VC Monthly Report in August, Number of Financing Decreases by 1%, Amount Decreases by 22%
Author: WuBlockchain
According to RootData statistics, there were 110 publicly disclosed Crypto VC investment projects in August, a decrease of 1% month-on-month (111 projects in July 2024) and an increase of 41% year-on-year (78 projects in August 2023). Note: Since not all fundraising activities are announced in the same month, the above statistics may increase in the future. The breakdown by sector is as follows:
CeFi: ~8%
DeFi: ~25%
NFT/GameFi: ~13%
L1/L2: ~10%
RWA/DePIN: ~7%
Tool/Wallet: ~2%
AI: ~15%
The total fundraising amount in August was $785 million, a decrease of 22% month-on-month ($1.01 billion in July 2024) and an increase of 20% year-on-year ($660 million in August 2023). The top 10 fundraising rounds by amount are as follows:
Bitfarms, a Bitcoin mining company, will acquire its competitor Stronghold Digital for $175 million in stock and debt. According to the agreement, Bitfarms will exchange 2.52 shares for every 1 share of Stronghold, representing a 71% premium over the 90-day volume-weighted average price of Stronghold on Nasdaq as of August 16. This transaction occurred weeks after Riot Platforms suspended its plan to acquire Bitfarms.
PIP Labs, the developer of the Layer1 IP blockchain Story Protocol, announced it has completed an $80 million Series B funding round led by a16z crypto, with participation from Polychain Capital and Scott Trowbridge, SVP of Stability AI.
Bridge, a global stablecoin payment network co-founded by former Square and Coinbase executives Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, announced it has raised $58 million in funding, with participation from Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and Index Ventures. This includes a new $40 million round led by Sequoia and Ribbit, with clients such as SpaceX and Coinbase.
Chaos Labs, a provider of DeFi risk management tools, announced it has completed a $55 million Series A funding round led by Haun Ventures, with participation from F-Prime Capital, Slow Ventures, Spartan Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Galaxy Ventures, and PayPal Ventures. Founded in 2021, Chaos Labs focuses on automated on-chain risk management solutions, providing security and growth support to over 20 protocols, including Aave, GMX, and Jupiter.
Morpho, a decentralized lending protocol, announced it has completed a $50 million strategic funding round led by Ribbit Capital, with participation from a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, Variant, Pantera, and Brevan Howard. Morpho aims to integrate DeFi into the foundational protocol layer of the internet, helping to design flexible lending use cases and ultimately transforming private financial infrastructure into public goods.
Sahara AI, a decentralized AI blockchain platform, announced it has completed a $43 million funding round led by Binance Labs, Pantera Capital, and Polychain Capital, with participation from Samsung and DAO5. Sahara AI was founded by Tyler Zhou, an AI professor at the University of Southern California and former Binance Labs investment director. It aims to ensure security, fairness, and inclusiveness for all users, prioritizing AI sovereignty and traceability.
Fabric Cryptography, a hardware startup, raised $33 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Blockchain Capital and 1kx, with participation from Offchain Labs, Polygon, and Matter Labs. At the core of Fabric’s roadmap is a “Verifiable Processing Unit” (VPU), which will be specifically designed for handling cryptographic technology. The new funding will be used to develop computing chips, software, and cryptographic algorithms.
WSPN, a stablecoin infrastructure company, announced it has completed a $30 million seed funding round led by Foresight Ventures and Folius Ventures, with participation from Hash Global. WSPN aims to empower users with value distribution rights, implement community-driven governance, and enhance the accessibility of digital assets to provide digital payment solutions.
Edge Matrix Chain (EMC) announced it has completed a $20 million funding round led by Polygon Ventures and Amber Group, with participation from One Comma, Kapley Judge and Associated Corporations, and Cyberrock Venture Fund. EMC plans to use the newly raised funds to launch its AI-focused Layer 1 blockchain, aimed at expanding and supporting GPU computing power for crypto AI projects and introducing a new DeFi asset class.
Space and Time announced it has completed a $20 million Series A funding round led by Framework Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Arrington Capital, and Hivemind Capital, with participation from Microsoft’s M12 Ventures. Previously, Space and Time raised $20 million in September 2022, led by Microsoft’s M12 Ventures. Space and Time introduces blockchain’s immutability to AI applications.
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