightning Ventures, with participation from NBA star Matthew Dellavedova and Barefoot Bitcoin Fund. The Orange Pill App was launched in November 2022 and is available on iOS and Android platforms.
Centralized Finance
Cryptocurrency custody company BitGo raises $100 million at a valuation of $1.75 billion
Cryptocurrency custody company BitGo has raised $100 million at a valuation of $1.75 billion. BitGo did not disclose specific investors but stated that they come from the United States and Asia, including some from outside the cryptocurrency industry. Previous investors in BitGo include Goldman Sachs, DRW Holdings, and Galaxy Digital Ventures. This funding round will be used for strategic acquisitions, with at least two transactions already in progress. BitGo currently serves as the custodian for the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and its other clients include financial services company Swan Bitcoin, blockchain developer Mysten Labs Inc., and fashion giant Nike Inc.
Venture Capital Institutions
CVP NoLimit Fund I, led by former Binance Chief Strategy Officer, raises $50 million
CVP NoLimit Fund I, a venture capital fund led by former Binance Chief Strategy Officer Gin Chao, has announced the closure of its fund and raised $50 million to invest in early-stage cryptocurrency companies. According to today’s announcement, the collaboration between NoLimit Holdings and private equity firm ClearVue LianGuairtners for CVP NoLimit Fund I ended on July 25.
NoLimit focuses on seed rounds and strategic investments, with investment sizes ranging from $250,000 to $3 million. The company has already invested in over 20 projects globally and plans to invest in another 20 projects in the next 12 months.
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