AWeb3VC - Funding Round Up #58

🗓️ Week of: Feb 4-10, 2024

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

$126M+ was raised across 30 funding rounds in Web3. This week saw a modest level of deal flow and total capital raised, which may be attributed to the Lunar New Year celebrations. It is plausible that many companies and investors decided to postpone their announcements until after the holiday period. Despite this, the broader cryptocurrency markets experienced substantial gains this week, fostering a more bullish outlook for 2024.

Both DeFi and financial services (i.e., CeFi) continued as the leading categories attracting investment for yet another week. These segments have been capitalizing on increased market volatility, higher trading volumes, and the growing institutional narrative following the launch of Bitcoin spot ETFs in the U.S. With the upcoming Bitcoin Halving and the anticipated interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank expected this spring, we can expect further market volatility and trading activity. This environment is likely to result in significant revenue growth for both decentralized and centralized trading platforms in 2024 as well as see more capital flowing to startups building in these segments. Furthermore, Bitcoin-focused DeFi remains a particularly notable area within decentralized finance, continuing to attract Web3 venture interest.

🏆 Largest Funding Round

➡️ Oobit raised $25M in Series A funding. The round was led by the investment arm of Tether, CMCC Global’s Titan Fund, 468 Capital, and Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko.

Oobit is a mobile payment app designed to facilitate the use of cryptocurrencies for everyday transactions. Its key feature, Tap & Pay, enables users to make contactless payments with cryptocurrencies at over 100M retailers across the globe, anywhere Visa and Mastercard are accepted (similar to Apple Pay). The app uses NFC technology for secure, contactless payments, and converting crypto to fiat in real-time. This allows merchants to receive payments in fiat currency using existing payment rails, removing the complexities of retailers having to adopt crypto payments.

The company eventually plans to evolve into a gateway for Web3 payments. It intends to open its Tap & Pay capabilities by allowing users to connect any external wallets, enabling the app to transition into a non-custodial platform.

Why this matters?👉 Contactless payments are anticipated to surpass 1 trillion in digital commerce transaction volumes by 2024, with NFC-based payments constituting 30% of this adoption. Although crypto-based payments currently account for only a small fraction, solutions such as Oobit’s Tap & Pay facilitate the use of crypto for everyday transactions, potentially aligning with the broader trend towards contactless mobile payments. Furthermore, as stablecoins, particularly outside the U.S., gain traction and with Oobit's strategic partnership with Tether, the company appears well-positioned to significantly contribute to the expanding use of USDT and other stablecoins (e.g., USDC) for retail payments.

😎 Noteworthy Company

➡️ Truflation aggregates, calculates, and publishes real-time market and economic data by offering a comprehensive selection of independent indexes and data feeds that utilize blockchain technology. The company has developed the Definitive Reference Point (DRPp) protocol, which tracks over 18 million items and real-time data across networks, markets, and feeds. Leveraging blockchain technology, enabled by Chainlink infrastructure, the protocol facilitates decentralized verification of data sources. This ensures that the economic indicators provided by Truflation are not only accurate but also free from potential manipulation or bias. Its services support the creation of a robust data layer that can be utilized across both decentralized and traditional financial markets, including the development of market indices or use in complex financial instruments, both on and off-chain.

The company recently raised $6 million in funding, led by Nomura’s Laser Digital and Red Beard Ventures, with participation from Modular Capital and Four Seasons Ventures, alongside existing investors Chainlink, Fundamental Labs, C² Ventures, Cogitent Ventures, and the Israeli Blockchain Association, as well as an earlier investment by the Base Ecosystem Fund, managed by Coinbase Ventures. Truflation also aims to eventually decentralize through the development of the DataDAO and governance structure.

Why this matters?👉 Data oracles have made millions of data points accessible on-chain and have facilitated the processing of billions of dollars through decentralized finance applications in a trustless fashion. Truflation introduces a novel approach to independent, verified data sources and metrics, enabling a new paradigm for economic data availability on-chain. By providing reliable economic data on-chain, oracles such as Truflation can fuel a digital and decentralized-native approach to developing further financial products on-chain, especially relevant for the multi-billion dollar (and perhaps one day trillion dollar) prospects of tokenization.

💸 Funding Rounds

Top 15 Rounds

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All Rounds

Pandoshi - Public Sale ($4M) | Decentralized community-driven ecosystem and developer of PandaChain, a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Layer-2 blockchain solution: https://pandoshi.com/

Bitmap Tech (aka. Merlin Chain) - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Developer of Merlin Chain, a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution and developer of other Bitcoin native scaling solutions and protocols: https://bitmap.tech/

Nibiru Chain - Private Sale ($12M) | Layer 1 blockchain that unifies leveraged derivatives trading, spot trading, staking, and bonded liquidity provision: https://nibiru.fi/

Oobit - Series A ($25M) | Crypto mobile payment app enabling tap and pay with retailers worldwide accepting Visa and Mastercard: https://www.oobit.com/

LN Markets - Seed ($3M) | Bitcoin derivatives trading platform accessed via the Lightning Network: https://lnmarkets.com/en

DeBox - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Decentralized identity (DID) based Web3 Social Platform: https://debox.pro/

Carry1st - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Mobile game developer and content publisher focused on African consumers: https://www.carry1st.com

Meme Kombat - Public Sale ($8.3M) | Web3 gaming platform centered around head-to-head battles between popular meme characters: https://memekombat.io/

carbcoin - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Digital carbon credit exchange using blockchain technology and Artificial intelligence of things (AIoT): https://www.carbcoin.io/

BiHelix - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | Turning-complete Bitcoin application infrastructure combing the RGB protocol and the Lightning Network: https://www.bihelix.net/

Startale Labs - Series A+ ($3.5M) | Web3 R&D and incubation developer: https://startale.org/

Giga Star - Seed+ ($3M) | Platform for creators access to fan funding, engagement, and shared royalties leveraging blockchain technology: https://gigastar.io/

GLIF - Seed ($4.5M) | Builds and maintains Filecoin apps including the network's primary liquid leasing (i.e., staking) protocol: https://www.glif.io/en

Folks Finance - Strategic (Not Disclosed) | DeFi protocol for lending, borrowing, and trading built on Algorand: https://folks.finance/

LightLink - Seed ($4.5M) | Enterprise-grade Layer 2 solution built for Metaverse, NFT, and gaming applications: https://www.lightlink.io/

Truflation - Seed ($6M) | Economic data aggregator serving independent, unbiased, real-time data on-chain and off-chain: https://truflation.com/

MediConCen - Series A ($6.85M) | Digital insurance claim automation solution enabled by blockchain technology: https://www.mediconcen.com.hk/

Omega - Private Sale ($6M) | Modular DeFi infrastructure for omnichain and Bitcoin: https://www.omega.xyz/

CoalaPay - Seed ($815K) | Payment infrastructure for grants and international aid: https://coalapay.org/

MOBY - Public Sale ($9M) | Community oriented launchpad for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs): https://launchmoby.com/

Superform Labs - Seed ($6.5M) | Non-custodial marketplace, aggregator, and router for DeFi yield products across chains: https://www.superform.xyz/

Flood - Seed ($5.2M) | DEX aggregator for order routing, management, and settlement: https://www.flood.bid/

FuzzLand - Seed ($3M) | Smart contract testing and vulnerability detection platform that leverages AI, Fuzzing, and Formal Verifications: https://fuzz.land/

Dtravel - Private Sale (Not Disclosed) | Decentralized peer-to-peer vacation rental and hospitality ecosystem: https://www.dtravel.com/

Pixels - Strategic ($4.8M) | Open-ended world of farming and exploration game built with blockchain technology: https://www.pixels.xyz/

DEXTools - Seed (Not Disclosed) | Data and analytics platform for DeFi markets: https://www.dextools.io/app/en/pairs

YogaPetz - Seed ($5M) | Decentralized wellness ecosystem enabled by "Wellness to Earn" rewards: https://yogapetz.com/

Axiology - Seed ($2.2M) | Alternative capital market infrastructure and depository for tokenized securities using distributed ledger technology: https://www.axiology.xyz/

UniSat - Seed+ (Not Disclosed) | Non-custodial wallet for Bitcoin, Ordinals, and other BRC-20 assets: https://unisat.io/

Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (aka. The Mystery Society) - Seed ($3M) | Game studio and developer of, The Mystery Society, a social deduction party game incorporating Web3 elements: https://www.themysterysociety.xyz/

New Funds

No new funds this week.

🙌 Cool Resources

Pantera Capital’s, 2023 Blockchain Compensation Survey

🐕 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.