Crypto Funding Takes a Dive

Funding took a dive this week, decreasing from $147M last week to just $75 million, the lowest level in over a month. Each vertical saw a decline in funding, with CeFi and Metaverse & Gaming receiving zero funding. Most of this week’s funding was concentrated in the Infrastructure and Web3 & NFT segments, which had $41 million and $20 million in funding, respectively. These verticals in particular have been resilient throughout the bear market and have received consistent funding from VCs. Following the token launch of $SUI this week, the first decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Sui network, MoveEX, received an undisclosed amount of venture funding in a round led by Mysten Labs (the creator of the Sui blockchain.) There were 16 total deals this week, most of which were early-stage and at deal sizes of less than $10M. 

Deal of the Week 

Tangem AG, a hardware wallet provider, completed an $8 million investment round led by Shima Capital with participation form other undisclosed investors. Tangem is growing quickly, and the additional funding should help Tangem’s technologies evolve with increasing demand from digital asset holders. The deal type wasn’t disclosed, but the funds are earmarked for expanding product offerings to further cement Tangem as a leading hardware solutions provider.

Why is this Deal of the Week?

Self-custody of digital assets has become increasingly important over the past year as counterparty risk has become prevalent across the industry. Tangem Wallet allows users to hold over 1000 digital assets and is compatible with DeFi via wallet connect. Users’ private keys are held on a physical card which needs to be physically pressed against the users’ phone to transact. Tangem allows up to three cards to be connected to an individual wallet, and users can add an additional layer of security by implementing a passcode for wallet access. The cards Tangem uses are highly safe and secure. They have been certified by Common Criteria at EAL6+ level, the same level of chip protection used in passports. It’s safe from natural elements, hacking attempts, and has a useful chip life of over 25 years. Tangem’s technology is highly innovative and provides customers with the highest levels of security and ease of use. It will be exciting to watch them compete to become the market leader in self-custody hardware.

Selected Deals 

AlienSwap is a Web3 & NFT-based platform that provides users access to an NFT aggregator and marketplace. In addition, the platform is also currently building an NFT trading layer. The company has secured $12M in funding through a strategic round, co-led by C2 Ventures and NEXT Leader Capital. In addition, the funding round also included investor participation from Mission Street Ventures, Hyper10n Capital, Araceae Capital, Eureka Trading, and others. AlienSwap intends to use the capital raised for workforce expansion and product development.  

Cetus is a DeFi-based protocol built on the Sui and Aptos ecosystems providing a liquidity network and exchange that simplifies trading for its users. The platform has secured an undisclosed amount of funding through its seed round, co-led by KuCoin Ventures and OKX Ventures. In addition, the funding round included investor participation from Animoca Ventures, Comma3 Ventures, Coin 98 Ventures, IDG Capital, and others. Cetus intends to use the capital raised for product development and growing its market presence. 

Fedi is an infrastructure-based platform built on the Lightning Network, aiming to become the world’s first federated operating system. Some of the services the platform plans to offer its users include the ability to manage microlending, savings, and remittances. The company has secured $17M in funding through its Series A round led by Ego Death Capital. In addition, the funding round also included investor participation from Trammell Venture Partners, T Kingsway, TimeChain, and others. 

Nolus is a DeFi-based protocol built on the Cosmos ecosystem aiming to solve inefficiencies within money markets. The platform plans to accomplish this by minimizing high over-collateralization requirements. The platform has secured $2.5M in funding at a $20M valuation through its pre-seed round. In addition, the funding round included investor participation from Cogitent Ventures, Autonomy Capital, Token Metrics Ventures, Everstake, and others. Nolus intends to use the capital raised for product development and expansion. 

zkLink is an infrastructure-based platform aiming to simplify trading assets across different blockchains. The platform plans to accomplish this by implementing zero-knowledge rollups. The company has secured $10M in funding through a strategic round. In addition, the funding round included investor participation from Coinbase Ventures, BigBrain Holdings, Ascensive Assets, and others. zkLink intends to use the capital raised for the platform’s mainnet launch in Q3 2023.