Let’s pinpoint those sparkly startups that had venture capitalists buzzing. 👀
With their capital, connections, and industry smarts, moreover, who are they investing in?
2022 threw a curveball for crypto, yet despite the hiccup, crypto VCs secured a whopping $21.6B in fresh funds.
But, it seems startups are getting a bit of a cold shoulder from investors when it comes to pouring more into the sector.
The fundraising game this year nosedived by a staggering 98% from the previous year's jackpot.
So, what about those budding crypto startups hoping to get a piece of the VC pie?
Q2 has thrown some shade on crypto startups, gathering just $2.34 billion over 382 deals, according to Tech Crunch.
This marks the fifth consecutive quarter seeing venture investments on a downhill since the highs of Q1 2022, where crypto startups were showered with an astonishing $12.14 billion.
Though they've hit a few bumps this year, their treasure chests are far from empty.
Sure, the private market's pace has mellowed a bit, but those starry-eyed crypto projects with genuine potential? They're still seeing the moolah rolling in!
The dry powder in the VC arsenal is still abundant, and boy, the numbers do the talking. Last month, some crypto startups that might not ring any bells made some heads turn with their impressive capital hauls!
Cohere secured $270 million in a Series C round led by Inovia Capital with participants like Nvidia, Oracle, and Salesforce Ventures.
The company's valuation now ranges between $2.1 billion and $2.2 billion.
The funding aims to bolster Cohere’s AI platform for enterprise clients, enhancing data privacy and implementation simplicity.
Islamic Coin, an ethics-centric crypto, clinched $200M from Alpha Blue Ocean's ABO Digital.
A previous agreement with DDCAP Group facilitates integration with over 300 global Islamic banks.
The collaboration aims to establish a Shariah-compliant Web3 alternative for secure financial messaging and ventures like tokenization.
Celestial AI raised $100 million in a Series B round spearheaded by IAG Capital Partners and Koch Disruptive Technologies.
The funds will bolster the development of Celestial's photonics platform by growing various departments.
Their pioneering photonics-based architecture uses light for data transfer, enhancing memory and computing power for AI tasks.
Thunes, a payment infrastructure platform, garnered $60 million in a Series C round led by Marshall Wace.
Established in 2016, Thunes focuses on rectifying global inefficiencies in international money transfers.
Their vision is a revamped payment system that equates sending money to sending a text – instant, quick, and safe.
Gensyn, specializing in blockchain resources for AI, secured $43 million in Series A funding, with a16z leading the charge.
CoinFund, Canonical Crypto, and Protocol Labs, among others, also contributed to the round.
Gensyn is working on a revolutionary network for deep learning, aiming for unparalleled scale and efficiency in model training.
Mythical Games, a pioneer in web3 video game development, bagged $37 million in a Series C1 round, championed by Scytale Digital.
The company is carving a niche in blending traditional gaming with decentralized web3 technologies.
The capital injection promises to amplify Mythical Games' standing as a trailblazer in the web3 gaming space.
Bitpanda Pro has evolved into a new venture, One Trading, under the guidance of former JPMorgan digital innovation leader, Josh Barraclough.
The Series A financing round, amassing roughly $32.68 million, saw major participation from Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures, Middlegame Ventures, and Speedinvest.
With Bitpanda retaining its share, One Trading is poised to redefine CeFI under its new brand.
Web3 wallet giant, Galaxy Finance, successfully rounded up $30 million in their Series B fundraising.
Global players like BlackPine (Hong Kong), QCP Capital (Singapore), and Tally Capital (U.S.) were at the forefront of this investment surge.
This cash inflow gears up Galaxy Finance to refine its services and extend its foothold in the booming Southeast Asian web3 landscape.
Mining virtuoso, WOW EARN, celebrated the closure of its Series A, pocketing an impressive $30 million.
Esteemed VCs such as Pinnacle Innovations Capital, Blue Horizon Ventures, and Nexus Pioneers Capital rallied behind this funding spree.
With this financial bolstering, WOW EARN is all set to upscale its operations, fine-tune its platform, and cement its community-centric business blueprint.
It’s time to build - we trusted in that at the beginning of the bear market.
And we still do.
Excited to see more dry powder going to great products. 💪
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