Weekly Recap

Only $4m in crypto funding was announced this week due to a combination of activity slowing down over the holidays and teams opting for undisclosed funding terms. Although funding fell from $68m last week, deal activity remained constant, with eight deals compared to the previous week’s nine. Infrastructure and Web 3 & NFTs were the two most funded categories, with three deals each. Two major emerging trends were visible in this week’s infrastructure deals: modularity and the evolving BTC ecosystem. Our deal of the week, Gelato, closed a Series A extension as they look to grow their Rollup-as-a-Service offering. With Celestia’s continuing bullish price action and Dymension’s ($DYM) airdrop being announced this week (another aspiring Rollup provider), it’s clear investors are beginning to bet on a modular future. Nubit, one of our selected deals, expands on a modular architecture and applies it to Bitcoin, relying on the leading network for its security while focusing on data availability like Celestia. Given Celestia’s success thus far in liquid markets and ongoing experimentation to evolve Bitcoin’s ecosystem, we expect both modularity and Bitcoin-focused projects to continue the momentum in private and public markets. 

Funding By Category

Funding By Deal Stage

Deal of the Week

Ray Xiao, the Managing Director at IOSG Ventures, announced on X that they have finalized their primary investment in the A+ financing round for Gelato Network, though the exact funding amount remains undisclosed. Gelato Network operates as an automation and relay network in the Web3 space. It allows developers to seamlessly execute various smart contracts across all blockchains compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), including Ethereum. Earlier, on September 30, 2021, Gelato Network successfully raised $11 million in an A round of financing, reaching a valuation of $125 million.

Why is this Deal of the Week?

Gelato has seen rapid growth in the last two years and is poised to become one of the most extensive decentralized development tech stacks in Web3. It has developed several key products: Gelato Relay, Web3 Functions, and Gelato Rollup as a Service.

The journey began when Gelato’s founder shared his vision in 2019. The idea was to create a decentralized network for automated trading, which gained significance in 2020. In less than two years, Gelato became Ethereum’s largest automation execution network, capturing over 80% of the market share and focusing on user accessibility.

In 2021, Gelato seized a significant commercial opportunity in meta-transaction applications and developed Gelato Relay, allowing users to sign messages off-chain. In 2023, Gelato introduced Web3 Functions akin to AWS Lambda or Google Cloud, specifically tailored to the Web3 ecosystem. This product expanded Gelato’s focus beyond on-chain side enhancements.

By the end of 2023, Gelato launched Rollup as a Service (RaaS), solidifying its position as a leading player in the RaaS domain. With four years of expertise developing a comprehensive tech stack infrastructure, Gelato stands out from its RaaS competitors. The team’s vision is for Gelato to be the leading decentralized development tech stack in Web3 eventually.

Selected Deals

Nubit (Riema Labs) has raised angel funding to develop a data availability layer for Bitcoin. The layer will enable decentralized applications to be built on top of Bitcoin. Riema aims to create a platform allowing developers to build Bitcoin apps without creating separate blockchain networks. The data availability layer will act as a bridge between Bitcoin and decentralized apps. It will provide features like smart contracts and data storage that Bitcoin lacks. The funding round was led by angel investors from Bounce and the BRC-20 ecosystem.

Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation sector of Binance, has invested in Memecoin (MEME), the principal token of Memeland, a project associated with the creators of 9GAG. Memeland, operating as an independent Web3 venture studio from 9GAG, aims to bridge creators and communities using its MEME token and NFTs. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to leverage internet meme culture in the SocialFi and creator economy sectors. With a significant monthly audience of 200 million users on 9GAG, Memeland capitalizes on this extensive reach. The team behind it boasts over fifteen years of experience developing community-centered products, aspiring to empower communities with ownership rights.