VCs Target Infrastructure with a Hint of DeFi

Venture Capital Deals

zkLend is an Ethereum-based crypto money market similar to Aave and Compound, but will use zero-knowledge rollups to allow users to borrow and lend liquidity without broadcasting identifying information to the Ethereum chain. The project raised $5 million in a seed round led by Delphi Digital with participation from Starkware, Three Arrows Capital, and Alameda Research, among others. zkLend is working to launch its retail lending product, Artemis, in Q3 of this year, as well as launching an institutional product, Apollo, in early 2023 that will perform KYC and AML practices for regulatory purposes. (Ethereum Layer-2 DeFi Money Market zkLend Lands $5M Raise)

Cross the Ages (CTA) is a mobile card game where players compete for NFTs that can be converted into physical trading cards. The startup raised a $12 million seed round backed by Animoca Brands, Ubiisoft, Polygon, and Sandbox founder Sebastian Borget. The funding will help the development team launch the CTAT beta in late May and roll out the digital and physical cards in June. Further on the roadmap include an in-house NFT marketplace, DeFi platform, and metaverse integration. (Animoca Brands, Ubisoft Invest in $12M Round for Blockchain Game 'Cross the Ages')