August 3, 2024
Over $222m in VC funding was raised by 22 crypto projects this week. Slightly lower than average over the past few week but categories which emerged with material funding and innovative solutions were in the DeFI, DePIN, Gambling, Social and Web3 space.
Category | Project | Money Raised this Round |
|---|---|---|
AI | 9,500,000 | |
2,500,000 | ||
7,000,000 | ||
Data Management | - | |
- | ||
DeFi | 61,400,000 | |
1,000,000 | ||
1,200,000 | ||
2,200,000 | ||
50,000,000 | ||
4,500,000 | ||
2,500,000 | ||
DePIN | 11,250,000 | |
2,250,000 | ||
9,000,000 | ||
FinTech | 10,700,000 | |
10,700,000 | ||
Gambling | 11,000,000 | |
11,000,000 | ||
Infrastructure | - | |
- | ||
Meme Coin | - | |
- | ||
Mining | 105,000,000 | |
105,000,000 | ||
- | ||
NFT | 3,400,000 | |
3,400,000 | ||
Social | 8,000,000 | |
5,000,000 | ||
3,000,000 | ||
Web3 | 2,000,000 | |
2,000,000 | ||
- | ||
Grand Total | 222,250,000 |
DeFI
DeFi projects were the standout with six projects raising $61,400,000.
Morpho Labs led the funding with $50,000,000 raised led by Ribbit Capital with participation of other prominent venture capital firms such as a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Pantera, Brevan Howard, and BlockTower. Its core product, Morpho Blue, is a permissionless lending protocol that empowers users to create and manage their own lending markets. In a mere six months since its launch on the Ethereum blockchain, it has garnered over $1.7 billion in total deposits while its recent deployment on the Base network has been equally impressive, accumulating $120 million in deposits within the first month of its launch.
Three interesting projects to emerge this week were Agent Exchange raising $1,000,000 and Pichi Finance raising $2,500,000. Both projects are points trading platforms, where users can trade Airdrop points prior to TGE or anything illiquid.
The other interesting project being MetaDAO raising $2,200,000 for its Solana prediction trading DAO solution, aka Futarchy. It does this through decision markets. In a decision market, you speculate on what an asset would be worth if an organization took a specific decision. For example, you could speculate on what the value of AAPL would be if Apple fired Tim Cook. MetaDAO is actively collaborating with other projects to integrate futarchy principles.
More traditional DeFI solutions raising funding were Liquorice, raising $1,200,000 and Breakout raising $4,500,000.
DePIN
DePIN projects raised $11,250,000 this week.
Raad Labs, DePIN Climate Data project, raised $2,250,000 from Coinfund. Raad Labs is a DePIN that monitors weather patterns, greenhouse gas emissions, wildfire risk, and soil degradation. By incentivizing sensor operators, the company aims to improve the quality and quantity of environmental data available.
Daylight, a DePIN Optimizing Energy Distribution, raised $9,000,000 led by a16z. Daylight is building a decentralized protocol that empowers users to actively participate in the energy grid. By connecting their energy devices, such as thermostats, batteries, and electric vehicles, to the Daylight platform, users can earn rewards while contributing to a more efficient and resilient energy system.
Gambling
The Gambling (or Predictions) Market saw $11,000,000 raised by Duel Now. The decentralized sports betting marketplace built on the Arbitrum layer-2 blockchain, joins other ‘prediction’ market players like Polymarket which raised $70m in the past two months. Prediction markets have seen a resurgence which can be explained by it being a presidential election year.
Social / Web3
Social projects raised $8,000,000.
Decentralised LinkedIn competitor Icebreaker, raised $5,000,000 led by former Google and Coinbase executives Dan Stone and Jack Dillé. Funding was received from Coinfund. Unlike LinkedIn's centralized model, Icebreaker facilitates the creation of a single, unified professional profile that seamlessly integrates existing accounts from platforms like LinkedIn, GitHub, and Farcaster. This fosters a more secure and trustworthy environment through features like instant credential verification and verifiable endorsements from colleagues.
While Jokerace, an On-Chain Social Finance Project which hosts Contests, raised $3,000,000. Jokerace allows anyone to create a contest in under 30 seconds. Jokerace envisions a future where users seamlessly interact with blockchain technology within the contest framework. This vision includes features like Livestreaming and interactive chat functionality within contests, building entire businesses on the platform, ranging from hackathons to reality TV shows and utilizing AI agent collectives within the contest ecosystem.
Web3 projects raised a disclosed $2,000,000.
We.Rich, a User-Generated Assets (UGA) platform built on Base, raised $2,000,000. Their solution offers Users the ability to create and own their assets, as opposed to the historical norm of Professionally Generated Assets.
While Girin Labs, a Korean Web3 venture studio, secured an undisclosed amount from Ripple’s XRP Ledger (Japan and Korea Fund). The funding will allow Girin Labs to continue to develop infrastructure solutions for the Web3 ecosystem, primarily the Girin Wallet, a dedicated XRPL wallet, and Lotus Protocol, a DeFi platform. It marks the first investment from Ripple’s Japan and Korea Fund.
NFT
Mintify secured $3,400,000 for its advanced trading services for non-fungible digital assets bringing total funding to $5m. Mintify is currently in the process of developing an NFT order book infrastructure for gaming, art, and real-world asset markets. The platform already offers support for Ethereum, Base, and Blast, with plans to extend support to Ordinals and other systems by the end of the year.
Infrastructure
On the Infrastructure front, Particle Network continues to attract investors with Binance Labs also making an undisclosed strategic investment in the project. Particle Network had raised $25m prior to Binance Labs investment and securing $15m of that in June 2024. With notable investors supporting the project, it is definitely one to watch.
Meme Coin
BlonkFi, raised an undisclosed amount, for its money market protocol on the Solana blockchain that allows anyone to collateralize volatile mid market capitalizations such as memecoins to borrow stablecoins.
AI
AI saw $9,500,000 raised.
Axle Automation, AI-enhanced solutions for Anti-Money Laundering (AML) compliance, raising $2,500,000 and Hyperbolic, a blockchain-based artificial intelligence cloud services raising $7,000,000 from Polychain Capital and Lightspeed Faction. The primary objective of Hyperbolic is to decrease the consumption of AI computing resources by pooling GPU power.
Data Management
Blockchain data solutions firm Lukka had an undisclosed strategic investment from Animoca Group. Animoca Brands will leverage Lukka’s Enterprise Data Management Software (EDMS) to streamline its crypto asset financial management and reporting across its diverse portfolio. While Animoca Capital also making a strategic investment in Lukka. Lukka's Blockchain Analytics and Investigations software will strengthen Animoca Brands' compliance efforts, including anti-money laundering measures and investigative capabilities underscoring the growing need for robust data management solutions in the crypto industry.
Conclusion
This week saw a lower than usual amount of venture capital funding flowing into the crypto space, with over $222 million raised by 22 projects. Several key themes emerged:
DeFi Dominates: Decentralized finance (DeFi) was the clear leader, attracting over $61 million. This included innovative projects like permissionless lending protocols, points trading platforms, and prediction market DAOs.
DePIN Makes its Mark: Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) also saw traction, with $11 million raised for projects focused on environmental data collection and optimizing energy distribution.
Social and Web3 on the Rise: The social and Web3 sectors garnered attention as well, with funding for a decentralized LinkedIn competitor and a user-generated asset platform.
Other Highlights: The week also saw notable investments in AI solutions for AML compliance, cross-border payment infrastructure, and advanced NFT trading services.
Overall, this funding round points to continued investor interest in the potential of blockchain technology to disrupt various industries. DeFi remains a hotbed of innovation, while DePIN and Web3 are emerging as promising areas for development.
A central focus of investor activity in the cryptocurrency space is the evaluation of new crypto projects to invest in, particularly those with huge potential. This blog provides insight into what new ventures are benefiting from venture capital support (VC funding in crypto). These new crypto projects, funded by professional investors, can dictate the next narrative in crypto and the next big crypto movers.
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