Institutional Bulletin: Bridge Secures $58 Million, E-PAL Raises $30 Million

The cryptocurrency industry continues to attract an increasing number of institutional players. This trend is evident in new infrastructure investments and the growing attention companies are paying to Bitcoin as an asset class. ForkLog reviews the most significant events of recent weeks.

Payment Firm Bridge Raises $58 Million

Web3 payment company Bridge, which is developing an app for stablecoin transactions, has closed a $58 million funding round, as reported by Fortune.

The investment came from venture firms Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Haun Ventures, and Index Ventures.

Bridge was founded by former employees of payment company Block (formerly Square) and cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Zach Abrams and Sean Yu. The firm aims to compete with Swift.

“Fintech is deeply rational. If you can do something faster, cheaper, and more economically, you win,” said Abrams.

According to a press release, Bridge’s services are used by Coinbase and SpaceX.

E-PAL Raises $30 Million for Gaming Platform Balance

Social gaming company E-PAL closed two funding rounds totaling $30 million for its blockchain gaming platform Balance.

The investment was provided by Andreessen Horowitz, Galaxy Interactive, Animoca Brands, K5, CLF Partners, MBK Capital, New Heights Fund, AMBER, MarbleX, Tuna, Aptos Labs, IOBC, Leland, Gate Labs, DWF Ventures, BING, and others.

The funds will be directed towards developing the infrastructure of Balance—“an important step in E-PAL’s mission to create an open, inclusive, and fair Web3 ecosystem.”

The platform collaborates with over 80 gaming companies and supports more than 150 games worldwide. Balance’s user base is 4.2 million people.

Blockchain Startup Space and Time Raises $20 Million

Microsoft-backed blockchain startup Space and Time has closed a Series A funding round of $20 million.

We are thrilled to announce that Space and Time Labs has secured a $20M Series A, bringing our total funding to $50 million. ?⏳

SxT is empowering the community to own their future in an AI-powered world by providing the tools they need to build sophisticated, data-driven… pic.twitter.com/E87cVjtOl5

— Space and Time (@SpaceandTimeDB) August 27, 2024

The round was led by Framework Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Arrington Capital, and Hivemind Capital, with participation from M12 Ventures, OKX Ventures, F-Prime Capital, Digital Currency Group, Circle Ventures, and Alumni Ventures.

Space and Time’s primary goal is to combine artificial intelligence and blockchain technologies to address the issue of verifiability in the AI segment.

Edge Matrix Chain Secures $20 Million

Developer of multichain infrastructure Edge Matrix Chain has closed a $20 million funding round, as reported by The Block.

The round was led by Polygon Ventures and Amber Group, with participation from One Comma, Kapley Judge and Associated Corporations, Cyberrock Venture Fund, and other investors.

The funds will be directed towards launching a first-level blockchain focused on applications for artificial intelligence.

Startup Hypernative Raises $16 Million

Cybersecurity-focused startup Hypernative has closed a Series A funding round of $16 million.

Hypernative raised a $16M Series A round to make crypto safer for everyone!

Big thanks to our investors: @bloccelerate @Boldstartvc @borderless_cap IBI Tech Fund @CMT_Digital Knollwood @Quantstamp @Re7Capital
Secure everything you build, run and own in Web3.

Blog:… pic.twitter.com/PmjJzRE9jr

— HypernativeLabs (@HypernativeLabs) September 3, 2024

The round was led by Quantstamp, with participation from Bloccelerate VC, Boldstart Ventures, Borderless Capital, CMT Digital, and other firms.

The funds will be directed towards preventing hacking attacks and breaches in the Web3 segment.

Solayer Restaking Protocol Raises $12 Million at $80 Million Valuation

The restaking protocol on the Solana blockchain—Solayer—has closed a $12 million funding round.

1/ hi again! excited to announce our $12M round led by @polychain

to build the restaking network on Solana pic.twitter.com/yksgvqlHjo

— Solayer (@solayer_labs) August 27, 2024

The round was led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Big Brain Holdings, Hack VC, Nomad Capital, Race Capital, ABCDE, Road Capital, and other investors.

Solayer co-founder Rachel Chu told The Block that the project’s valuation has reached $80 million.

Also on ForkLog:

• AI startup Safe Superintelligence raises $1 billion.
• Media: OpenAI valued at over $100 billion.