AWeb3VC - Funding Round Up #51

🗓️ Week of: Dec 17-23, 2023

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

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

Happy holiday season! $297M+ was raised across 26 funding rounds in Web3. Another robust week of funding as 2023 approaches its end. While funding in 2023 did not compare to 2021 and 2022, the fact that over $12B in capital was raised across the industry is a significant milestone, aligning with pre-COVID levels. All things considered with an average of over $200M being invested each week into Web3 companies underscores the resilience of the industry and its ‘buidlers’.

This week was primarily led by crypto miners raising capital ahead of the next Bitcoin halving, a trend that has been prominent throughout 2023. Additionally, a group of Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) related projects secured funding, following a pattern of similar investments within this quarter. Infrastructure continues to be the leading category for investment this week, maintaining its dominance throughout the past year

🏆 Largest Funding Round

➡️ Arkon Energy raised $110M in funding led by Bluesky Capital Management. A significant portion of this funding will be allocated towards the company's expansion in the U.S., including the acquisition of facilities from blockchain data center consultancy, Sabre56. The deal comes just six months after the company entered North America.

Arkon Energy is a data center infrastructure operator that uses renewable power to run Bitcoin mining operations. Their specialized data centers offer renewable energy generators reliable and consistent power consumption, while simultaneously generating bitcoin mining revenues. The company operates hosted and fully-owned sites across Australia, Norway, and six mining facilities across the U.S., producing roughly 400MW of bitcoin mining capacity each month.

Why this matters?👉 Mining has emerged as the leading sub-category within the infrastructure segment, consistently leading funding throughout 2023. This trend is largely influenced by the anticipation of the next Bitcoin halving, scheduled for April 2024. This upcoming event is compelling miners to secure the lowest possible power contracts and upgrade their older equipment with more efficient machinery. New operators like Arkon are strategically positioning themselves with fresh capital and state-of-the-art facilities in preparation for the halving. However, with block rewards set to diminish, miners will need to meticulously manage their financials, as the industry prepares for another cycle.

😎 Noteworthy Company

➡️ Tres is a financial accounting software and data lake platform tailored for Web3 companies. This software is primarily utilized for cryptocurrency accounting and tax reporting, while also facilitating financial workflows such as reconciliation, balance calculation, auditing, and reporting for Web3 assets throughout their lifecycle. Tres supports over 100 layer-1 and layer-2 networks and manages thousands of financial data points across wallets, exchanges, custodians, and DeFi protocols. This extensive support offers a complete overview of a company's Web3 financial activities.

The company boasts over 100 clients, tracking more than $19B in assets. Its notable customers include 1kx, P2P, Chorus One, Kiln, and Alchemy. Tres has reported a remarkable 325% quarter-on-quarter revenue growth in 2023, following its launch in September 2022. Founded by Eilon Lotem and Tal Zackon, Tres has established offices in Tel Aviv, New York, and London.

Recently Tres announced $11M in Series A funding. Lightspeed Faction led the round with participation from New Form Capital, Boldstart Ventures, Cyber Fund, and Ambush Capital.

Why this matters?👉 The market for accounting solutions tailored to crypto continues to witness an ever-growing addressable market. In light of the revelations following FTX's collapse, reliable and accurate bookkeeping has become paramount for Web3 companies. Although the segment for crypto accounting solutions might seem saturated and mature, the growing demand for enhanced data accuracy, attribution, and availability opens opportunities for new entrants to provide superior solutions. Tres has emerged as a notable new software solution in this space. Its significant traction in 2023, coupled with its success in attracting customers away from competitors, positions it as a promising contender to become one of the leading accounting and finance tools for Web3 companies.

💸 Funding Rounds

Top 15 Rounds

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

All Rounds

OneDegree - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Multi-line digital insurance business that offers protection for pet, e-commerce, home, critical illness and digital assets for individuals and businesses: https://www.onedegree.hk/en-us

MapleStory Universe - Strategic ($100M) | Virtual world ecosystem built by game developer Nexon: https://maplestoryuniverse.io/

Wynd Network - Seed ($3.5M) | Decentralized web proxy network and developer of Grass, a browser extension that allows users to sell unused bandwidth: https://wynd.network/

GoDID - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Marketplace aggregator for decentralized identities (DIDs): https://godid.io/

Rio Network - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Network for issuing Liquid Restaking Tokens that provide access to risk-managed ETH total return without sacrificing liquidity: https://www.rio.network/

Voi Network - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Layer-1 blockchain network that starts with Algorand’s technology: https://www.voi.network/

BIIS - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | All-in-one technology stack for BRC tokens: https://biis.io/

Meta Fight - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Mixed martial arts (MMA) digital collectibles, gaming, and metaverse platform: https://metafight.com/

Fiat Republic - Seed+ ($7M) | Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform focused on bring banking to Web3 companies: https://fiatrepublic.com/

Fyde - Seed ($3.2M) | Non-custodial crypto treasury management protocol enabled by liquid vaults that provide asset diversification, yield generation, token liquidity, and governance preservation: https://www.fyde.fi/

formless - Seed ($2.2M) | Decentralized media content distribution engine enabled by the Share protocol: https://www.formless.xyz/

ALEX - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Decentralized exchange (DEX) and DeFi platform for Bitcoin enabled by Stacks: https://alexgo.io/

Frame - Private Sale (Not Disclosed) | Layer 2 network designed to scale NFT adoption across the Ethereum ecosystem: https://www.frame.xyz/

Academic Labs - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Gamified learning and education platform utilizing adaptive AI and Web3 technologies: https://academic-labs.org/

DM2C Studio - Private Sale ($2.3M) | Web3 game studio and developer of Seamoon Protocol; Wholly owned subsidiary of DMM.com, Japan's largest general entertainment company: https://seamoon.dmm.com/en/

4EVERLAND - Seed ($2M) | Web3 cloud computing platform that integrates various Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) protocols to provide developers storage, computing, and network core capabilities: https://www.4everland.org/

Tres - Series A ($11M) | Financial accounting software and data lake platform for Web3 companies: https://www.tres.finance/

MOOVE Protocol - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Protocol enabling social initiative to foster a community of builders and creators by developing community-oriented tokens: https://www.mooveprotocol.ai/

Web3mine - Seed ($6M) | Open access compute infrastructure network: https://www.web3mine.io/

Addressable - Seed+ ($6M) | Marketing software for Web3 brands to boost user acquisition by bridging the gap between blockchain data and social media by offering tools to build audiences, launch campaigns and track growth: https://www.addressable.io/

Medallion - Series A ($13.7M) | Web3 platform to allow musical artists to connect with fans: https://www.medallion.fm/

Immutable - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Web3 gaming platform and NFT focused Layer 2 scaling solution: https://www.immutable.com/

Margo - Debt ($16M) | Operator of Bitcoin ATMs network: https://margonetwork.com/

Academy of Digital Industries - Series A (Not Disclosed) | Education platform offering digital training and masterclasses: https://digitaledu.ge/

Stronghold Digital Mining - Private Placement ($15M) | Vertically integrated Bitcoin mining company with an emphasis on environmentally beneficial operations: https://strongholddigitalmining.com/

Arkon Energy - Strategic ($110M) | Data center infrastructure company that uses renewable power to run Bitcoin mining operations: https://www.arkonenergy.com/

New Funds

Wemade - Wemade Web3 Fund ($100M)

🙌 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.