Institutional Roundup: FalconX Raises $150 Million as Magic Eden Valuation Reaches $1.6 Billion

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

CeDeFi Exchange Unizen Raises $200 Million

Positioning itself as a CeDeFi exchange on the BNB Chain agreed to raise $200 million from Global Emerging Markets (GEM) for ecosystem development.

GEM will provide the funds in the form of ‘capital obligations’: part of the financing will be disbursed upfront, part after achieving undisclosed milestones.

The platform targets attracting both retail and institutional investors by sourcing and aggregating orders at the best prices on centralised and decentralised exchanges.

The funds will be used to expand the team and product lineup, as well as to accelerate the rollout of the trading-aggregation system.

Crypto Platform FalconX Raises $150 Million

The institutional-grade cryptocurrency platform FalconX raised $150 million in a Series D financing round. The company’s valuation reached $8 billion.

The round was led by GIC and B Capital with participation from Thoma Bravo, Wellington Management, Adams Street Partners and Tiger Global Management.

The company noted that, despite market volatility, the first quarter of 2022 was its most successful period for attracting new clients. FalconX attributes this to demand for brokerage services from a broad swath of institutional investors.

NFT Marketplace Magic Eden Raises $130 Million

The Solana-based NFT marketplace Magic Eden raised $130 million after a Series B financing round.

Led by Electric Capital and Greylock Partners with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Paradigm and Sequoia Capital. Investors valued the project at $1.6 billion.

The funds will be used to develop a P2P NFT marketplace and the Launchpad platform, which helps issue token collections. The developers also plan to support other blockchains beyond Solana.

The project team numbers around 100 people. The company plans to expand headcount by about 50% over the next 6–12 months.

Crypto Custodian Prime Trust Raises $107 Million

The fintech and digital asset infrastructure provider Prime Trust raised $107 million in a Series B financing round.

Investors include FIS, Fin Capital, Mercato Partners, Kraken Ventures, Commerce Ventures, Gaingels, GateCap Ventures, Seven Peaks Ventures and others.

The funds will support existing solutions and develop new ones, including DeFi and Web3 products, and the launch of Prime Trust Crypto IRA, enabling clients to invest retirement funds in crypto assets.

PolySign Raises $53 Million

The cryptocurrency infrastructure company PolySign raised $53 million in a Series C financing round. Fundraising began in Q1 2022 and concluded in early June.

Investors included Brevan Howard Asset Management, Cowen Digital—the cryptocurrency arm of Cowen—and market-maker trading firm GSR.

In addition to equity financing, PolySign also secured a $25 million loan from private investment firm Boathouse Capital.

The funds are being used to acquire MG Stover, a crypto fund administrator, and to expand PolySign’s depository and custody business.

Kaiko Raises $53 Million for International Expansion

The crypto market data provider Kaiko closed a $53 million Series B round.

Led by Eight Roads with participation from Revaia and existing investors Alven, Point9, Anthemis and Underscore.

Over the past year, to expand its product lineup, Kaiko acquired Kesitys, a provider of risk-optimization solutions, and struck a deal with CoinShares to acquire Napoleon Index to launch crypto indices.

In February 2022, the firm received SOC-2 Type-1 accreditation, confirming a high level of security governance and data privacy, as well as the necessary controls.

Kaiko CEO Ambre Subirana noted the record level of institutional investor interest in the company’s services. The firm offers market data, portfolio solutions, information on interest rates, indices, the DeFi market, pricing services and research.

a16z Leads NFT Platform Cryptoys Round for $23 Million

The gaming NFT platform Cryptoys raised $23 million in a Series A round.

Led by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with participation from Dapper Labs, Draper & Associates, CoinFund, Animoca Brands, Sound Ventures and others.

The funds will be used to build an NFT-based gaming universe and release a cartoon series. In the near term, the team plans to introduce three characters from the series.

ScienceMagic.Studios Raises $10.3 Million

ScienceMagic.Studios, advising on Web3 implementation, raised $10.3 million in pre-seed funding.

The round included Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group and billionaire Raoul Pal.

ScienceMagic.Studios specializes in using NFTs and social tokens to strengthen engagement with audiences. The company is led by former Guardian Media Group CEO David Pemsel, and also includes macro investor Raoul Pal and Delphi Digital.

Read ForkLog’s Bitcoin news in our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, prices and analysis.