Institutional roundup: KuCoin raises $150 million, Talos valued at $1.25 billion

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 are paying to Bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of the past weeks are in ForkLog’s overview.

KuCoin raises $150 million at a $10 billion valuation

The KuCoin cryptocurrency exchange raised $150 million in a pre-Series B round. Investors valued the company at $10 billion.

The round was led by Jump Crypto. Circle Ventures, IDG Capital and Matrix Partners were among the investors.

The company plans to use the funds to broaden its product range beyond centralized services, specifically to enter DeFi and NFT markets through its investment arms.

Part of the funding will go into developing infrastructure and applications on the KuCoin Community Chain.

Citigroup and Wells Fargo invested $105 million in the Talos crypto-trading platform

The Talos raised $105 million in a Series B round. The startup’s valuation reached $1.25 billion.

The round was led by General Atlantic. Participants included Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, Citigroup, BNY Mellon, DRW, SCB 10x, Stripes, Voyager and others. All of them invested in Talos for the first time.

The startup was also backed by existing investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), PayPal Ventures, Castle Island Ventures and Fidelity Investments.

The funds will be used to expand the business in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. To that end, the company will also increase its headcount by about 80 employees.

Talos provides direct access to the crypto markets, price monitoring, reporting, clearing and other services for institutional clients.

Blockchain Capital backed the crypto influencer Irene Zhao’s startup in a $100 million round

The SO-COL startup, co-founded by crypto influencer Irene Zhao, raised $100 million in a private funding round. It was led by Blockchain Capital.

The amount is not final — talks with investors are ongoing. The funds will be used to develop the app, marketing and to hire developers.

Alameda led Voyager Digital financing round of $60 million

The cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital raised about $60 million in a private stock placement. The round was led by Alameda Research, Sam Bankman-Fried’s firm.

Participants included Digital Currency Group founder Barry Silbert, Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz and Blockdaemon. BTIG served as the sole agent and bookrunner.

Voyager Digital will use the funds for general corporate purposes.

Haun Ventures’ Katie Haun led a $50 million round for NFT startup Zora

The NFT platform Zora raised $50 million in funding. The round was led by Haun Ventures, the venture firm founded by former Andreessen Horowitz general partner Katie Haun.

The funds will accelerate open infrastructure development for NFT projects and expand collaboration with teams in the space. Zora also plans to increase the number of grants and hackathons it runs.

Solidus Labs raised $45 million from Liberty City Ventures

Market-manipulation monitoring startup Solidus Labs closed a Series B round of $45 million.

It was led by Liberty City Ventures with participation from Evolution Equity Partners, Declaration Partners, former OCC head Brian Brooks and former CFTC chair Christopher Giancarlo.

The funds will be used to expand the number of financial partners and for new R&D. Since 2021, the startup’s team has grown fourfold.

Certora raised $36 million from Jump Crypto, Tiger Global and Galaxy Digital

The Israeli company Certora, which specializes in tools for analyzing the security of smart contracts, raised $36 million in a Series B round.

The round was led by Jump Crypto. It also included Tiger Global, Galaxy Digital, Electric Capital, ACapital, Framework Ventures, Coinfund, Lemniscap, Coinbase and VMware.

Bitcoin.com raised $33.6 million through private token sale

The crypto wallet and exchange Bitcoin.com raised $33.6 million in a private VERSE token sale.

Participants included Digital Strategies, KuCoin Ventures, Blockchain.com, ViaBTC Capital, Redwood City Ventures, 4SV, BoostX Ventures, as well as Roger Ver, Jihan Wu and David Wachsman as private investors.

The company describes VERSE as a cross-chain utility token and ERC-20 governance asset. Its functions at Bitcoin.com are compared to the platform tokens Crypto.com (CRO), Binance (BNB) and FTX (FTT).

The issuance will total 210 billion VERSE over seven years in equal parts.

15% of the tokens will go to the project team, 34% to the developers fund, 35% presumably for ecosystem incentive programs. 16% of VERSE issuance is planned for sale. The public token sale of 12.6 billion coins (6%) is planned for June 2022.

Amberdata, a US-based data provider for crypto markets, raised $30 million

The US-based analytics blockchain startup Amberdata raised $30 million in a Series B round. It was led by Knollwood Investment Advisory.

Participants included Susquehanna International Group, Nasdaq Ventures, NAB Ventures, Chicago Trading Company, Nexo, Coinbase and Innovius.

Existing investors — Citigroup, Franklin Templeton, Aspenwood Ventures, Rovida Kruptos Assets and Boldstart Ventures — increased their investments.

The funds will be used to scale the business in the US and abroad. Amberdata also plans to deepen and broaden DeFi, accelerate the development of crypto indices and analytics products.

Gopax, Bitcoin exchange, raised $23.7 million in a round with DCG involvement

Streamy, operator of South Korea’s crypto exchange Gopax, announced a Series B funding round of 30 billion won (~$23.7 million).

The funding came from existing investors Digital Currency Group and Strong Ventures, as well as new ones. Among the latter are Z Venture Capital, a SoftBank- and Line-backed venture firm, and KB Investment.

As a result, the company received a valuation of 350 billion won (~$276 million).

The funds will be used to strengthen the exchange’s team and attract customers “through aggressive marketing”.

Also on ForkLog:

• The founder of Revolut will launch an AI-based venture fund with $200 million in assets.
• Andreessen Horowitz invested in the blockchain game developer Azra Games.
• Bloomberg reports Amber Group plans to raise funds at a $10 billion valuation.
• The startup Casa raised $21 million and unveiled its own API.

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