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DeFi Platform Texture Secures $5M in Funds to Develop Yield Management Tools

by Blockchain NewsNovember 6, 2022

Texture, the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) platform running on the Solana blockchain, has raised $5 million in a financing round with collaboration from heavyweights in both traditional finance and the digital ecosystem.

According to a tweet by the platform, the investment firm P2P Capital and Sino Global Capital co-led the financing session. Other notable investors in Texture’s fundraising include Semantic Ventures, Wintermute, and Jane Street Capital, amongst others. Although the funds’ valuation was not revealed, the funds were raised in stablecoin USDC with the aim to build yield management tools.

Interestingly, the fund-raise made the platform live in private beta testing. Users who intend to stake their SOL tokens will enjoy higher profits of up to 15% and will be able to stake through a one-click solution.

Upon completion of an audit, which will most likely be by the end of the year, Texture will be opened to the general public. The platform is not working alone as it uses several other platforms to accomplish its goal. Some of these include Lido Finance which helps in the main liquid staking element and Solend which helps in lending and borrowing, amongst others.

With the aim of making DeFi yield easy and accessible to everyone, Texture has made several plans to carry out structuring solutions for DeFi investors. Likewise, the plans include several strategy pools dubbed Texture’s “SOL Power Yield Strategy” Pool. The pool will make use of an algorithm-leveraged staking strategy in order to assist investors to make more from their Solana stakings.

In a piece of related news, despite the prolonged crypto winter Binance has invested heavily in the DeFi space. According to the exchange’s CEO Changpeng Zhao, it planned to spend over $1 billion on potential investments. It invested $325 million in 67 projects including Aptos.

Also, UK-based DeFi company AQRU Plc. with the aim of effectively managing customers’ risk recently launched BlockLender to provide crypto-backed lending services. Unlike other firms, BlockLender operates a unique model that allows it to invest users’ collateral in smart contracts with developed DeFi protocols to generate returns that fund the underlying loans.

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Atmos Labs Pulls $11m in Seed Round to Bolster Metaverse Development

by Blockchain NewsJune 14, 2022

Atmos Labs Inc, a metaverse gaming protocol, has raised $11 million in seed funding, as it looks to double down on its metaverse development push.

Atmos is currently being fronted as a new play-and-earn metaverse, tasked with building an immersive experience that will pair an esports component with the fandom and sense of belonging that comes with conventional sports in a new virtual universe. The latest capital injection will enable the firm to achieve this landmark goal.

“People are going to congregate around the spectacle of competition in the metaverse just like they do in the physical world. We are building metaverse-native sports and entertainment — a category we believe will bring excitement and substance to the metaverse concept writ large,” said Atmos Labs’ Founder and CEO Kevin Beauregard.

As announced by the firm, the seed round was led by Sfermion and it saw participation from Animoca Brands, Collab+Currency, FBG Capital, Alumni Ventures, RedBeard Ventures, DWeb3, LD Capital, GSR Markets Limited, CoinGecko Ventures, Avocado Guild, UniX Gaming, and more.

The valuation of the startup remains unknown and the firm said it will use the new capital to build the foundation of the virtual game world of Atmos, grow its community, and expand the Atmos team.

The primary goal of Atmos is to debunk the myths surrounding metaverse-backed sports games. The startup is building the infrastructure that will help the global adoption of competitive sports in virtual environments.

The current terrain in the digital currency ecosystem is not one that encourages investments, but startups like Atmos have continued to bedazzle investors with their plans for the future of the metaverse. While the funding momentum is generally tapered down, venture capital funding has continued to flow to innovative protocols like Orderly Network and Utopia Labs as recently reported by Blockchain.News.

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Tagged : ATMOS LABS / Finance / METAVERSE GAMES / VENTURE FUNDING

Cypher Capital Rolls Out Worth $100m Blockchain and Digital Assets Fund

by Blockchain NewsMarch 23, 2022

To expand the blockchain ecosystem, UAE-based venture capital firm Cypher Capital has launched a $100 million seed fund with a special interest in digital asset investments.

The fund to be financed by Bijan Alizadeh, the firm’s founder, will be pumped into projects in decentralized finance (DeFi), metaverse, and blockchain gaming sectors.

Cypher Capital plans to create a holistic blockchain community by collaborating with outstanding talent, visionary innovators, and other venture capital partners to make a significant difference.

Alizadeh noted:

“We will collaborate closely with our portfolio projects, offering them access to our network and equipping them with our knowledge, as well as investing alongside other venture capital partners into innovative blockchain, crypto, and digital asset projects.”

With an assets under management (AUM) portfolio of $10 million, Cypher Capital plans to roll out between $2 million and $5 million on average each month with initial investments in South Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East regions.

Vineet Budki, a managing partner at Cypher Capital, stated:

“We have the knowledge and expertise to mentor projects and entrepreneurs and equip them with the tools they need for success. At the moment, we are especially interested in projects in the DeFi, GameFi, and metaverse space, but we are always on the lookout for innovative blockchain projects in general.”

The firm also intends to create a digital asset, blockchain, and crypto hub to connect startups with potential investors.

Earlier this week, Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, announced plans to back a crypto fund for the first time.

Venture funding, including pre-seed and seed, has hit $3.4 billion so far this year, according to Crunchbase data. This sector has experienced significant growth, given that crypto companies raised $34 billion in 2021, per a PWC report.

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Tagged : Blockchain / CYPHER CAPITAL / DeFi / DIGITAL ASSETS / Finance / Gamefi / Investment / Metaverse / VENTURE FUNDING

Electric Capital Raises $1B to Invest in Crypto Startups

by Blockchain NewsMarch 2, 2022

Palo Alto-based Venture Capital firm Electric Capital announced Tuesday that it has raised $1 billion to invest in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

According to the official post on the startup’s blog, it confirmed that the capital would be used to fund a variety of crypto networks, Web3 protocols, and blockchain-enabled businesses.

The capital was raised in 2 distinct rounds, including one $400 million pulled back in 2021 with a plan to invest this into crypto token investments. The second involved a $600 million fund earmarked to make only token-focused investments.

“We are long-term investors and partners to our founders. We have spent the last four years building software and data systems that enable us to participate in Web3 ecosystems. We use the infrastructure we have built to provide liquidity, drive key governance proposals, help teams better understand their ecosystems with our data, and more,” the startup said in a statement.

The monetary valuation of funds that will be invested in the startups it chooses to back will range from $1 million to $20 million. Unlike the majority of venture capital firms whose approach to investment is more or less passive, Electric Capital is working on the frontline, conducting research and helping its partners get the best out of their business models.

Riding on Deep Experiences as Tech Founders

The founders, Avichal Garg, 39, and software engineer Curtis Spencer 40, are both experienced investors and entrepreneurs. The duo co-founded Spool, a bookmarking startup that lets consumers save articles and videos on their phones that Meta Platforms Inc later acquired in 2012. Avichal and Spencer stayed on at Facebook until 2018, when Electric Capital was founded.

The Electric Capital team also has plans to onboard as many engineers within its ranks as possible. The belief is that the most successful businesses have the presence of software engineers at their core, particularly some of the startup’s competitors, including Paradigm and Hack VC.

The capital raised by Electric Capital comes off as a testament to how rebooted venture capital firms are in going all out with backing cryptocurrency-focused startups. Avalanche, Binance, and FTX are amongst the big players in the space that have earmarked ecosystem funds to invest in related startups with inherent potential.

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Tagged : CRYPTO STARTUPS / Electric Capital / Finance / Financing / VENTURE FUNDING

Binance Exchange Makes Strategic Venture Investment in Malaysian MX Global

by Blockchain NewsMarch 2, 2022

Malaysian-based fintech and trading platform MX Global has announced the onboarding of Binance exchange- the world’s biggest cryptocurrency trading platform in terms of transaction volume, as a strategic investor in the company.

Per the announcement from MX Global, the strategic cooperation will help support sustainable cryptocurrency growth in South-East Asia and create opportunities for future partnerships in the region.

“MX Global aspires to be the preferred liquidity platform for the digital asset or cryptocurrency investors and token issuers locally and internationally,” said Dato’ Fadzli Shah, the Chief Executive Officer of MX Global, “The cooperation of Binance will not only support us in achieving this goal but should also provide the most capital-efficient opportunity for us to align and compete with other global players in the industry. We will continue building a safe, easy, and real digital asset ecosystem for our customers.”

MX Global is one of the major digital currency platforms that is recognized by the Malaysian Securities Commission (SC). The platform follows regulatory provisions to provide customer-centered products to the masses. The funding from Binance will open the platform to the bigger exchange’s network, as it seeks to establish a dominant presence in the Asian region.

“We see potential in Malaysia given its respected and innovative crypto and blockchain community. We believe that partnering with MX Global will be a springboard to new opportunities, both in Malaysia and the region as a whole as well as across the entire crypto and blockchain ecosystem,” said Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Founder and CEO of Binance.

The strategic investment may also be used as an avenue by Binance Exchange to redirect its relationship with the Malaysian finance regulator who flagged the platform for operating illegally in the country. While Binance will use MX Global as one of its options to boost its relationship with the regulator in Malaysia, similar investment strategies come off as one of the exchange’s models to extend its reach and be in the good books of local watchdogs.

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Tagged : Binance / Enterprise / MX GLOBAL / Regulation / VENTURE FUNDING

Emerging Web3.0 Protocol Aligned Secures $34M in Venture Funding

by Blockchain NewsFebruary 25, 2022

Operating in “Stealth Mode” for some time now, emerging Web3.0 and Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocol, Aligned has announced it has secured the sum of $34 million from investors as it seeks to advance the reach of the emerging Web3.0 world.

Through the funding, Aligned is on track to carve out a niche for its in the DeFi ecosystem with an over $186 billion market valuation. Despite the competition around in the industry today, Aligned offers a lot of targeted products and services, including solutions for mining and high-performance computing, staking, and liquidity provisioning, while supporting decentralization through an immutable, full-stack infrastructure for DeFi. These are highly in demand and will give Aligned a massive lifting in DeFi’s competitive world.

“We see Aligned as Web3’s answer to AWS. We are building custom hardware, tooling, and infrastructure at every layer of the stack, which enables us to support decentralized networks and leverage the crypto assets needed to operate decentralized tech. This all goes towards creating massive upside for our clients,” said Sam Cassatt, founder, and CEO of Aligned.

In the statement, Cassatt also mentioned that the startup is lucky to “have the support of like-minded investors who understand the opportunity to create a more perfect business model for running Web3 infrastructure. Our team has ambitious plans to optimize every layer of blockchain, from data centres to DeFi applications, and this fundraising is just the beginning of a breakthrough year for Aligned and our partners.”

While Aligned has a very promising product offering outlook, the profile of Cassatt as a former Chief Strategy Officer at ConsenSys and a notable investor and early Ethereum adopter has given investors more confidence to back the protocol. As announced by the firm, the funding round enjoined participation from GSR, Altium Capital, Cavalry Fund, and Ninja4 amongst other investors with no prominent lead.

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Tagged : ALIGNED / DeFi / Finance / VENTURE FUNDING / WEB3.0

Sequoia Capital Invests over $500M to Participate in Crypto Governance

by Blockchain NewsFebruary 18, 2022

California-based venture capital firm, Sequoia Capital, is doubling down on its bullish stance in the digital currency ecosystem with the launch of a $500 to $600 million investment dubbed the Sequoia Capital Fund.

As detailed by the company, the establishment of the fund is aimed at becoming an active participant in the key decentralized and open-source protocols that it backs.

According to the company, its major partners in the crypto ecosystem have often asked it to do more than just invest in the space and evolve into either a liquidity provider of any of such related activities that sustains a blockchain-backed project. With the new funds, Sequoia Capital will invest “primarily on liquid tokens and digital assets.”

“Our goal with this fund is to participate more actively in protocols, better support token-only projects, and learn by doing ourselves,” the Venture Capital said in an announcement. “We remain committed to working collaboratively with the crypto community, including providing ongoing support for open-source research. We will also continue to partner with crypto teams across every stage of their journey out of our seed, venture, growth, and expansion funds.”

According to a Bloomberg report, citing Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia Capital, crypto is believed to be a technology that will form a “megatrend over the next 20 years” additionally calling it “the future of money.”

Founded in 1972 by Donald T Valentine, Sequoia Capital has always put its money where its mouth is and the firm has a number of sizable stakes in digital currency-based firms. As reported by Blockchain.News, Sequoia Capital led the recent $450 million Polygon Network private token sale earlier this month.

The company is also a major investor in Reddit, as well as FTX Derivatives Exchange. The new Fund and the company’s plans are billed to transform Sequoia from just a passive partner to a major offshoot that helps keep protocols running.

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Tagged : Finance / Polygon / SEQUOIA CAPITAL / VENTURE FUNDING

Blockchain Investments in 2021 Surpasses Past 3 Years’ Total Capital Raised: KPMG

by Blockchain NewsFebruary 8, 2022

The blockchain ecosystem might still be relatively tagged as new. However, when it comes to funding and recognition by Venture Capital (VC) Firms, they are arguably fast attaining maturity.

According to a new report by Big Four auditing firm KPMG, investments pumped into blockchain startups in 2021 topped $30 billion, a figure that surpasses funding received in 2018, 2019, and 2020 combined. Investments in blockchain protocols have been steady over the past few years, with a progression that showcases more VCs are becoming aware of the potentials inherent in this space.

While a total of $8.2 billion was realized in 2018, fueled by the first massive growth trend of Bitcoin (BTC) to an all-time-high (ATH) above $17,000 in December 2017, $5.6 billion was recorded in 2019, and $5.5 billion in 2020. In 2018, the total transaction record was placed at 901 deals, while the current data published by KPMG pegs this number at 1,332 deals for last year.

“Investment in the crypto and blockchain space soared in 2021, rising from $5.4 billion in 2020 to over $30 billion. Globally, there was an incredible increase in the level of recognition for the potential role of crypto and its underlying technologies in modern financial systems,” the report reads.

The massive positive outlook in the general digital currency ecosystem has also drawn a massive crackdown from regulators worldwide. While Chinese authorities have initiated a complete ban on crypto, Russia has also been contemplating its regulatory approach to the fast-growing industry.

This year opened up to a massive bullish stance when it comes to blockchain funding and investments. While firms like FTX Derivatives Exchange topped the list of crypto firms that received backing from investors last year up to $1 billion, the company has also inked a new $400 million to push its valuation to $32 billion. Overall, current trends suggest investors are not willing to slow down in their backing of protocols that will define the future of the internet.

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Tagged : Blockchain / FTX / Kpmg / News / VENTURE FUNDING

FTX Exchange Tops $32B Valuation with a $400M Series-C Venture Funding

by Blockchain NewsFebruary 2, 2022

FTX Derivatives Exchange has concluded its Series C funding round where it raised the sum of $400 million to increase its valuation to $32 billion.

Investors who participated in the funding round as announced by the trading platform include but are not limited to Temasek, Paradigm, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, NEA, IVP, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Steadview Capital, Tiger Global, and Insight Partners.

FTX revealed that the majority of the investors it welcomed in this funding round also backed FTX.US, it’s subsidiary in the United States which just completed its $400 million fundraising to hit an $8 billion valuation. According to the exchange, the new fund for the global outfit will now be deployed into developing additional products aimed at broadening the platform’s reach.

“This round will support our continued mission of delivering innovative products and services to the marketplace as well as expanding our global reach with additional licenses around the world,” said Sam Bankman-Fried, Chief Executive Officer of FTX. “With the ongoing support from our dedicated investors and userbase, FTX will look to continue interacting with regulators to facilitate access to digital assets in a safe and compliant manner. We look forward to working alongside our investors to achieve our mission and continue our tremendous growth throughout 2022 and beyond.”

In the past 6 months, FTX has raised a total of $1.8 billion from venture capital firms, cementing its stand as one of the most liquid trading platforms around. Back in October when the firm completed its Series B-1 funding round, it was valued at $25 billion, and the current valuation shows the firm is growing at a very progressive rate.

FTX is ranked the third-largest trading platform by volume, a feat it achieved by growing its user base by more than 60% since the last funding round. The exchange recently launched FTX Ventures, a $2 billion venture fund created to advance global blockchain, cryptocurrency, and Web3 adoption.

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Tagged : Crypto / Exchange / Exchanges / Ftx Exchange / Investment / VENTURE FUNDING

Polkadot Auction Winner Astar Network Secures $22M in Venture Capital Funding

by Blockchain NewsJanuary 31, 2022

Astar Network, a Polkadot parachain auction winner has secured the sum of $22 million from venture capital as well as angel investors.

As unveiled by the blockchain protocol, the fundraise drew participation from Polychain, Alameda Research, Alchemy Ventures, Animal Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, Digital Finance Group, GSR, ROK Capital, Scytale Ventures, Vessel, Injective Protocol, and angel investors including Dr. Gavin Wood, Richard Ma, Keisuke Honda, and some executives from Web3 Foundation and Parity Technologies.

While venture funding is growing at a very fast pace, Astar Network is a protocol that was deserving of consideration from investors based on the innovative solution it is heralding. Built as a protocol to take network interoperability to a whole new level, Astar Network became the third protocol to win a Polkadot parachain auction, a development that showcases how well it has a community that believes in its push. Astar Network is also building a framework whereby Web3.0 developers can be incentivized adequately for their work.

“Astar is making a highly competitive bid for new developers to the Polkadot space, and we’re excited to be partnering with them. The project’s focus on including additional WASM-compiling languages in their EVM’s compatibility should help attract development in many more programming languages, and their dApp staking platform represents an innovative new approach to bootstrapping and funding an emergent ecosystem,” Ben Perszyk, Partner at Polychain Capital.

With the new funding, the startup now has the financial backing to continue in its development of a multichain solution. As detailed by the startup, it is working relentlessly to be a multichain smart contract hub by connecting multiple L1 chains and supporting multiple smart contract virtual machines. Currently, 2 Ethereum bridges are live and 1 Cosmos bridge is under heavy development. In its ambitious timeline, the startup hopes to connect all major chains by Q4 this year.

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Tagged : Altcoins / Astar Network / Polkadot / VENTURE FUNDING