Institutional Roundup: Neuralink raises $280 million, and BitGo $100 million

The cryptocurrency industry is attracting a growing number of institutional players. This is evidenced by new investments in infrastructure and by the increasing attention that companies pay to Bitcoin as an asset class. The most significant developments in recent weeks are captured in ForkLog’s roundup.

Neuralink, the Elon Musk-founded company, closed a Series D financing round worth $280 million

Biotech company Neuralink, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, closed a Series D financing round worth $280 million.

The lead investor was Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, which has backed SpaceX, Stripe, Paxos and other major organizations.

Neuralink was founded in 2016 in California with the involvement of Musk. The firm develops implantable in-brain digital interfaces that provide a direct link to a range of devices.

BitGo raises $100 million at a $1.75 billion valuation

Crypto custodian BitGo closed a $100 million funding round, valuing the company at $1.75 billion.

The funds were raised exclusively from new investors in the United States and Asia, with some coming from outside the crypto industry. The financing will be used for strategic deals, two of which are already underway.

Anthropic AI startup attracts $100 million from SK Telecom

South Korea’s telecom giant SK Telecom invested $100 million in the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic. The two companies signed a partnership agreement to create a large language model for the Telco AI platform.

The forthcoming development will enable bespoke AI services for global providers of telecom products.

Co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei said SK Telecom has ‘incredible ambitions’ for using AI to ‘transform’ the communications industry.

IBM researcher raises $60 million for new AI startup

Former head of IBM’s ‘supercomputer’ project, David Ferrucci, raised $59.95 million for his startup developing a generative AI called Elemental Cognition AI.

According to the financial filing, the funds were raised through the sale of securities to 17 investors. The document also mentions plans to raise an additional $5.75 million.

New York-listed Elemental has already developed two corporate chatbots—Cogent and Cora. They are designed for financial applications, logistics and automating scientific research.

L1 project ZetaChain attracts $27 million in funding

Interoperability-focused blockchain platform ZetaChain attracted $27 million in funding.

Participants in the round included Blockchain.com, Human Capital, VY Capital, Sky9 Capital, Jane Street Capital, VistaLabs, CMT Digital, Foundation Capital, Lingfeng Capital, GSR, Kudasai and Krust. The project’s valuation was not disclosed.

Launched in 2021, the ZetaChain platform plans to launch its mainnet soon. According to the developers, the network will unite Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, Bitcoin and Dogecoin.

South Korean metaverse ZTX raises $13 million

The ZTX metaverse project, created by South Korean company Zepeto in partnership with Jump Crypto, raised $13 million in a seed round.

Led by Jump Crypto with participation from Collab+Currency, Parataxis, MZ Web3 Fund and Everest Ventures Group.

Zepeto’s first project is considered Asia’s largest Web2 metaverse by active users. Its estimated value is around $1 billion.

Through ZTX, the company plans to accelerate blockchain adoption by granting ownership of virtual land. Pre-sales of the first 3D homes have already begun.

Binance Labs invests $10 million in Helio Protocol

The venture arm of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance allocated $10 million to Helio Protocol to expand the platform for liquid staking.

The protocol currently operates on the BNB Chain ecosystem. With the new funding, it will expand to Ethereum, and then to L2 networks Arbitrum and Zksync.

In addition, the funds will be used to grow the team, diversify collateral and advance the project. The developers will also update the roadmap and undertake a rebranding.

Linera microchains project raises $6 million

Web3-startup Linera closed a $6 million funding round led by Borderless Capital with participation from Laser Digital Ventures, DFG, Cadenza, Block1, Eterna Capital, MH Ventures, Matrixport, L2IV, ArkStream, Flow Traders, GSR Markets and OWC.

Earlier in the seed round, the project also attracted $6 million from a16z Crypto, Tribe Capital and Cygni Capital. The total initial funding in Linera amounts to $12 million.

The core concept of the protocol involves launching multiple ‘lightweight’ chains, called microchains, in parallel with a single set of validators. This yields higher application speeds by eliminating mempools and reducing the computations required to confirm transactions.

Jump Crypto invests $5 million in the Bitcoin wallet Xverse

The developer of the eponymous Bitcoin wallet—the Xverse startup—raised $5 million in a seed round led by Jump Crypto with participation from RockawayX, Sfermion, Alliance, NGC Ventures and other investors.

Xverse initially supported the first cryptocurrency and allowed the creation and operation of Ordinals on the Bitcoin blockchain. The wallet is available on iOS, Android and as a Chrome browser extension.

The raised funds will be used to accelerate the development of advanced DeFi features, integrate the Lightning Network and other scaling solutions for the network.

Also on ForkLog:

• FC Barcelona raised €120 million for Web3 development.
• Coinbase Ventures invested in Rocket Pool.