Institutional Bulletin: Media reports that FTX plans to raise $1 billion and Strike $80 million

The cryptocurrency industry is attracting an increasing number of institutional players. This is reflected both in new investments in infrastructure and in the growing attention companies are giving to Bitcoin as an asset class. The most significant developments of the past weeks are in ForkLog’s roundup.

Media reports that FTX plans to raise to raise $1 billion at a $32 billion valuation

According to CNBC sources, the cryptocurrency exchange FTX is planning to raise $1 billion and to confirm the valuation of the previous funding round at $32 billion.

Terms are not final; negotiations are ongoing.

According to sources, part of the new capital, in addition to the January funding round of $400 million, will go toward closing new deals.

Strike raises for $80 million from Ten31 and other investors

Strike, the operator of a Lightning Network-based payments app, closed a Series B financing round for $80 million.

Lead investor was Ten31, a venture firm. The funding was also provided by Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Wyoming.

The funds will be used to expand partnerships, scale the business and support efforts to improve payments.

In particular, Strike plans to launch a new product line and develop a commercial API. The latter is already integrated with Blackhawk, NCR and Shopify.

Sardine platform raises $51.5 million in Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz

The Sardine anti-fraud platform raised $51.5 million in a Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz.

Investors included NG Ventures, ConsenSys, Cross River Digital, Visa, Eric Schmidt and Google Ventures.

Sardine helps companies achieve regulatory compliance and reduce fraud risk by focusing on growth.

CEO and co-founder Sups Randjan, who previously worked at Coinbase and Revolut, said the company serves 135 clients. Among them are major players such as FTX, Blockchain.com and Brave.

With the funds raised, the startup team hopes to expand its marketing efforts and increase sales internationally.

Developers are also working on building a risk analytics platform aimed at participants in the traditional financial sector.

“Green” blockchain project GRNGrid raises $50 million

The energy-focused blockchain project GRNGrid raised $50 million from Bahamas-based venture firm GEM Digital.

With the funds, the Swiss-based development team will forge new partnerships, including with exchanges, and improve the technologies it uses.

The L1 blockchain from GRNGrid is positioned as highly scalable and environmentally friendly. For transaction verification, users can choose nodes powered only by renewable energy.

Media: Deribit, a crypto derivatives exchange, raises $40 million

According to The Block sources, the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Deribit closed a financing round for $40 million. The funds were provided by existing investors: QCP Capital, Akuna Capital and Dan Tapiero’s 10T Holdings.

The platform’s valuation stood at $400 million. The metric has fallen more than fivefold from $2.1 billion in August 2021, when the firm raised $100 million.

The platform’s Commercial Director Luuk Strayers said that “essentially it doesn’t matter,” since the funds were provided by existing investors. The situation looks different when funds are raised from external sources, he added.

African Bitcoin exchange Yellow Card raises $40 million

African cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card raised $40 million in a Series B funding round. It was led by venture firm Polychain Capital.

Investors also included Valar Ventures, Third Prime Ventures, Sozo Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Fabric Ventures, DG Daiwa Ventures, The Raba Partnership and others.

The funds will be used to scale operations, create new products and forge partnerships.

3Commas platform raises $37 million

The platform for algorithmic cryptocurrency trading 3Commas closed a Series B financing round for $37 million.

It was led by Target Global, Alameda Research and Jump Crypto, as well as the founder and CEO of Copper, Dmitry Tokarev.

The funds will be used to develop the bot trading technology, expand the ecosystem and broaden API access.

The financing will also allow 3Commas to expand its analytics and development staff in its DeCommas subsidiary, focused on the DeFi sector.

Messari raises $35 million from Brevan Howard

The analytics company Messari closed a Series B funding round for $35 million. It was led by Brevan Howard Digital, the digital arm of billionaire Alan Howard.

Participants also included FTX Ventures, Morgan Creek Digital, Samsung Next, and existing investors such as Point72 Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Uncork Capital, Underscore VC, Galaxy and Coinbase Ventures.

The funds will be used to finance product development and expand the team.

Azuki NFT collection creators plan to raise $30 million

According to The Block sources, the Azuki NFT collection’s creator studio Chiru Labs is preparing to close a Series A round for $30 million at a valuation between $300 million and $400 million.

Final terms have not yet been agreed, negotiations are nearing completion.

The Azuki collection is minted on the Ethereum blockchain and consists of 10,000 tokens. According to OpenSea, at the time of writing the floor price for an Azuki NFT was 9 ETH. The total NFT sales volume of Azuki on the marketplace reached 263,000 ETH.

Immunefi bug-bounty platform raises $24 million

The crypto startup Immunefi, which helps DeFi projects run bug-bounty programs on their platforms, closed a Series A financing round for $24 million.

It was led by Framework Ventures with participation from Electric Capital, Polygon Ventures, Samsung Next, P2P Capital, North Island Ventures, Third Prime Ventures, Lattice Capital and Stratos DeFi.

The funds will be used to develop a new version of the platform, expand the team from 50 to 100 people, and increase rewards for white-hat hackers.

Also on ForkLog:

• OneKey, a maker of crypto wallets, raised $20 million.
• DTCP has created a $300 million fund focused on Web3.
• Media: Uniswap Labs will raise from $100 million to $200 million.

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