Global Blockchain Startups See Major Funding Surge, Highlighting Strong Cryptocurrency Market Recovery
Summary:
The cryptocurrency fundraising continues to rebound, with venture capital firms investing heavily in blockchain startups. Foresight Ventures disclosed a new $10 million accelerator for companies exploring AI and Bitcoin protocols, while GBA Capital launched a $10 billion Web3 fund. South Korean NFT developer Line Next raised $140 million in the largest blockchain funding round in Asia, led by Crescendo Equity Partners. Bitcoin rewards startup Lolli has raised $8 million in a Series B round led by BITKRAFT Ventures. Cryptocurrency exchange HTX invested in two new companies via its venture capital arm, HTX Ventures. The Interchain Foundation announced a $26.4 million budget for its 2024 funding program to support the Cosmos network.
The landscape of cryptocurrency fundraising continues its steady resurgence, with significant amounts funneled into startups of varying scales throughout December. Noteworthy movements include Foresight Ventures unveiling its third $10 million accelerator earmarked for companies exploring artificial intelligence, Bitcoin Ordinals, and direct-to-consumer protocols. Additionally, Hong Kong's GBA Capital launched a $10 billion Web3 fund. The most considerable blockchain series funding round in Asia saw South Korean nonfungible token (NFT) developer Line Next rake in $140 million, courtesy of a consortium led by Peter Thiel-backed private equity firm Crescendo Equity Partners. Messari statistics confirmed an impressive 81% hike in total deal volume for the closing quarter of 2023, amounting to $3.83 billion. Among the prominent investment rounds over the past three months were Blockaid securing $33 million, Ritual scooping up $25 million, Drift drawing in $23.5 million, Blast bagging $20 million, and Privy finalizing a $18 million transaction.
Bitcoin-oriented startup Lolli bagged $8 million in a series B round headed by BITKRAFT Ventures as announced on December 14. The round attracted old and new investors such as Serena Williams' Serena Ventures, Sfermion, Ulta Beauty’s Prisma Ventures, Hypersphere Ventures, Rahul Pagidipati, 2 Punks Capital, and MZ Web3 Fund. Lolli, offering Bitcoin and cash back rewards to shoppers across various retailers like Ulta Beauty, Groupon, and Booking.com, claims to support over 25,000 stores. It also alleges to have distributed more than $10 million in Bitcoin rewards since its inception in 2018. With the fresh capital, Lolli aims to widen its rewards coverage towards other enterprises, including payment service providers.
In another development, NodeKit attracted $1.2 million in a pre-seed round to foster its shared sequencer on Avalanche Subnet for decentralized rollups. Spearheaded by Borderless Capital, the round also saw the participation of Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund, Polygon Ventures, Wormhole Cross-Chain Ecosystem Fund, and angel investors like Avail’s Anurag Arjun. NodeKit's SEQ is focused on enhancing performance, durability, and interchangeability for rollups, thereby enabling a decentralized network of validators.
The crypto exchange HTX, through its venture capital wing, HTX Ventures, added two new companies to its portfolio in December. It has invested in Academic Labs, an AI and Web3 technology-based digital assets education platform, and the Cumulus Encrypted Storage System (CESS) - a blockchain-driven decentralized storage and content delivery network infrastructure for Web3. While HTX ventures have not revealed the investment amounts, CESS announced that they secured $8 million in funds from various investors, including HTX Ventures.
Meanwhile, the Interchain Foundation (ICF) budgeted a whopping $26.4 million for its 2024 funding program. The capital is intended to sustain and develop the Interchain Stack, a blockchain-driven, open-source decentralized app and service ecosystem. Besides, various projects backed by the program include Binary Builders, Confio, Cosmology, Informal Systems, Strangelove Ventures, and Zondax. The Interchain Foundation, which supports the Cosmos network and its ecosystem, also revealed its future plans.
On a side note, substance abuse seems to be on the rise among crypto traders as per a magazine report.
Published At
1/3/2024 11:45:00 PM
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