Infrastructure Deals Take the Spotlight in Funding

• Infrastructure companies building derivatives, lending, analytics, institutional services, telecommunications, and digital payments raised an aggregate $1.63 billion this week. New Venture Capital funds raised $150 million this week with a Web 3.0 and blockchain gaming focus. A metaverse dedicated hackathon will give away $50 million in prizes and seed funding and an ecosystem fund of $15 million will be deployed by the Umbrella Network.
  
• Active investors this week include Alameda Research, CoinFund, DCG, a16z, and Jump Capital
  
• Deal of the Week: NYDIG raised $1 billion at a $7 billion valuation as it continues to add support for asset tokenization, Bitcoin, smart contracts, and payments on the Lighting Network.

Venture Capital Deals

Africa Blockchain Lab is a blockchain technology business and creator of African crypto application VIBRA. The company has raised $6 million in a Series Pre-A investment to help support the launch of its VIBRA wallet. Investors include Dragonfly Capital, Hashkey Capital, Fenbushi, Cadenza Capital, Lateral Frontiers, CRE Venture Capital, among others. Africa has received plenty of investments from top global venture funds in 2021, projects like Ejara and Yellow Card are among some of the latest blockchain projects to raise capital to develop the crypto ecosystem. (Africa Blockchain Lab raised US$6M in series pre-A funding)

Aztec Network is a layer-2 scalable privacy platform for Ethereum scaling solutions. The technology is built on PLONK, a fast and standard technology in universal SNARK. Aztec has raised $17 million in a Series A round with investors such as Paradigm, Ethereal Ventures and Vitalik Buterin. Aztec is a zero-knowledge rollup that is built using privacy architecture to help reduce Ethereum fees by up to 100x, all while providing secure private access. (Ethereum Privacy Provider Aztec Raises $17M, Adds Bridges for Developers)

Stocktwits is a social media platform for traders and investors. Branching out from U.S. equities, the company will now offer crypto data services. Stocktwits has raised $30 million in a Series B funding round led by Alameda Research with Times Bridge participating in the deal. With more than six million users and one million active monthly users, the company plans to use its technology and platform to cater to digital assets investors and traders. (Stocktwits to Boost Crypto Coverage Following $30M Funding)

Solscan is an analytics and block explorer platform that tracks data on the Solana blockchain. A block explorer is an online tool that tracks transactions made on a blockchain. The project is said to raise $4 million in a seed round from Multicoin Capital, Electric Capital, Alameda Research, Solana Capital, Signum Capital and CoinGecko. The proceeds will be used to improve Solscan’s block explorer and launch new nonfungible tokens (NFT) and decentralized finance (DeFi) analytic features, areas that have shown a lot investor and trading demand in 2021. (Solana Block Explorer Solscan Set to Raise $4 Million in Seed Round)

Moonray is a role-playing video game platform built on Stacks. Moonray PBC, the game developer company has raised $3.5 million in a seed round led by Animoca Brands. Other investors include LD Capital, Lucid Blue Ventures, GBV Capital and Metaverse Capital. Unlike many of the blockchain games being built, Moonray is built on Bitcoin through Stacks, which settles their transactions in BTC. Play-to-earn (P2E) has had an explosive growth in 2021, and we continue to see venture capital firms investing in the sector. (Game Developer Moonray PBC Raises $3.5 Million, Aims to Bring NFT and Blockchain Gaming to Bitcoin)

Legends of Mintra (LoM) is a play-to-earn (P2E) nonfungible token (NFT) gaming platform. The platform raised $1.45 million in a private financing round from Klaytn, 3Commas Capital, M6, Youbi Capital, Shima Capital, Maven Capital, Icetea Labs, OKEX, x21,among other investors. LoM will be a multi-chain gaming metaverse that will allow gamers to trade assets across blockchains and other games. The game is being built on several blockchains such as Klaytn, Cronos, Alogrand, Wax, and Binance Chain. The project is preparing to launch a public token offering under the ticker “MITA”. (Legends of Mitra Announces $1.45 Million Fundraising Backed by Leading GameFi Investors)

Paradigm is a cryptocurrency derivatives firm that acts as a liquidity provider to traders. The company has raised $35 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Jump Capital and Alameda Research with other investors such as DCG, Genesis Trading, QCP Capital, Nexo and others participating. Derivatives are contracts or products whose value is determined by an underlying asset. These markets are important because their behavior influences the price dynamics of cryptocurrencies. (Crypto Derivatives Firm Paradigm Raises $35M From Jump Capital, Alameda Research, Others)

Ramp is a non-custodial, full-stack payments infrastructure company. The technology behind Ramp allows any business to offer crypto-enabled services in a matter of hours via its software development kit (SDK). The company raised $52.7 million in Series A round led by Balderton Capital along with NFX, Galaxy Digital, and other investors. The traditional digital payments and crypto-enabled payments space has seen major growth and funding in 2021. Ramp’s main competitors include MoonPay and Wyre. Ramp has managed to raise a total of $63 million so far. (‘PayPal for crypto’ wannabe Ramp raises $52.7M Series A round led by Balderton Capital)

Nansen is a blockchain analytics firm that combines on-chain data with a massive and growing proprietary database that contains over 100 million blockchain wallets to provide real-time, actionable insights for investors and financial institutions. The company raised $75 million with a Series B round led by Accel. GIC, a16z, Tiger Global, SCB 10X and other investors also participated in the financing. Nansen analyzes billions of on-chain data points, over 100 million wallets and thousands of entities on blockchains such as Celo, Avalanche, Polygon, Ethereum, Fantom, and many more to provide quality market intelligence and actionable analytics. (On-Chain Data Hub Nansen Eyes Aggressive Growth With $75M Raise)

Bridgesplit is a nonfungible token (NFT) financialization platform built on the Solana blockchain. The company raised $4.25 million from CoinFund, Jump Capital, Solana Labs, and Rucker Park Capital. The platform is seeking to provide a scalable infrastructure layer that creates interoperability between nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized finance (DeFi), aiming to allow NFT holders to earn productive yield. Products available on the platform include NFT derivatives and NFT-collateralized lending. (NFT Financialization Platform Bridgesplit Announces $4.25 Million Raised Led by CoinFund and Jump Capital)

Blockchain.com is a cryptocurrency financial services company where users can buy, store and trade digital assets. The company is looking to raise $400 million in a Series D round at an $18 – $20 billion valuation.  In a push to expand internationally, the company has acquired SeSocio, a personal finance platform that allows users to buy over 45 cryptocurrencies. Currently, Blockchain.com offers crypto services in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico. (Blockchain.com is seeking an ambitious $20 billion valuation)

Anchorage is a multi-service cryptocurrency company that offers institutional services like custody, staking, trading, and financing. The company successfully raised $350 million in a Series D funding round led by KKR. Other investors include Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, PayPal Ventures, a16z, Alameda Research, Apollo, GIC, among others. Year to date, Anchorage has raised over $485 million. In February, the company started this year by raising $80 million. The funds will be used to expand headcount and bolster institutional products. (Crypto bank Anchorage raises $350 million in Series D funding (theblockcrypto.com)

Ledn is a cryptocurrency lending platform where customers can receive Bitcoin-backed loans to access capital without the need to sell their digital assets. The company has raised $70M in a Series B funding round led by 10T. Other investors in the round include Golden Tree Asset Management, Raptor Group, and FJ Labs. Recently, Ledn disclosed that it will offer a bitcoin-backed mortgage loan to give its customers the ability to purchase real estate. The company plans to originate over $100 million in bitcoin-backed originations in 2022. (Crypto Lender Ledn Raises $70M in Series B Round, Readies Bitcoin-Backed Mortgage Product (coindesk.com)

Global Internet Access Network Token (GIANT) Protocol is a Web 3.0 protocol that aims to decentralize and democratize access to the internet and financial services. The tokenized bandwidth platform will enable anyone with a cell phone to access the internet and earn rewards based on their connectivity. The company has raised $5M in a Seed Round from CoinFund, Blockchange, Gumi Cryptos, Entheos Ventures, Argonautic Ventures and Bronco Fund. GIANT will work directly with telecommunication companies to setup its technology across existing infrastructure. (Crypto Connectivity Startup GIANT Raises $5M From CoinFund (coindesk.com)

Bitfy is a fully regulated FinTech that provides a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet application in Brazil. The company has raised $2.5 million in a Series A round from Borderless Capital, Algorand and Dash Investment Foundation. Bitfy has 120,000 active customers and over 300,000 downloads. The proceeds will be used to expand the FinTech company’s work force and develop products for decentralized finance. (Cryptocurrency wallet, Brazil’s Bitfy raises $2.5 million in Series A)

New Venture Capital Funds, Ecosystem Funds and Alliances 

Metaverse Alliance is a consortium of funds, founders and crypto experts. Together, they have created an online Metaverse Hackathon called ‘Metathon’ to unite metaverse developers via a single platform. The Metathon will provide $50 million in prizes and seed funding for projects and developers that standout and are seeking to build in the metaverse. Finalists of the Metathon will be announced January 8, 2022. (Metaverse Alliance Launches Metathon for Devs and Degens With $50 Million in Prize and Seed Funding)

Solana Ventures, Forte, and Griffin Gaming have partnered to invest $150 million in Web 3.0. Solana Ventures is the investment arm of Solana Labs; Forte is a company that provides tools for web integration on blockchain games; and Griffin Gaming is a venture capital company that deploys capital in the global gaming market. The strategic fund will not only provide capital to fund projects but also offer developer tools to add marginal value to projects. Earlier in the year, Solana Ventures also launched a $100 million fund with FTX and Lightspeed dedicated to Web 3.0 and blockchain gaming. (Solana Ventures, Forte and Griffin Games Bet Big on Blockchain Games with a $150M Fund)

Umbrella Network is a decentralized blockchain oracle platform. Umbrella has launched a $15 million oracle accelerator program in order to fund companies that are creating data solutions on the blockchain ecosystem. The areas of funding focus will be blockchain gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), and the metaverse. Blockchain oracles will be a central component to the development of Web 3.0 ecosystems as they will connect smart contracts with the traditional infrastructure. (Umbrella Network launches $15M oracle accelerator program)

Deal of the Week                          

NYDIG is a technology and financial services firm dedicated to providing Bitcoin for institutions, private clients, and banks. The company offers an array of products including custody, asset management, execution services, and derivatives. NYDIG has successfully finished a $1 billion funding round led by WestCap, valuing NYDIG at $7 billion. Other investors that participated in the funding round include Bessemer Venture Partners, FinTech Collective, Morgan Stanley, New York Life, MassMutual, Affirm, Fiserv, and FSI. 

Why is this a Big Deal?

As time progresses, more institutions, private clients, and banks want exposure to Bitcoin and digital assets overall. NYDIG provides services that allow access to an institutional-grade Bitcoin platform to enable support for asset tokenization, Bitcoin, smart contracts, and payments on the Lighting Network. The capital raised will help NYDIG upgrade its institutional platform and expand its workforce globally.

NYDIG has been making waves entering strategic partnerships. One of the most well-known partnerships is with global payments company National Cash Register (NCR) with a presence in over 140 countries, more than 750,000 SelfServ ATMs installed globally, and more than 15,000 banks and credit unions serviced by NCR. The partnership is expected to bring Bitcoin to over 650 banks and credit unions, or approximately 24 million new consumers. The adoption and demand for Bitcoin and digital assets overall has continued to grow, and we continue to see institutional demand increasing. In order to remain relevant and profitable, institutions have begun to offer access to Bitcoin and other digital assets. With consumer demand increasing for this new asset class, the industry can expect more services being offered for institutions, private clients and other financial institutions. (WestCap Leads a $1 Billion Funding Round for NYDIG, Values the Company at $7B)