By George Ward
Securitize Secures $47 Million Investment
In a week marked by vibrant activity in the cryptocurrency sector, venture capital inflows surged to nearly $62 million across various innovative ventures. Among the notable recipients of this funding surge are Securitize, Agora, X10, Moso, and Hinkal, each bringing unique innovations to the thriving crypto space.
Securitize, a prominent player in the digital asset securities realm, was the standout leader of this funding frenzy, securing $47 million in investment. Notably, this funding round was spearheaded by BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager.
Joseph Chalom, the Global Head of Strategic Ecosystem Partnerships at BlackRock, has become a board member of Securitize following the funding agreement. This step reflects BlackRock’s growing focus on the rapidly developing digital asset sector.
Diverse Range of Crypto Ventures Raise Millions in Funding
Furthermore, Agora, a cross-chain governance platform, secured $5 million in seed funding. The investment was led by Haun Ventures, with notable contributions from Coinbase Ventures, Seed Club, and industry heavyweights such as Sina Habibian, Balaji Srinivasan, and Tim Beiko.
Agora’s end-to-end governance system for decentralized communities offers essential tools like gasless voting and API integration, catering to clients such as Optimism and Uniswap. Los Angeles-based Moso, a shop-to-earn platform blending crypto with online shopping, also closed a $2 million seed funding round.
Dao5 and Symbolic Capital were among the leading investors supporting Moso’s mission to incentivize users with crypto rewards while partnering with over 2,000 merchants, including retail giants like eBay and Walmart. Moreover, X10, a hybrid crypto exchange founded by former Revolut employees, secured $6.5 million in funding.
Notable backers include Semantic Ventures, Tioga Capital, and individuals from Revolut and Lido, including Lido founder Konstantin Lomashuk. X10 promotes a hybrid approach to crypto custody, integrating centralized and decentralized systems.
Moreover, Hinkal, headquartered in San Francisco, secured $1.4 million in funding led by the SALT Fund. Founded by Nika and Giorgi Koreli, Hinkal tackles liquidity hurdles for venture capital and founding teams by offering a secure space for token vesting and liquidation to avoid negative market effects.
Powered by zero-knowledge (ZK) technology, Hinkal offers a private smart contract wallet experience, enabling users to interact with decentralized applications (dApps) directly from private addresses.
Crypto Startups Garnered $935 Million from VC Funds in April
In April 2024, the crypto startup ecosystem witnessed substantial investment activity as venture capitalists (VC) poured $935 million into various projects. According to data compiled by DefiLlama, this figure represents an 8% decrease compared to March’s investments.
Thus, it signals sustained interest and confidence from investors in the burgeoning crypto space. However, the majority of the VC funding, totaling over $730 million, flowed into startups focused on building blockchain infrastructure.
Leading the recipients was Monad, a layer-1 blockchain protocol, which secured $225 million in funding. The round saw participation from prominent investors such as Electric Capital, Paradigm, and Coinbase Ventures, underscoring the growing importance of foundational blockchain technologies.
Berachain, another layer-1 blockchain project, secured $100 million in funding from investors. Notable backers include Samsung Next, Framework Ventures, and Arrington Capital.
Mixed Fortune for Web3 Gaming Sector
Besides infrastructure projects, decentralized finance (DeFi) startups witnessed a surge in VC funding, with $157 million raised in April. Notable among them was Ellipsis Labs, which secured $20 million in funding to develop an on-chain liquidity solution on Solana’s blockchain.
The influx of capital into the DeFi sector underscores its growing importance within the broader crypto ecosystem. Similarly, the Web3-focused applications sector experienced a significant uptick in funding, from $3 million in March to $19 million in April. One standout recipient was Legitimate, which raised $4.3 million to develop a product aimed at bridging the gap between the physical and digital worlds.