Web 3 and Infrastructure Lead the Way

Jul 29, 2022 • 4 Min Read

Funding has remained relatively stable all month at around ~$450M per week. While funding is up from last week, the total deal count dropped from 36 to 32. Infrastructure deals have led for the second week in a row. There were four infrastructure deals, the largest of which was a $150M in Series A funding for Aptos, an Alternative Layer 1 blockchain that we discuss in more detail later in this report. Other infrastructure deals included Socket, Atato, and Topl. Web 3 and Metaverse/Gaming deals also had a strong week, with both segments doubling their funding from last week. Web 3, in particular, saw a lot of action with 14 deals. CeFi, NFTs, and DeFi deals lagged – something we’ve seen all month. Variant, an early-stage fund investing in Web 3, raised two funds this week: a $150M early stage fund and a $300M opportunity fund that will invest in existing Web 3 projects. There was one major acquisition this week – Chain, a Web 3 and Blockchain cloud infrastructure company, acquired Measurable Data Token and its ecosystem products in a deal valued at over $100M.

As we’ve seen all year, deal making remains concentrated in the early stages. Pre-seed and seed deals accounted for 18.2% and 59.1%, respectively.

Web 3 and Infrastructure Lead the Way
Web 3 and Infrastructure Lead the Way

Deal of The Week:

Aptos Labs, which is striving to create the world’s “safest and most scalable layer-1 blockchain”, raised $150 million in a Series A round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto. Other investors include Multicoin Capital (one of Solana’s initial backers), Apollo Global Management, Griffin Gaming Partners, Circle Ventures, and others. Aptos Labs is led by former Meta employees who worked extensively on Meta’s blockchain product, Diem. The capital raise brings Aptos’ total 2022 funding to $350 million.

Why is this Deal of The Week?

There is no shortage of projects aiming to be the mighty “ETH Killer” and solve the blockchain trilemma, such as Solana, Avalanche, and Near. Aptos is throwing its hat in the ring, boasting an advanced tech stack with sub-second finality, quicker consensus, and high throughput. Other highlights include a unique coding language similar to Rust called Move, which offers programmers more security and customization. A notable security feature is its formal verifier, which will scan code for potential exploit opportunities. Sound code is paramount in an industry where exploits can serve as project death-sentences.

Aptos promises a lot to its potential users, and according to Bloomberg, this funding round values Aptos Labs at over $2 billion. Aptos has earned a hefty price tag for a project that has not yet launched on mainnet. It will be interesting to watch if Aptos can deliver on its promises and compete with other Layer-1 and L2 scaling solutions. Aptos’ whitepaper, tokenomics, and mainnet launch are all expected sometime in Q3 of this year.

Selected Deals

Unstoppable Domains is a Web 3 digital identity platform that focuses on NFT domains. These domains allow individuals to send and receive cryptocurrency while interacting with decentralized applications (dApps). The company has secured $65M in funding at a $1B valuation through its Series A round led by Pantera Capital. The round also included investor participation from Draper Associates, Boost VC, Sound Media Ventures, Hardyaka, and EI Ventures, among others.

Aftermath Islands is a play-to-earn (P2E) based open-world game that allows users to buy, sell, and trade property through in-game NFTs. The platform has secured $25M in funding from LDA Capital through the sale of Aftermath Island Utility Tokens. The company intends to use the funding to fast-track game development. 

Trustless Media is a Web 3 company aiming to establish a community-owned non-fungible token (NFT) based media platform. The company is planning to launch a product called “NFTV” shows. This concept gives community members who have the NFT ownership of the show’s content. In addition to selling NFTs, Trustless Media aims to create a strong community for the platform and form partnerships with talented content creators. The company has secured $3.25M in funding through its seed round led by Alameda Research with participation from Red DAO and Ava Labs.

STFX is a DeFi platform that allows traders to publicly post various trading ideas that users can opt to invest in through investable vaults. Crypto is a space where many traders have large social media followings, making this idea particularly interesting. In addition, traders on the platform can receive compensation through performance fees when their vaults are profitable. The company has secured $2M in funding with investor participation from LedgerPrime, Space Whale Capital, Greymatter Capital, Prismatic Capital, and angel investors including Will Clemente, Anthony Pompliano, and Nic Carter. SFTX plans to launch a token later this year.

Sweat Economy is a move-to-earn (M2E) based health and fitness application aiming to expand into the Web3 space. The application plans to reward users based on daily activity levels through its native token, Sweatcoin (SWEAT). The company has secured $13M in funding through its private token sale led by Spartan Capital. The round also included investor participation from GSR Capital, Electric Capital, Goodwater Capital, and OKX Blockdream Ventures. Sweat Economy intends to use the funding to grow awareness and usage of Sweatcoin. 

*Sweat Economy plans to host a token generation event on 9/12/22, where Sweatcoin and a compatible wallet will be released.

DSCVR is a blockchain-based social networking platform aiming to establish a decentralized social media (DeSo) ecosystem. The company has secured $9M in funding through its seed round led by Polychain Capital. The round also included investor participation from Fyrfly Venture Partners, Shima Capital, Upfront Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, and Tomahawk VC. 

Web 3 and Infrastructure Lead the Way
Web 3 and Infrastructure Lead the Way
Web 3 and Infrastructure Lead the Way

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