EigenLayer restaking protocol raises $50 million at a $750 million valuation

The cryptocurrency industry is drawing more institutional players. This is reflected in both new investments in infrastructure and the growing attention that companies are giving to Bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of the past weeks are in ForkLog’s review.

EigenLayer restaking protocol raises $50 million at a $750 million valuation

EigenLayer raised $50 million in a Series A round. The lead investor was Blockchain Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Hack VC and Electric Capital.

The company valued EigenLayer at $250 million, and native tokens at $500 million.

The startup was founded in 2021 by Shriram Kannan, an associate professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. According to him, EigenLayer enables using ETH in staking to secure other protocols and to implement consensus-level innovations without the need to launch a new blockchain.

The team plans to roll out the initial version of the protocol in stages by the end of 2023.

CCP Games raises $40 million from a16z and other investors

CCP Games raised $40 million to build a blockchain-based game in the EVE universe.

The seed round was led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). Other participants include Makers Fund, Bitkraft, Kingsway Capital, Hashed and Nexon.

“Years before the first blockchain was created, the science-fiction space MMO EVE Online demonstrated many of the core principles that define Web3 today,” said representatives of a16z.

Investors noted the studio’s ability to create large open worlds and a carefully designed economy. The new AAA-grade game will use smart-contract technology, with a focus on security and scalability, according to the press release.

CCP Games’ CEO Hilmar Veigar Petursson said the core idea is to create a virtual world that will be “more meaningful to users than real life.”

Ledger expands Series C at a valuation of $1.42 billion

Hardware wallet maker Ledger announced the expansion of its Series C financing round at the previous valuation of €1.3 billion (about $1.42 billion).

The company launched the Series C round in June 2021. At that time it managed to raise $380 million.

Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier said the firm had already closed the first tranche of the fundraising and attracted “the majority” of the €100 million target (about $109 million).

The second tranche will take place in mid-April. The company noted that due to high investor interest, a third phase is likely.

Following the FTX collapse in November 2022, experts noted record hardware wallet sales from Ledger and Trezor.

“People suddenly realised: ‘Wow, leaving crypto on an exchange is really dangerous.’ But 2023 will be even better for us because money can’t be trusted even to a Swiss bank now,” said Gauthier.

He confirmed November was the best revenue month. Ledger Live, the app for buying and selling digital assets, saw revenue jump 200% year on year.

The company will deploy the raised funds to develop the business by expanding its network of distributors, increasing production of devices and products.

New investors in the first stage of the round included True Global Ventures, Cité Gestion SPV, Digital Finance Group and VaynerFund. 10T, Cap Horn, Morgan Creek and Cathay Innovation increased their commitments to Ledger.

The sole placement agent was Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE, with legal counsel by Jones Day.

Web3 social network OP3N raises $28 million at a $100 million valuation

OP3N raised $28 million in a Series A round.

The lead investor was Animoca Brands with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Galaxy Digital, Republic Crypto, Avalanche’s Blizzard Fund, Connect Ventures, GSR Markets, The Spartan Group, BRV Capital Management and NBA player Russell Westbrook.

As a result of the round, OP3N was valued at $100 million. The funds will be used to further develop the app and expand the staff.

Founded in 2021, OP3N already has its own crypto wallet and a prototype NFT marketplace. Founder Jason Ma positions the product as a mix of WhatsApp and Amazon built on Web3 technology.

DWF Labs invested $20 million in the DeFi protocol Synthetix

The Synthetix platform raised $20 million from the investment firm DWF Labs via a direct sale of SNX native tokens.

According to internal documents, on March 16 DWF Labs purchased SNX for $15 million, later adding another $5 million worth of coins.

The investment firm plans to integrate Synthetix’s perpetual contracts into its business model to increase trading volume on the protocol.

European DeFi project Li Finance raises $17.5 million

The Berlin-based DEX aggregator Li Finance raised $17.5 million in a Series A round.

Leading investors were CoinFund and Superscrypt. Others include Bloccelerate, L1 Digital, Circle, Factor, Perridon, Theta Capital, Three Point Capital, Abra and nearly 20 business angels.

The funds will be used to expand the number of networks supported, DEX, cross-chain bridges, support for sales and marketing.

According to the project, within six months the platform became a leader in inter-network liquidity aggregation in the MetaMask ecosystem with a 96% share of swaps.

Recently the project launched its own decentralized exchange Jumper.Exchange. The platform supports more than 20 blockchains, 15 bridges and 30 DEXs.

Auros market maker raises $17 million to stabilise finances after the FTX collapse

The Auros project raised $17 million to complete the restructuring process and close the balance sheet gap caused by the FTX collapse.

Among investors are Vivienne Court, Bit Digital, Trovio, Epoch Capital and Primal Capital and Optiver venture partners. The board will include cofounder of Vivienne Court Marcel Klossi and Bit Digital chief Hugo Chiang. In late 2022 the company faced financial difficulties and defaulted on several payments after $20 million got stuck on the collapsed FTX exchange. Auros had to file for restructuring in the British Virgin Islands bankruptcy court.

“We didn’t pay immediately because we planned to return all the funds at once. Our company is profitable, so we needed time to ensure fair and equal treatment for all creditors,” explained Auros co-founder Benjamin Roth.

The CEO said the business continued to operate during the legal process.

The statement says the investments will also be used to develop derivatives services and high-frequency trading.

Turkish crypto exchange Metatime raises $11 million in seed funding

The yet-to-launch Turkish crypto exchange Metatime raised $11 million in seed funding.

Investors included the Yildiz Tekno GSYO investment firm and a number of business angels. The latter invested most of the amount in the project by acquiring MetaCoin (MTC) tokens.

The Istanbul-based startup plans to launch a series of services, including a crypto exchange, wallet, NFT wallet, and its own stablecoin.

On November 11, 10% of the tokens will be unlocked for investors. The remaining 90% will be released over the next 225 days.

The Metatime project was founded in 2021 and has been in development since. As of writing, it employs 228 people.

Radix blockchain developers raise $10 million at a $400 million valuation

The Radix project, developing a “radically” new blockchain, closed a $10 million round at a $400 million valuation.

The sole investor was DWF Labs. It allocated $8 million, with a commitment to provide another $2 million in the near future.

A Web3-focused firm, since December it has been purchasing Radix (XRD) tokens daily. DWF Labs’ portfolio includes more than 15 projects, including Conflux, Orbs, Synthetix and Onomy Protocol.

Radix was founded in 2013. It originally began as a blockchain-focused research project. In 2021 the startup raised $12.7 million in funding.

The company plans to launch its mainnet called Babylon in Q2 2023. According to project head Pearce Ridyard, more than 50 projects will soon build DeFi- and NFT-platforms on Radix using the Scrypto programming language.

Hydra Ventures DAO raises $10 million to launch a funds-of-funds DAO model

Hydra Ventures DAO raised $10 million to create the next generation of investment DAOs modeled after traditional finance funds of funds.

The organisation was backed by 1kx, Collab+Currency, ConsenSys Mesh and Seed Club Ventures. Funds were also provided by CMT Digital, MetaCartel Ventures, KR1, Logos DAO, NEAR Foundation, Polygon Foundation, Hutt Capital, Nonagon, Tane Labs, Owl Ventures, Daedalus, Fire Eyes, Zypsy, Tokentus, 707v, Syndicate, Maverick Crypto and NxGen.

Hydra Ventures DAO aims to expand the investment DAO sector and set industry standards for governance, structuring and design.

The team is prepared to work across all aspects, from community coordination, capital deployment, organizational framework, incentive design to back-office support.

According to DeepDAO, the investment DAO segment comprises 89 structures. Hydra Ventures DAO intends to invest in 30–40 venture DAOs with a target annual return of 10%.

So far the organization has invested in an unnamed structure and plans to allocate funds over three years with a cap of up to $500,000 per project.

Hydra Ventures DAO operates under the pseudonym Pet3rpan, a partner at 1kx. The team includes personnel from 1kx, Meta Cartel Ventures and Thing3.

Also on ForkLog:

• European crypto startups in 2022 raised a record $5.7 billion.
• Hong Kong fund will raise $100 million for Web3 investments.
• Orderly Network raised funding from Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX.
• Bit Digital invested in Auros market-maker.
• Crypto influencer Irene Zhao raised $4.5 million across two funding rounds.