Institutional briefing: Forte raises $725 million, MoonPay valued at $3.4 billion

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The cryptocurrency industry is attracting an increasing number of institutional players. This is evident in the growing investments in infrastructure and the heightened attention that companies are giving to Bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of the past weeks are in ForkLog’s review.

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Forte startup raises $725 million from a16z, Solana Ventures and other investors

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Provider of blockchain solutions for game publishers, Forte raised $725 million in a Series B financing round.

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Participating were Sea Capital, Kora Management, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global, Solana Ventures, Polygon Studios, Cosmos, Animoca Brands and Warner Music Group.

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The capital will be used to expand services and move out of beta. In 2021, Forte’s funding exceeded $900 million.

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MoonPay raises $555 million with a $3.4 billion valuation

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The crypto-payments infrastructure provider MoonPay closed a Series A round of $555 million.

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Led by Tiger Global Management and Coatue, with participation from Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital, Paradigm and NEA. Following the investment, the 2.5-year-old startup was valued at $3.4 billion.

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The funds will be used for global expansion and to grow the staff.

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The company counts around 250 partners in 160 countries, and its client base stands at no fewer than 7 million users. Since 2019, MoonPay has processed transactions worth more than $2 billion.

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Pokemon Go developer Niantic raises $300 million to build a real-world metaverse

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The Niantic team, behind Pokemon Go, announced that it had raised $300 million from Coatue Management. The company is valued at $9 billion.

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The funds will be directed toward investments in current games and new apps, expansion of the Lightship platform for developers, and the Real-World Metaverse project.

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The company did not specify whether it will focus on blockchain, cryptocurrencies or non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

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NFT platform Royal raises $55 million

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The music NFT platform Royal closed a Series A funding round of $55 million, led by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz.

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Participants included Founders Fund’s Peter Thiel, Paradigm, CAA, NEA Connect Ventures, Crush Music and Coinbase Ventures. Investors in the project also included The Chainsmokers, Nas, Logic, Stefflon Don, Kygo and Joyner Lucas & Disclosure.

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Royal announced the start of direct sales of new NFT drops in the coming weeks.

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The funds will be used to expand the team and invest in performers collaborating with the platform.

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StarkWare raises $50 million at a $2 billion valuation

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StarkWare, focused on layer-2 scaling solutions, raised $50 million in a Series C round with a $2 billion valuation.

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The round was led by Sequoia Capital. It also included Paradigm, Three Arrows Capital, Alameda Research and Founders Fund, which supported the startup at earlier stages.

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The funds will be used to expand the team and accelerate ecosystem growth.

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AscendEX exchange raises $50 million from Polychain Capital and other investors

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Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange AscendEX raised $50 million in a Series B round. It was led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC with participation from Alameda Research, Jump Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, Eterna Capital, Acheron Trading, Nothing Research and Palm Drive Capital.

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The funds will be directed toward accelerating international expansion and further product innovations.

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Neon Labs raises $40 million from Jump Capital and other investors

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The Neon Labs startup, behind the Ethereum Virtual Machine on Solana, raised $40 million in a private token sale.

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The round was led by venture firm Jump Capital. It also included Three Arrows Capital, Solana Capital, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, Ethereal Ventures, IDEO CoLab Ventures and others.

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The funds will be used to expand the team, specifically to hire developers and marketing professionals.

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WOO Network raises $30 million from Three Arrows Capital and Crypto.com Capital

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WOO Network raised $30 million in a Series A round, with participation from Three Arrows Capital, Crypto.com Capital, Avalanche Foundation and other investors.

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The funds will be directed toward global expansion, expanding its lineup of crypto-derivative products, social trading and DeFi products aimed at trading and yield enhancement.

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BetDEX, a decentralized sports betting protocol, raises $21 million

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The team behind BetDEX, touted as the first decentralized sports betting protocol, raised $21 million following a seed funding round. It was led by Paradigm and FTX.

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The round also included Multicoin Capital, Hack VC, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Sino Global Capital, Solana Ventures and Everblue Management.

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The Edinburgh-based startup plans to scale the business to other countries. It is led by former executives and the co-founder of the gaming company FanDuel.

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BetDEX’s launch is planned for the first half of 2022. The team announced plans to add innovations to the growing market, offering fast and attractive bets in USDT, SOL and SAMO, eliminating counterparty risk.

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Blockchain gaming startup Avocado Guild raises $18 million

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The blockchain gaming company Avocado Guild announced that it had raised $18 million in a Series A round led by Animoca Brands and QCP Soteria Node.

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Also participating were Three Arrows Capital, Solana Ventures, Polygon Studios, Hashed, Binance Smart Chain Growth Fund and other investors.

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Co-founder and CEO Brandon Wong said that the company plans to expand operations to a greater number of P2E games, acquiring NFT and land in their virtual worlds.

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Also on ForkLog:

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• KuCoin launched a $100 million fund for metaverse investments.
• The Solidus Labs startup raised $15 million in strategic investments.
• Animoca Brands’ NFT platform Quidd raised $5 million.
• The Alex startup raised $5.8 million to build a Bitcoin-based DeFi platform.

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