Venture Capitalists Power Crypto Resurgence with Increased Funding for Startups
Summary:
Venture capitalists return to the cryptocurrency space, ushering in alternative sources of funding such as grants and node sales for startups. Base-native lending platform, Seamless, aligns with Degen Chain and Pandora to distribute about $600,000 in grants to nascent creators and developers. Meanwhile, SingularityNET ecosystem plans to launch Deep Funding Round 4, offering over $1 million for decentralized AI projects. Investments in cryptocurrency companies have significantly ballooned, with promising developments in April including Paradigm's $225 million funding for Monad Labs. Sapien, an AI-blockchain platform, secured a $5 million seed funding, while Alpen Labs and Web3Firewall raised $10.6 million and $2.5m in their respective funding rounds.
The tide is turning as venture capitalists float back into the crypto sphere, ushering in a wave of opportunity for startup ventures in alternative finance such as node sales and grants. Base-native lending platform, Seamless, in collaboration with Degen Chain at layer-3 and semi-fungible token protocol, Pandora, is set to dispense approximately $600,000 in grants to aspiring creators and developers honing their skills on Base. Degen is geared towards developers intent on creating within Degen Chain and Farcaster, whilst Pandora targets creators more invested in ERC-404 technology. “Submission for grant applications will undergo scrutiny by community members. Hence, projects need a clear vision and demonstrate potential benefits to the broader ecosystems. We welcome unique and productive proposals”, said Ras, a Seamless Community Grants Program (SCGP) insider who prefers anonymity. The Community Governance forum is the portal for new grant applications. Filled forms detailing project specifics and requirements are mandatory. Another pool of grants is due to be released by the SingularityNET ecosystem, the Deep Funding Round 4, set to distribute over $1 million to kick-start decentralized AI projects, by early May. While grants fuel fresh talent and novel projects, it's a bullish season for crypto startups as funding availability improves. Investments in crypto ventures have swelled by 38% in Q1 2024, and projects benefitting from funding increased by a record 49% — the highest since Q4 2021. Just in March, a staggering $1.1 billion was poured into 180 crypto-oriented ventures, an impressive 52.5% monthly increase. Funds were primarily funneled toward infrastructure and decentralized finance ventures. Notable events in April include Paradigm's $225 million funding for layer-1 protocol Monad Labs, and a successful Series B funding of $80 million for crypto mining hardware manufacturer Auradine. As part of Cointelegraph’s VC Roundup, we spotlight startups that secured capital in early April. AI-driven blockchain platform Sapien clinched a $5m seed funding from Primitive Ventures, Animoca, Ravikant Capital, and Yield Guild Games. Established by Trevor Koverko of Polymath fame, Sapien's main aim is resolving data labeling, a major AI squabble. It applies blockchain technology in gamifying data labeling, thereby enhancing reward-based quality work. The data labeling market globally, controlled primarily by labeling farms in developing countries, is currently pegged around $3 billion. “This funding will enable us to grow our workforce and labeler platform, and improve data quality,” Koverko proclaimed in an official statement. Bitcoin-based economy Alpen Labs, a Bitcoin layer-2 developer, successfully raised $10.6 million counting on zero-knowledge proofs to enhance Bitcoin's blockchain scalability. Having recently broken cover, Alpen Labs is working on introducing smart contract functionality to Bitcoin through its rollup infrastructure. The funding round was led by Ribbit Capital and co-financed by Castle Island Ventures, Robot Ventures, and Axiom Capital. The startup's main discipline is the creation of a programmable and scalable layer for Bitcoin, compatible with various financial apps on-chain, such as lending, payments, and stablecoins. The veteran team is sourced from Blockstream Research, Nethermind, Aleo, and Palantir, forming an ecosystem that facilitates application transactions settlement via Bitcoin. HYCHAIN, an Ethereum layer-2 decentralized gaming network, raised over $8 million from more than 2,098 Ether (ETH), within just 48 hours via a node sale. Contributors resp for network security are rewarded with 25% of transaction fees. Their stats recorded 16,876 node keys generated by 3,357 unique users. Coincidentally, HYCHAIN's mainnet was launched on March 9, which offers assorted features and bridges for Ethereum and Polygon networks connectivity. Lastly, Web3Firewall secured $2.5 million in pre-seed funding led by Laser Digital, the digital asset subsidiary of Nomura, with participation from gumi Cryptos Capital and SPEILLLP, a Susquehanna International Group associate. Established by BitGo’s former chief information security officer, Dr. Samer Fayssal, the company provides a comprehensive risk and compliance platform designed for digital asset and blockchain companies, catered especially towards decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFT), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO). The startup plans to launch its platform in Q2 this year, powered by AI and machine learning for real-time threat detection, prevention, and response.
Published At
4/14/2024 9:06:52 PM
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