Institutional Roundup: Amber Group raises $300 million, and Aztec raises $100 million

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

Amber Group raised $300 million from Fenbushi Capital US and other investors

The cryptocurrency platform Amber Group raised $300 million in a Series C financing round. It was led by Fenbushi Capital US.

According to the statement, funding was also provided by ‘other cryptocurrency investors and family offices’. Their names were not disclosed, nor was the valuation.

Amber Group added that prior to the collapse of FTX they planned to run a Series B+ round and keep a valuation of $3 billion. However, after the collapse of FTX, the platform moved immediately to a Series C.

According to Bloomberg, the bulk of the raised funds are intended for client payouts. One of them allegedly is the co-founder and CEO of the crypto lending platform Vauld, Darshan Bathija. Earlier reports indicated that Amber Group owed him around $130 million.

The company noted that it plans to cut secondary directions and focus ‘on core business and customers’.

Aztec raised $100 million from a16z and other investors

The London-based startup Aztec Network closed a Series B funding round totaling $100 million.

It was led by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz with participation from A_Capital, King River Capital, HashKey Capital, Fenbushi Capital, Variant, SV Angel and Alumni Ventures.

The funds will be used to expand the team from 40 to 80 people and develop an encrypted architecture for using blockchains without revealing user-identifying information.

Dogami, a Web3 game about virtual dogs, raised $7 million

The team behind Web3-game about ‘adopting’ and raising virtual dogs Dogami raised $7 million in an extended seed funding round.

It was led by European venture firm XAnge with participation from Bpifrance, Blockchain Founders Fund and Wagram Capital.

Launched in mid-2021, the project allows users to purchase NFT 3D dogs. The startup also released the mobile game DOGA House for Dogami NFT holders. According to the team, the average age of players is 30.

Polychain invested $7 million in a Bitcoin wallet developer

The developer of self-custody tools Foundation Devices raised $7 million in a seed round led by Polychain Capital.

Other participants included: Greenfield Capital and Lightning Ventures, as well as the startup’s existing investors Third Prime, Warburg Serres, Unpopular Ventures and Bolt.

The flagship products are the Passport hardware wallet, which uses a camera and QR codes for secure communication, and the Envoy mobile app. The program enables setup and interaction with the device.

The funding will be used to expand the team of engineers and designers, and to create new offerings focusing on programming services.

Axelar launches $60 million startup funding program

The Axelar blockchain interoperability network team launched a $60 million startup funding program. The initiative was supported by more than 10 investors, including Blockchange, Dragonfly Capital, Divergence Ventures and others.

The Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program is designed for Web3 product developers who ‘can compete’ with centralized projects. Among other criteria, applicants for funding must defend digital sovereignty, security and privacy.

“Axelar Ecosystem Startup Funding Program will connect investors who share this vision with a stream of new developers creating cross-network decentralized applications that use Axelar as infrastructure,” clarified representatives of the startup.

Axelar became one of the first projects that backed a crypto venture fund founded in 2021 by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones and rapper LL Cool J.

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