AWeb3VC - Funding Round Up #10

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🗓️ Week of: March 5 - 11, 2023

Web3 Funding Snapshot

🚀 The Highlights

Last week, a total of over $249M was raised across 29 announced rounds.

If you've been living under a rock this past week, we were and are still possibly facing an existential crisis. Crypto-friendly bank, Silvergate has gone under while both Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and now Signature Bank are under receivership by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporate (FDIC). Luckily, the US Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, and FDIC have intervened to provide a resolution plan that protects depositors, many of whom are startups and venture funds. Also, the Federal Reserve announced it will make available additional funding to banks via the creation of a new Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) in order to ensure they have the ability to meet the needs of all their depositors.

We were on the brink of experiencing widespread bank runs across US regional banks. Forget crypto and Web3; the potential for contagion to spread across all industries was high, and the impact could be felt globally. Without government intervention, the outcome could have been catastrophic in the US, and it could have marked the beginning of a global financial crisis.

Fortunately, we have a bit of breathing room now, but we still need to prepare for the worst and hope for the best. We don't yet know what the future holds, and things could still get worse. Given the current state of affairs, this will be an abbreviated version of our usual weekly funding roundup.

🏆 Largest Funding Round

➡️ Scroll Scroll, an Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solution and network that leverages zero-knowledge (ZK) proof technology via zk-rollups, announced a $50M funding round. Investors included Polychain, Sequoia China, Bain Capital Crypto, Moore Capital Management, Variant Fund, Newman Capital, IOSG Ventures and Qiming Venture Partners. Scroll is one of several Ethereum scaling networks that use zk-rollups. Others include Polygon, StarkWare and Matter Labs, all of which have attracted over billions of dollars in funding.

😎 Noteworthy Company 

➡️ Toku is a comprehensive token-based compensation platform for Web3 companies. Their core services include token payroll, token grant administration, tax compliance, local employment, benefits and distributed HR solutions. In some ways they are like a Deel for Web3. The company just raised $20M in Seed funding led by Blockchain Capital and other investors including Protocol Labs, GMJP, OrangeDAO, Orrick, Reverie, Quantstamp, Next Web Capital. There are other companies in the market offering similar solutions. However, like Deel, Toku is focusing on providing a global offering which can establish them a moat in the future.

👀Observations, Trends & Themes

➡️ Declining Valuations

Adding insult to injury, The Block reports that some of the previously most valuable Web3 companies are experiencing significant valuation discounts based on trading of their shares in the secondary markets, some in excess of a 60% discount from their last funding rounds. Given the events of last week and broader market uncertainties, I wouldn’t be surprised to see these discounts dip even further.

Funding Rounds

Top 15 Rounds

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All Rounds

DX25 Labs - Seed ($750K) | Decentralized exchange (DEX) built on the MultiversX blockchain: https://dx25.com/

Verofax - Seed ($750K) | Software suite for retailers enabling immersive omni-channel consumer engagement and supply chain transparency that utilizes blockchain technologies and AI: https://verofax.com/

WGFdesocial - Seed ($20M) | Multi-chain privacy preserving communication protocol: https://wgfsocial.com/ 

Scroll - Private Sale ($50M) | Layer 2 scaling solution that leverages zero-knowledge (ZK) proof technology to offer a zkEVM-based zkRollup on Ethereum: https://scroll.io/

Coresky - Seed ($6M) | NFT marketplace and launchpad built around community membership model: https://www.coresky.com/

Divly – Seed ($400K) | Crypto tax, reporting, and compliance solution: https://divly.com/en/

Relai - Seed ($4.5M) | Non-custodial Bitcoin wallet and savings app for retail investors: https://relai.app/

Redemption Games - Seed ($7M) | Game studio developing free-to-pay that leverages blockchain technology and AI within games: https://www.redemptiongames.com/

tex.tracer - Seed ($1.6M) | SaaS platform for retailers, fashion, and textile brands that enables verified supply chain transparency using blockchain technology: https://www.tex-tracer.com/

nealthy - Seed ($1.3M) | On-chain index products for NFTs, cryptocurrencies, DeFi, and gaming: https://www.nealthy.com/

Blockasset - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Athlete-verified NFT and token ecosystem, enabling fans and athletes to connect: https://www.blockasset.co/

Kresus - Series A ($25M) | Web3 mobile superapp and wallet: https://www.kresus.com/

Tensor - Seed ($3M) | NFT marketplace and aggregator built on Solana: https://www.tensor.trade/

Astra Protocol - Private Sale ($3M) | Decentralized KYC Platform for Web3: https://astraprotocol.com/

Tonstarter - Seed ($1.5M) | Launchpad based on The Open Network (TON) enabling projects to raise capital from venture and retail investors: https://tonstarter.com/

OpenChat - Public Sale ($5.5M) | On-chain messaging and chat application running end-to-end on the Internet Computer (ICP) blockchain Network: https://oc.app/

Aisot - Seed ($1.9M) | AI enabled data and analytics solution that helps asset and wealth managers forecast and optimize digital asset and equity portfolios: https://www.aisot.ch/

Bika - Series A ($20M) | Digital asset, spot, and derivatives trading platform for global users: https://www.bika.one/#/home/en-US

Toku - Seed ($20M) | Token compensation platform offering token based-payroll, token grant administration, tax compliance, local employment, benefits and distributed HR solutions: https://www.toku.com/

EtherMail - Seed+ ($4M) | Web3 email solution enabling anonymous and encrypted wallet-to-wallet communications: https://ethermail.io/

Matchday - Seed ($21M) | Web3 and mobile game developer offering a suite of soccer games, licensed by FIFA: https://matchday.com/

Spield Algorithm - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Quantitative trading firm and liquidity provider to digital asset exchanges

ECSA - Seed ($3M) | On/off-ramp solution for converting Brazilian Real to BRLe, a fully collateralized stablecoin and enabling real-time swapping of BRLe to USDC: https://www.ecsa.finance/

Gyroscope - Seed ($4.5M) | Decentralized fully-backed stablecoin protocol with all-weather reserves and autonomous price bounding: https://gyro.finance/

Proven - Seed ($15.8M) | Developer of zero-knowledge (ZK) proofs designed for exchanges, stablecoins, assets managers, and custodians to prove their solvency: https://www.proven.tools/

Cubist - Seed ($7M) | Web3 developer tools provider focused on development, testing, deployment and upgrade workflows in custom, security-focused CI/CD pipelines: https://cubist.dev/

Mauve - Seed ($15M) | Institutional decentralized exchange: https://www.mauve.org/

Tweed - Seed ($4M) | White-label self-custody wallets and payments solution to support any web2 platform tapping into the web3 space: https://www.paytweed.com/

The GrowHub - Series A+ ($3M) | Web3-enabled ecosystem focusing on food traceability and carbon credits focused on Asia Pacific: https://thegrowhub.co/

New Funds

No new funds announced this week.

Cool Resources

Run due diligence on asset managers including crypto/Web3 fund mangers by analyzing and their public filings via AUM13F.com

About

AWeb3VC is a source for venture funding news, emerging startups and trends across Web3. I've been closely following cryptocurrencies and digital assets since 2013 and started working in space since 2018. Now I'm on a mission to build the most extensive venture ecosystem for BUIDLERS in Web3, starting first by tracking those BUIDLERS.