Institutional Bulletin: Crusoe Raises $350 Million, Genies NFT Project Valued at $1 Billion

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

Mining company Crusoe raises $350 million

Crusoe Energy Systems Inc closed a Series C financing round of $350 million.

Led by G2 Venture Partners. Among the participants were: Valor Equity Partners, Lowercarbon Capital, Polychain Capital, Bain Capital Ventures, Founders Fund, MCJ Collective, Winklevoss Capital and others.

One of Crusoe’s new investors is FootPrint Coalition Ventures, the venture firm of Hollywood star Robert Downey Jr.

In addition to equity financing, the company secured credit lines from SVB Capital, Sparkfund and Generate Capital for up to $155 million.

Crusoe uses energy from flaring associated gas to mine Bitcoin. It will use the funds to expand the business beyond the United States, accelerate the launch of its CrusoeCloud cloud computing solution, and grow its team from 157 to 250 by the end of 2022.

Genies NFT project raises $150 million at a $1 billion valuation

Genies, a project specializing in NFT avatars, closed a financing round of $150 million, led by Silver Lake. Investors valued the company at $1 billion.

Genies provides users with the ability to create virtual avatars. The avatars can be used in metaverses along with various items in the form of non-fungible tokens.

CertiK, smart-contract auditor, raises $148 million

The smart-contract security auditing startup CertiK raised $60 million from SoftBank Vision Fund and Tiger Global.

New financing is a continuation of Series B3. In early April the startup raised $88 million at a $2 billion valuation from Insight Partners, Tiger Global, Advent International and other investors.

According to CEO Ronghui Gu, SoftBank Vision Fund and Tiger Global were the only participants in the additional round. For the Japanese financial conglomerate, this is its first investment in a firm focused on smart-contract security.

Partnerships with the two investment giants will enable CertiK to forge ties with traditional companies seeking to enter the Web 3.0 space.

NFT platform Rario raises $120 million

The sports NFT marketplace Rario closed a Series A round of $120 million. It was led by Dream Capital with participation from Corporate Venture Capital, M&A Dream Sports and Alpha Wave Global.

Founded in 2021, Rario is an NFT platform focused on cricket. The project team signed a multi-year exclusive deal with Cricket Australia to create a cricket-themed metaverse.

Rario enables fans to own a piece of cricket’s history through digital collectibles. The team says it has sold more than 50,000 NFTs to fans in 20 countries.

0x Labs raises $70 million from Jump Crypto and Jared Leto

The San Francisco-based provider of DEX infrastructure 0x Labs raised $70 million in a Series B round led by Greylock Partners with participation from Pantera Capital, Jump Capital, OpenSea and Jared Leto.

0x Labs is working on “intelligent order routing,” which partitions users’ orders across different decentralized exchanges such as Uniswap, Curve and Balancer. This helps minimize slippage by executing trades at the best on-market prices.

The funds will be used to expand the team, develop and broaden its product line, and support new networks such as Solana.

Flipside Crypto raises $50 million at a $350 million valuation

The analytics company Flipside Crypto raised $50 million in a funding round led by Republic Capital with participation from True Ventures, Galaxy, Terra, Dapper Labs, M13 and other venture investors.

The funds will be used to support new networks and Layer 2 solutions, develop analytic tools and launch bounty programs.

The company currently employs 66 people. Management plans to grow to 85 by the end of 2022.

Infrastructure blockchain startup BlockApps raises $41 million

The enterprise-focused blockchain startup BlockApps raised $41 million. The round was led by Liberty City Ventures.

New investors included Morgan Creek Digital, Eidetic Ventures and Givic. Investments in the company were bolstered by ConsenSys, Bloccelerate, Fitz Gate Ventures, Arab Angels, Kenetic Capital and PropelX.

As a result of the round, representatives from Morgan Creek Digital and Liberty City Ventures will join the startup’s board.

BlockApps will direct the investments toward expanding the partner program and attracting new customers.

Animoca Brands and Paradigm back Ethereum wallet Argent in $40 million round

The mobile Ethereum wallet Argent raised $40 million in a Series B funding round.

Led by venture firms Fabric Ventures and Metaplanet, owned by Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn. New investors included StarkWare, Jump Crypto and Animoca Brands. Stakes in the startup were increased by Paradigm, Index Ventures and Creandum.

The Argent team will use the funds to support a broader scope of activity in DeFi and Web 3.0 and to expand services in Latin America. The priority will be Mexico, where demand is high.

Argent also plans to grow the team of finance and legal specialists and form a new research group for L2 protocols.

Polychain Capital leads $30 million round for Ethereum startup Scroll

The startup Scroll, an Ethereum scaling project using ZK-Rollups, raised $30 million.

The Series A round for the startup was led by Polychain Capital with participation from Bain Capital Crypto, Robot Ventures, Geometry DAO and other investors, as well as several angels.

The project will use the funds to expand its 20-person team and launch a testnet, expected in the second half of 2022.

Islamic-focused crypto startup Fasset raises $22 million

The digital asset trading platform Fasset raised $22 million in a Series A round. It was led by Liberty City Ventures and Fatima Gobi Ventures with participation from Soma Capital, MyAsiaVC and others.

The investments will be used to develop new products and to expand in Indonesia and Pakistan. The startup is in talks with regulators to launch services in the regions mentioned.

Moonbirds NFT creators raise $10 million from Reddit co-founder

The startup Proof behind the Moonbirds NFT collection raised $10 million from Seven Seven Six — the venture firm co-founded by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian.

The startup was founded by True Ventures partner Kevin Rose. The latter also participated in the round, but it was Seven Seven Six that invested $10 million, he noted.

Rose noted that collaboration with Ohanian will enable the project to release additional non-fungible tokens along with content creation in Web 3.0, launching a conference and other initiatives.

DeFi project Bastion raises $9 million from Three Arrows Capital and FTX

The lending protocol Bastion closed a Series A round of $9 million. It was led by Three Arrows Capital with participation from FTX, Jane Street, The Spartan Group, Crypto.com and other investors.

The Bastion team announced in the coming weeks the launch of leveraged farming features, new listings, and plans to gamify DeFi with NFTs.

Also on ForkLog:

• Uniswap Labs launched a venture arm for Web 3.0 investments.
• Bloomberg: The Sandbox plans to raise $400 million at a $4 billion valuation.
• Coinbase Ventures closed 71 venture deals in the first quarter.
• A partner at Andreessen Horowitz led Forbes’ \”Midas List\”.

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