Institutional Bulletin: Securitize Raises $47 Million, Midas Secures $45 Million

The cryptocurrency industry is increasingly attracting institutional players. This is evidenced by new investments in infrastructure and the growing attention companies are paying to Bitcoin as an asset class. ForkLog reviews the most significant events of recent weeks.

Tokenization Platform Securitize Raises $47 Million from BlackRock

The security token issuance technology provider Securitize has closed a $47 million funding round led by asset manager BlackRock.

Securitize is excited to announce that we have completed a $47 million funding round led by @BlackRock together with @hamilton_lane, @paraficapital, @Tradeweb, and strategic investors @AptosLabs, @circle and @Paxos.

This further proves that the demand for tokenized real-world… pic.twitter.com/sRuNgEslVj

— Securitize (@Securitize) May 1, 2024

The round also included participation from Hamilton Lane, Tradeweb Markets, ParaFi Capital, Aptos Labs, Circle, and Paxos.

“At BlackRock, we believe tokenization can lead to significant transformation in capital markets infrastructure. Our investment in Securitize is another step in advancing our digital assets strategy,” said Joseph Chalom, head of strategic ecosystem partnerships at BlackRock, who will join Securitize’s board of directors.

In June 2021, the platform raised $48 million from Blockchain Capital and Morgan Stanley Tactical Value.

Fintech Startup Midas Raises $45 Million

Turkish fintech startup Midas has closed a Series A funding round of $45 million.

? Midas’a 45 milyon dolarlık rekor yatırım!

Finansal teknolojiler alanında Türkiye’nin en büyük erken aşama Seri A yatırımını almanın mutluluğunu yaşıyoruz.

Bize ve gelecek planlarımıza inanan kullanıcı ve yatırımcılarımıza teşekkür ederiz.

? https://t.co/nXuG4rXC5R pic.twitter.com/zmMDjRAESS

— Midas (@getmidas) April 22, 2024

The round was led by Portage Ventures with participation from IFC, Spark Capital, Earlybird Digital East Fund, and Revo Capital.

Through the platform, Turkish traders can invest in stocks and bonds in the US market. According to a press release, Midas has a user base of over 2 million people.

The fintech startup will use the funds to expand across the Middle East and launch new products, including digital asset trading.

Movement Labs Studio Raises $38 Million

Movement Labs, developing an Ethereum-based L2 solution, has closed a Series A funding round of $38 million.

gmove world.

Today we are thrilled to announce our $38M Series A led by @polychain pic.twitter.com/ZNe5XiMxAn

— Movement (@movementlabsxyz) April 25, 2024

The round was led by Polychain Capital with participation from Hack VC, Placeholder, Archetype, Maven 11, Robot Ventures, Figment Capital, Nomad Capital, Bankless Ventures, OKX Ventures, dao5, and Aptos Labs.

The funds will be used to expand the team and develop the L2 solution using the Move programming language.

The company expects the network launch to significantly increase throughput and address some vulnerabilities in Ethereum smart contracts.

Crypto Startup Aligned Layer Raises $20 Million

Cryptocurrency startup Aligned Layer has closed a Series A funding round of $20 million.

? A Fully Aligned Round: $20M Series A Round?

Aligned Layer is pleased to announce a $20M fundraise led by Hack @hack_vc, with support from @daofive, @l2iterative, @NomadCapital_io, @FinalityCap, @symbolicvc, @theta_bv, @J17Crypto, @EVG_Ventures, @decimafund, GM Ventures,… pic.twitter.com/nL2ykP8tF6

— Aligned Layer (@alignedlayer) April 25, 2024

The round was led by Hack VC with support from Everest Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Nomad Capital, Protagonist, and other venture funds.

The funds will be used to expand operations and accelerate the development of Aligned Layer’s mainnet. The project is positioned as a “universal verification solution for Ethereum.”

Infrastructure Provider Turnkey Raises $15 Million

Turnkey, a provider of infrastructure for cryptocurrency wallets, has closed a Series A funding round of $15 million.

We’re excited to announce that Turnkey has raised a $15m Series A, co-led by @FactionVC and @GalaxyHQ!

Turnkey is secure, scalable, and flexible wallet infrastructure. Our composable onchain primitives help developers build innovative products in crypto.https://t.co/pupcQ0eHZ4 pic.twitter.com/fnurupeMzG

— Turnkey ? (@turnkeyhq) April 23, 2024

The round was co-led by Lightspeed Faction and Galaxy Ventures with participation from Sequoia, Coinbase Ventures, Alchemy, Figment Capital, Mirana Ventures, Anagram, TrueBridge, Asymmetric, Variant, and Gemini.

“Turnkey is secure, fast, and flexible wallet infrastructure at its simplest and safest level. It’s a toolkit that developers can use for any crypto asset storage solutions,” said Turnkey CEO Bryce Ferguson in a comment to CoinDesk.

The project was founded by developers of the custodial service Coinbase Custody. The main client of the provider is the platform Alchemy, which uses the infrastructure to promote its WaaS product.

Shiba Inu Team Raises $12 Million for L3 Network Development

The team behind the meme cryptocurrency Shiba Inu has raised $12 million using the yet-to-be-released TREAT token, reports The Block.

The investment was provided by Polygon Ventures, Mechanism Capital, Big Brain Holdings, Shima Capital, Animoca Brands, Morningstar Ventures, Woodstock Fund, DWF Ventures, Stake Capital, and Comma 3 Ventures.

The funds will be used to develop a third-level (L3) network based on Shibarium, focused on privacy. TREAT will serve as both a governance and utility token for it.

The name of the L3 network is not yet disclosed to prevent fraud. The test network launch is scheduled for the third quarter of 2024.

Also on ForkLog:

• Journalists learned about Pantera Capital’s search for $1 billion for a new crypto fund.