AWeb3VC - Funding Round Up #48

🗓️ Week of: Nov 26 - Dec 2, 2023

Also be sure to follow me on X (fka. Twitter) @aweb3vc 🚀

(See "Funding Rounds" section for the complete list of deals)

$302M+ was raised across 26 funding rounds in Web3. November ends as one of the top months for funding in 2023 so far. This week's highlight was driven primarily by Wormhole’s $225M raise (covered in this edition), which also ranks as one of the year's largest deals in terms of total capital raised. This marks the third consecutive week where nine-figure deals have dominated the largest funding rounds. Investor sentiment appears to be warming up again as the crypto markets as a whole rallied in November. Beyond infrastructure projects, there's a noticeable resurgence in funding for DApps and NFT-related companies, signaling that investors may be growing more optimistic about the market’s prospects and Web3’s potential in 2024.

🏆 Largest Funding Round

➡️ Wormhole raised $225M at a reported $2.5B valuation. As reported by Fortune, the funding round consisted of a private sale of tokens warranted for a yet-to-be-launched cryptocurrency. While no individual investor led the round, participants included BH Digital, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, ParaFi, Dialectic, Borderless Capital, Arrington Capital, and others.

Wormhole is an interoperability protocol across blockchains. It provides a universal messaging protocol to send messages cross-chain using various verification methods and to attest to the validity of a message. This is achieved through specifically designed on-chain smart contracts that relay and route the message, as well as an off-chain network of validators (i.e., Guardians) that observe and validate the messages emitted to produce Verifiable Action Approvals (VAAs) or signed attestations. The protocol enables developers and users of cross-chain applications to leverage the advantages of multiple blockchain ecosystems, including cross-chain exchanges, which is one of the protocol’s most widely applied use-cases.

The protocol was originally developed as part of Jump Trading’s crypto investing arm, Jump Crypto. However, as Jump has reported scaling back its crypto operations, Wormhole was spun out as a separate independent entity, Wormhole Labs, which serves as the core contributor to the platform.

Why this matters?👉Interoperability protocols have positioned themselves as a key component of the Web3 developer stack. Almost any mainstream Web3 project has a need to leverage them in some capacity. While solutions like LayerZero and Chainlink’s CCIP have emerged as key interoperability infrastructure, Wormhole has established itself as one of the most critical tools, enabling cross-chain exchanges and processing over tens of billions in value since its launch.

It's also worth noting that with Jump Crypto scaling back its operations, we may see a wave of ex-Jump founders either launching new startups across the crypto ecosystem or continuing to develop what they built at Jump. Certainly, keep an eye on Firedancer, one of the most widely used validator clients for Solana, developed by Jump Crypto. This could potentially lead to another spin-off.

😎 Noteworthy Company

➡️ The Open Network (TON) is a decentralized Layer 1 blockchain network, designed as a distributed supercomputer capable of processing millions of transactions per second (TPS). Its goal is to eventually cater to hundreds of millions of users. The TON Blockchain, forming the core protocol, connects the underlying infrastructure to create the expansive TON Ecosystem. This ecosystem encompasses decentralized identity, storage, websites, payments, and decentralized finance.

At its heart, TON's distinguishing feature is its unique architecture. Operating on a dynamic multi-blockchain system, TON includes a master chain and several ‘workchains’. Consensus on the network is achieved through the Catchain protocol, a Byzantine Fault-Tolerant variant of the Block-Proof of Stake (BPoS) consensus algorithm. TON's multi-blockchain structure and consensus mechanism are adept at automatically splitting and merging transactions to manage varying loads, enabling the processing of millions of transactions per second. Additionally, TON boasts its own virtual machine, offering advanced smart contract functionality and creating a conducive environment for hosting decentralized applications (DApps).

Initially, the development of TON was led by the Durov brothers, Nikolai and Pavel Durov, the co-founders of Telegram. However, following legal challenges with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Telegram discontinued its involvement with the project. Subsequently, TON has been overseen and further developed by a decentralized community of independent developers under the TON Foundation. This transition has allowed TON to flourish as an open-source project, receiving contributions from developers worldwide and operated by hundreds of network validators. The network now boasts over three million accounts and processes hundreds of transactions per day.

Why this matters?👉 TON has rapidly become a Layer 1 of choice amongst developers, witnessing a burgeoning ecosystem. Its appeal is significantly bolstered by the network's capability to reach a serviceable addressable market of hundreds of millions of users, particularly following Telegram’s recent integration of TON wallets into its messaging app. Additionally, the network has forged a number of strategic partnerships over the past six months. Notably, this includes a recent strategic investment by Animoca Brands, which has now become the largest validator on the TON Blockchain. With these developments, TON certainly has the potential to be one of the key networks driving the evolution of Web3.

💸 Funding Rounds

Top 15 Rounds

Want access to our complete dataset or propose an update? Contact: [email protected]

All Rounds

Smarter Contracts - Seed ($3.3M) | Developers of Pulse a data-privacy and consent management platform that combines blockchain and machine learning: https://smartercontracts.co.uk/

Waltio - Seed ($2M) | Cryptocurrency tax platform: https://waltio.co/

Open Campus - Strategic ($3.2M) | Web3 education protocol allowing communities to create, own, and promote content they want to see: https://www.opencampus.xyz/

Farcana - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Free-to-play 3rd-person shooter game powered by Web3 economics: https://www.farcana.com/

CoralApp - Strategic ($3M) | Fitness and wellness app leveraging blockchain technology: https://www.coralapp.io/

AnotherBall - Seed ($12.7M) | Developer of IZUMO, a VTuber project incorporating AI and Web3 economic system: https://anotherball.com/

Wind - Seed ($3.8M) | Non-custodial wallet of individuals and businesses built on Polygon: https://wind.app/

MYX - Seed ($5M) | Decentralized perpetual futures exchange enabled by a Matching Pool Mechanism (MPM): https://myx.finance/

The Open Network (aka. TON) - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Proof of stake layer 1 blockchain network designed by Telegram: https://ton.org/

Setter - Seed ($5M) | Wallet and consumer app that enables brands to explore Web3-powered commerce: https://www.setter.co/

Rad (fka. Little Star) - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Streaming platform powered by NFTs: https://rad.live/

Ocean - Seed ($6.2M) | Decentralized non-custodial Bitcoin mining pool: https://ocean.xyz/

Inspect - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Web3 analytics platform creating a second layer to X (fka. Twitter): https://www.inspect.xyz/

GameOn - Grant (Not Disclosed) | Developer of Web3-based predictive and fantasy games: https://gameon.app/

Titan Content - Seed (Not Disclosed) | K-pop entertainment company leveraging Web3 technology :

Coinchange - Series B ($10M) | Embedded DeFi yield aggregator for crypto and fintech platforms: https://www.coinchange.io/

Wormhole - Private Sale ($225M) | Decentralized, universal message-passing protocol enabling interoperability across blockchains: https://wormhole.com/

Acctual - Seed ($3.9M) | Invoicing and bill payment automation system for both fiat and digital assets: https://acctual.com/

Bioniq - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Bitcoin Ordinals marketplace that leverages the Internet Computer blockchain: https://bioniq.io/

Term Structure - Seed ($4.3M) | Decentralized fixed-income protocol that enables peer-to-peer lending and borrowing with fixed interest rates: https://ts.finance/

Saturn - Seed ($500K) | Non-custodial peer-to-peer orderbook for trading "Satoshis": https://www.saturnbtc.io/

MITH - Seed ($3.5M) | Fan engagement platform for creators enabled by frontier technologies: https://mith.io/

Web3Labs - Strategic ($2M) | Web3 launchpad and gateway for incubation, acceleration, and investment: https://twitter.com/Web3LabsClub

Grove (fka. Pocket Network) - Seed+ ($7.9M) | Decentralized RPC (Remote Procedure Call) service across multiple blockchains: https://www.grove.city/

Gataca - Strategic ($1.4M) | Decentralized identity management platform: https://gataca.io/

HesabPay - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Interoperable digital payments platform in Afghanistan: https://hesab.com/

New Funds

No new funds announced this week.

🙌 Cool Resources

🐕 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 the 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.