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Financing highlights | Animoca leads investment in gaming platform Param Labs; Electric leads investment in DEX Zeta Markets

BlockBeats2024/05/20 06:05
By:BlockBeats

According to BlockBeats statistics, the total number of financings last week was 20, which is less than before, with a total amount of about US$167.45 million and an average financing amount of US$8.3725 million. Among them, the infrastructure field occupies the majority, the Web3.0+AI field is relatively large, the DeFi field and the Metaverse/GameFi field are increasing, the digital asset management/payment field and the social/creator economy field are relatively small, and the NFT/digital fashion field and other fields have no financing. The following figure shows the proportion of financing in each sector last week:



Metaverse/GameFi


A total of 3 financings were raised in the Metaverse/GameFi field, with a total amount of US$8.1 million, accounting for 4.84% of the total financing last week.


Param Labs



On May 16, the UAE-based gaming platform Param Labs completed a $7 million financing, led by Animoca Brands, with participation from Delphi Ventures and Cypher Capital.


Param Labs is a AAA game and blockchain development studio focused on delivering the highest quality blockchain-integrated games to the public through player-owned digital assets. Param Labs aims to build a gaming ecosystem governed by its native PARAM token, which will be launched soon, and its first game "Kiraverse" is a multiplayer shooter game that earns money while playing.


Param Labs positions itself as a leading high-quality MMO game development team that bridges the gap between traditional games and Web3 through user-friendly experiences and sustainable ecosystems that can attract millions of new users to Web3. The company said it has more than 2.5 million followers on X across all its pages, in addition to 500,000 Discord users, according to a statement. Param Labs said the platform also has 300,000 daily active users.


CROSS THE AGES CROSS THE AGES(CTA)



On May 15, according to Cointelegraph, the NFT card chain game CROSS THE AGES CROSS THE AGES (CTA) announced the completion of $3.5 million in equity financing, led by Animoca Brands. With additional investments from Sebastien Borget of The Sandbox and Nicolas Jeuffrain of Tenergie, this round of financing has risen to $15 million. As of now, the total financing, including community financing, is $23.5 million.


CROSS THE AGES (CTA) was launched in 2020. Using blockchain technology, CTA combines free games and making money from games. As an intellectual property, it has established partnerships with multiple projects, including books, comics, games, e-sports, animation, collectibles, and underlying game investment models. For example, it has launched a cross-border cooperation with Ubisoft, integrating characters from its "Watch Dogs™" series of games into CTA's collectible card games, and cooperating with science fiction and fantasy publisher Hachette Bragelonne to publish "The Rune the Code". In addition, it has cooperated with Elixir game platform and Web3 project Mon Protocol.


Through this strategic investment, CROSS THE AGES will accelerate its many growth plans and build CTA's universe and ecosystem. Since the release of the virtual collectible card game in March 2023, CROSS THE AGES has received more than 400,000 downloads and a monthly active user community of 148,000.


FantaGoal



On May 18, the Web3 football game project FantaGoal announced the completion of a $3 million financing on the X platform, with participation from IDG Capital, OptaJoe, KuCoin Ventures, Chain Capital, etc. In addition, the project also received an additional $400,000 sponsorship from Sportsbet.io and Whale.io.


FantaGoal (FG) aims to build the world's largest football community, bringing new value and experience to millions of fans around the world by closely integrating the football world with blockchain technology, and using innovative features such as token rewards to stimulate fan participation. On the 17th, FANTAGOAL officially launched the airdrop, with this round of airdrops amounting to 3% of the total $FGC, and the airdrops will be released 100% before listing.


FANTAGOAL's airdrop tasks are different from other projects' on-chain interactions, with the thresholds brought by the initial costs and risk losses of witches. Among the 11 airdrop tasks set by FANTAGOAL, the main ones are attention, community activity; player character authentication and sign-in; and early community activity and additional rewards for construction. FANTAGOAL believes that airdrops should be given to real users who recognize the project, rather than setting high thresholds to oppose early participants.


Other financing in the Metaverse/GameFi field includes:


On May 14, the anime game metaverse Sekuya announced the completion of a $1.6 million financing, led by SingularityDAO, OIG Capital, GAINS Associates, NewTribe Capital, SEED THRIFT VENTURES, Bigger Than Race VC, and angel investors Casiraghi Mario A., SingularityNET, R1n, and W3GG participated.

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DeFi


A total of 4 financings in the DeFi field, with a total amount of over 16.9 million US dollars, accounting for 10.09% of the total financing last week.


Zest



On May 14, Stacks ecosystem startup Zest announced the completion of a 3.5 million seed round of financing, led by Tim Draper, with participation from Binance Labs, Flow Traders, Trust Machines and others. This is the first time that Binance Labs has participated in the investment of the Stacks ecosystem project, indicating that Binance Labs has begun to continuously strengthen its attention to BTC Layer2. Tim Draper has previously invested in SpaceX, Tesla, and Coinbase.


Zest was founded in 2021. It is reported that the protocol uses the Nakamoto upgrade of Bitcoin Layer 2 Stacks and the cross-chain asset sBTC to realize lending services that are completely native to the Bitcoin network. Stacks is about to undergo a Nakamoto upgrade to solve the centralization problem, and Zest Protocol will use the upgrade to create a native Bitcoin lending service. After the upgrade, Stacks has gained a high degree of BTC liquidity and network performance, and Zest will use this liquidity to carry out lending business. Users cross-chain native Bitcoin to obtain sBTC and enter Zest's pool to obtain income.


He Yi commented on the investment, saying: "Zest Protocol's technology meets the needs of Bitcoin holders and borrowers, unlocking the potential of Bitcoin's programmability and interoperability. At Binance Labs, we are always looking for pioneers who are leading the industry, and we look forward to seeing Stacks' Nakamoto upgrade drive the growth of Zest Protocol."


Related reading: " Received investment from Binance Labs, what is unique about Stacks lending market Zest? 》


Zeta Markets



On May 14, Solana ecosystem DEX project Zeta Markets completed a $5 million strategic financing round led by Electric Capital, with participation from Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM), Selini Capital and Airtree Ventures. Angel investors include Anatoly Yakovenko of Solana, Mert Mumtaz of Helius, Richard Wu of Tensor, and Genia Mikhalchenko of Pyth.


Zeta Markets founder Tristan FrizzaZeta said the platform had just started this round of financing, which ended last week, and that the structure of this round of financing was "purely" a simple agreement for future tokens (SAFT).


On April 9, Zeta Markets announced the upcoming launch of its native token Z, with utilities including governance, staking, and incentives. The total supply of Z is 1 billion, of which 10% will be used for airdrops to reward Zeta users and strategic communities on Solana, and 30% will be used for incentives.


The rest of DeFi financing includes:


On May 15, the Fuel network DeFi protocol Spark announced the completion of a $1.5 million pre-seed round of financing. Spark integrates a suite of financial services such as perpetual contracts, order books, and lending capabilities. It introduces a multi-collateral cross-margin system that supports diversified asset deposits and complex clearing protocols for risk management. With a high-performance order book and advanced tools to facilitate non-custodial interactions, Spark attracts developers and traders seeking flexibility and enhanced trading capabilities.

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On May 16, Intensity Labs, the developer of the "intention-centric" DeFi protocol Shogun, completed a $6.9 million seed round of financing. Polychain Capital and DAO5 jointly led the investment, and Arrington Capital, Arthur Hayes' family office Maelstrom, Build-a-Bera, Cobie, Ansem, Ser Shokunin and Meltem Demirors participated in the investment.

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Social/Creator Economy


A total of 2 financings were raised in the social/creator economy, with a total amount of over US$3.8 million, accounting for 2.27% of the total financing last week.


Gamic



On May 15, Web3 social application Gamic announced the completion of $1.8 million in financing. This round of financing was participated by Polygon Ventures, Gate.io, Mapleblock, Mulana, Double Peak Group, Momentum6, DWeb3 Capital, LD Capital and Sandeep Nailwal (co-founder of Polygon).


Gamic is a decentralized information platform for users and communities who want to use Web3 products and services, providing a complete set of management solutions for friends, players, brands, creators and community managers. Its vision is to lead the transformation of digital communities into vibrant economic networks. As the Internet rapidly develops into a more decentralized, user-empowered and economically inclusive space, anyone can easily connect, participate, trade and prosper.


Gamic is incubated by Binance Labs Fund, and Fundamental Labs is its development partner. It is reported that the platform has achieved tremendous growth in users, community and transactions, and is working hard to launch Gamic V3. Gamic said that a more complete roadmap will be launched soon.


Focus Tree



On May 18, Web3 productivity application Focus Tree published a post on the X platform stating that it had completed a $2 million seed round of financing, led by Sfermion, with participation from institutions and individuals such as VoltCapital, PsalionVC, Foresight Ventures, StarkWare, Typhon Ventures, Sebastien Borget, GiulioX, Ramzi Laieb, Th0rgal, Chen Zituo, Christophe Lassuyt, Benjamin Flores, Elias, Tazartes, and Mentor Reka.


Previously, Gabin Marignier, the founder of Focus Tree, was selected to serve on the Gaming Committee appointed by the Starknet Foundation Board of Directors. According to official news, the project is building the first social focus application to help millions of people put down their phones. The specific operation method is divided into three steps, namely locking the phone, collecting NFTs, and finally planting a garden with friends.


Focus Tree is about to launch new features such as following communities, competing with other communities, and earning more rewards. According to the official page, Focus Tree is about to launch version V2. At present, Focus Tree has opened airdrops.


Infrastructure


A total of 6 financings in the infrastructure field, with a total amount of more than 90.05 million US dollars, accounting for 53.78% of the total financing last week.


UXLINK



On May 13, Web3 social infrastructure UXLINK announced the completion of a new round of US$5 million in financing, led by SevenX Ventures, INCE Capital and HashKey Capital. After this round of financing, UXLINK's total financing has exceeded US$15 million.


UXLINK is a Web3 social platform and infrastructure based on "acquaintance social relationships" and groups, with more than 5.5 million registered users, more than 1 million daily users and more than 100,000 groups. According to the UXLINK team, the new round of financing is mainly used for the development of ecological and post-TGE products to better support the issuance, distribution and trading of socialized assets. At present, UXLINK DAPP and protocol revenues are growing steadily, with good cash flow.


Polymarket



On May 14, Bloomberg reported that Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Founders Fund is betting on one of the largest cryptocurrency prediction markets, Polymarket, despite the stepped-up efforts of major U.S. regulators to restrict activities on such platforms. A Polymarket spokesperson said that Polymarket has raised $70 million in two rounds of financing, the most recent of which was led by Founders Fund, whose backers also include Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.


A Polymarket spokesperson said that Founders Fund led the $45 million Series B round. General Catalyst earlier helped the company raise $25 million in Series A. The new funds value the company at a lower level than previously discussed. Bloomberg previously reported that the company was valued at nearly $1 billion before the CFTC's action.


Polymarket attracts users to predict the outcomes of various events, with betting on the 2024 U.S. presidential election becoming the most popular contract. According to the Polymarket website, election betting drove the biggest growth in Polymarket activity, with more than $170 million in bets on activities related to the U.S. election. Polymarket was previously fined by the U.S. CFTC, and as part of the settlement, Polymarket promised to reduce its services in the United States and continue to operate overseas.


Anomaly



On May 14, CoinDesk reported that Anomaly, an AI zero-gas Layer3 network developer focusing on games and Telegram users, raised $1.45 million in an oversubscribed Pre-Seed round of financing, with participation from Decasonic, Shima Capital, BreakOrbit and Round13 Capital. In addition, Zeneca, the founder of Web3 luminary and The 333 Club, also made strategic investments to support Anomaly's vision.


AI gaming studio Anomaly launches the first zero-gas layer 3 gaming platform powered by artificial intelligence, leveraging a play-to-airdrop mechanism targeting Telegram’s 900 million daily active users. Powered by Arbitrum Orbit and using Gelato’s Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS), Anomaly’s Layer3 aims to redefine the gaming industry, empowering developers to create immersive decentralized gaming experiences, leveraging AI-enabled game engines at unprecedented speeds while completely abstracting blockchain complexity.


Anomaly simplifies the user experience of blockchain games through account abstraction, enables user onboarding through social platforms, and leverages SocialFi for game monetization. At the core of Layer3 is the Anomaly SDK, which implements advanced AI capabilities such as AI-driven matchmaking, decision making, player model training, automatic mission creation, and asset generation in Web3 games. This is designed to help reduce development time, address cost challenges of AI integration, and significantly improve user engagement and experience within the Anomaly gaming ecosystem.


The rest of the infrastructure financing includes:


On May 14, zero-knowledge project Hylé completed $2.6 million in new financing, led by Framework Ventures. The new financing brings Hylé's total financing to $3.4 million and the company's total cash to approximately $5 million. The company intends to use the financing to help launch its mainnet as soon as possible and recruit backend experts and protocol engineers to build other verification schemes such as Polygon zkEVM, Cairo, and Noir. Proof schemes use cryptography to verify projects without revealing their sensitive information.

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On May 16, SaaS solution company AgriDex completed a $5 million Pre-Seed round of financing, led by Endeavour Ventures, with participation from African Crops Limited, Oldenburg Vineyards and Hank Oberoi. The funds raised will be used to expand operations and development work. AgriDex aims to use blockchain technology to achieve traceability, wear-free payment and other functions.

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On May 16, the enterprise-level blockchain hosting service platform Chainstack completed a $6 million financing, with SBI Ven Capital, Sygnum, Azimut Group and Unicorn Factory Ventures participating. It is reported that Chainstack cooperates with multiple public blockchains and provides services to more than 100,000 Web3 developers. It is said that it handles more than 100 billion requests per month and maintains 99.99% uptime.

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Digital Asset Management/Payment


A total of 2 financings in the field of digital asset management/payment, with a total amount of more than US$6.2 million, accounting for 3.7% of the total financing last week.


Raven



On May 15, according to Theblock, Raven, a crypto proprietary trading company co-founded by three former Wintermute employees, announced the completion of a US$2.7 million seed round of financing, led by Hack VC, with Wintermute Ventures and several undisclosed angel investors participating.


The company’s co-founder, Petar Kostov, a former DeFi software engineer at Wintermute, said the company started this round of financing in November last year and completed it last month. This is an equity round of financing and there is no token plan. He also added that this round of financing brings Raven’s valuation to $25 million.


Kostov noted that as part of the transaction, Hack VC partner Roshun Patel joined Raven’s board of directors. Kostov co-founded Raven in January 2023 with Yuri Myronovych, former DeFi head and senior software architect at Wintermute, and Ivaylo Kirilov, a former DeFi software engineer at Wintermute, with the goal of "making the best trades at the best time."


Mnzl



On May 16, Egypt's RWA fintech startup Mnzl announced the completion of a $3.5 million seed round of financing, led by P1 Ventures, Localglobe and Ingressive Capital, with participation from 500 Global, Flat6Labs, First Circle Capital, Enza Capital, Beenok and a group of unnamed angel investors. Mnzl allows users to convert illiquid assets such as cars and real estate into liquid assets and upload assets to digital wallets for management.


Mnzl is a startup that has launched an innovative loan program designed to make it easier for Egyptians to get loans. The core idea of this program is to use assets that people already have on hand (such as real estate or cars) as collateral to obtain the cash loans they need.


Mnzl makes the loan process simpler and more efficient, and more importantly, gives the Egyptian people a certain amount of economic strength, which is conducive to improving people's livelihood and promoting local economic development. The traditional loan application process is cumbersome. Mnzl's approach is to allow users to quickly get approved for loans by simply uploading their asset information to their digital wallets. With this cash loan, the Egyptian people can better meet various financial needs such as life, education, and entrepreneurship. This not only allows families to gain a certain amount of financial leverage, but also helps promote the development and prosperity of the entire regional economy.


Web3+AI


A total of 3 financings in the Web3+AI field, with a total amount of more than US$42.4 million, accounting for 25.32% of the total financing last week. Including:


On May 14, Web3 AI platform ChainML announced the completion of a $6.2 million seed round of expansion financing, led by Hack VC, with participation from Inception Capital, HTX Ventures, Figment Capital, Hypersphere Ventures and Alumni Ventures. ChainML also announced the launch of its proxy base layer Theoriq. ChainML is a Web3-based artificial intelligence research and development startup that aims to achieve decentralized artificial intelligence access.

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On May 14, TheoriqAI, a modular AI agent base layer, announced the completion of a $6.2 million Super-Seed round of financing, led by Hack VC, with participation from Foresight Ventures, HTX Ventures, Figment Capital, Inception Capital, Antalpha Ventures, HASH CIB, NewTribe Capital, Stateless Ventures, Bitscale Capital, Construct Ventures, Hypersphere, IOSG Ventures, LongHash Ventures, HashKey Capital, SNZ Holding, Chainlink, NxGen.lens and angel investors.

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On May 15, the blockchain identity authentication platform Humanity Protocol announced the completion of a $30 million seed round of financing, with a post-investment valuation of $1 billion, becoming a new "unicorn" company in the crypto field. This round of financing was led by Kingsway Capital, with participation from Animoca Brands, Blockchain.com and Shima Capital. Founder Terence Kwok said the company also raised about $1.5 million from some influential crypto opinion leaders (KOLs).


Humanity Protocol was founded at the end of last year to verify people's online identities in the era of AI deep fakes through palm print recognition technology. The company plans to use the new financing to expand its team of more than 20 people and establish more partnerships. There are currently about 500,000 users on its waiting list. In addition, the company plans to release a crypto token to pay for verification fees.


As the technology is launched, Humanity Protocol will first release an app that uses a mobile phone camera to scan the palm print for identity verification. Later, another layer of security will be introduced, using a palm vein network and a small infrared camera for identity confirmation. In the future, this system is expected to be used in the KYC process of financial platforms, and even to realize palm print entry into physical places such as hotels and office buildings.

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Disclaimer: everything in the article represents the author's point of view and has nothing to do with this platform. This article is not intended to be used as a reference for making investment decisions.

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