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Balance brings in $30m, Hypernative collects $16m
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2 weeks agoon
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adminVenture capitalists are raising a ton more money for crypto-related funds this year compared to last year’s dismal downturn.
According to the latest report from PitchBook, published on Sept. 5, the median fund size is up 65.1% to $41.3 million in 2024.
Nowadays, it’s common for crypto-savvy investors to put together midsized crypto VC funds — coffers ranging from $100 million to $500 million. “These funds are large enough to support industry growth but small enough to avoid the deployment challenges faced by megafunds, making them crucial to the current ecosystem,” PitchBook Senior Analyst Robert Le writes.
But just because the money is there doesn’t mean VCs aren’t cautious. According to Le, the time between fundraises and the duration to close funds have both lengthened over the past three years.
“This trend signals a challenging fundraising environment ahead as LPs become more selective and risk-averse in the wake of recent market downturns,” Le adds.
It’s worth noting that, in the second quarter of this year, Galaxy data shows VCs invested just under $3.2 billion (a 28% increase quarter-over-quarter) into crypto and blockchain-focused companies. But, that money was allocated to 577 deals — a 4% decrease quarter-over-quarter. In the prior three-month period, VC investment into crypto and blockchain startups increased by 29% compared to the previous quarter, totaling about $2.49 billion across 603 deals.
In this week’s column, crypto.news is spotlighting some of the startups that grabbed headlines in recent days. According to crypto fundraising tracker, Crypto Fundraising, these companies raised close to $70 million in disclosed VC between Sept. 1 and Sept. 7.
Balance, $30 million
- Gaming platform E-PAL introduced Balance, a new AI-powered blockchain experience platform, following two successful funding rounds led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Galaxy Interactive.
- Animoca Brands, K5, CLF Partners, MK Capital, Heights Fund, AMBER, MarbleX, Mantra, Tuna, Aptos Labs, IOBC, Leland Ventures, Halon, Uphonest, Taisu Ventures, Gate Labs, DWF Ventures, BING, and WAGMI, also contributed to the $30-million total.
- The proceeds will go toward developing the Balance infrastructure — “an open, inclusive, and equitable Web3 ecosystem.”
Hypernative, $16 million
- Hypernative, known for developing an early-detection web3 security solution, raised $16 million to accelerate adoption of its AI-powered security products.
- Investors in the Series A led by Quantstamp include Bloccelerate VC, Boldstart Ventures, Borderless Capital, CMT Digital, IBI Tech Fund, Knollwood Investment Advisory, Re7 Capital, and some notable angels.
- This brings the total raised by Hypernative to $27 million. The startup previously collected $9 million in funding from Boldstart and IBI.
Puffpaw, $6 million
- PuffPaw, a blockchain-based e-cigarette project, clinched $6 million in seed funding led by Lemniscap Ventures.
- The project is geared toward users who wish to quit smoking. It records their smoking habits and rewards them with tokens.
TrendX, $5 million
- TrendX successfully closed its Series A funding round, clinching $5 million.
- AHZ, Promontory, Coinstash, Frontier Research, Coresky, Tido Capital and Bullperks
- The startup previously raised $1 million in seed money, bringing the total to $6 million.
IDA, $6 million
- IDA, a Hong Kong-based digital asset company, secured $6 million in a seed funding round led by CMCC Global, under its Titan Fund, and Hashed.
- The company aims to launch its “first fiat-referenced stablecoin” called HKDA, which is designed to be regulated in Hong Kong.
- Hack VC, Anagram, GSR, Protagonist, Brinc, Chorus One, Kenetic, SNZ, and Yolo Investments also joined the fundraising effort. Raj Gokal, co-founder of Solana (SOL), is a backer.
CryptoHunter World, $2.8 million
- CryptoHunter World, a hybrid gaming service, completed a $2.8 million private sale round.
- Supported by leading venture capital firms, including IOST, HG Ventures, Mindfulness Capital, Bigcandle Capital, Web3Wave, and Layer-OTC, this fundraising will help bring the blockchain-based collectible role-playing game into the web 3.0 space.
Additional funding rounds: undisclosed amounts
- Blabla: Closed a seed round with participation from Nebula Investment, the European Blockchain Association (BCAEU) and Hopechain.
- Dropnest and Cycle Network: Both startups are backed by Manta Network.
- Vanilla Finance: YTWO, UOB Venture, Pluto Capital, Paper Ventures, Openspace, Notcoin, HTX Ventures Logo, Catizen and ABCDE providing seed funds.
- Kroma: The Layer 2 blockchain solution provider completed a Series A funding round with backing from Asia Advisors Korea, Gate Ventures, ICC Venture, Planetarium, Presto, RFD Capital, Taisu Ventures, The Spartan Group, Waterdrip Capital, and other additional partners have also participated in this round.
- Pencils Protocol: The startup raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from Bing Ventures and at least three other investors.
For last week’s edition of our “Crypto VC” column, click here.
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ASIC
Hut 8 and BITMAIN To Launch Next-Generation ASIC Bitcoin Miner with Liquid-to-Chip Cooling
Published
2 hours agoon
September 19, 2024By
adminHut 8 Corp. (Nasdaq | TSX: HUT), a leading Bitcoin mining company, has expanded its partnership with BITMAIN Technologies Ltd., the world’s largest producer of Bitcoin mining servers, to launch the U3S21EXPH, a next-generation ASIC miner. This model will be the first mass-commercialized miner to feature direct liquid-to-chip (DLC) cooling within a U form factor.
Hut 8 plans to deploy the new miner in the second quarter of 2025, with an initial hosting agreement handling approximately 15 exahash per second (EH/s). This hosting deployment, facilitated by custom-built data center infrastructure developed in-house by Hut 8, is a key part of the company’s strategy to expand its computing power across Bitcoin mining and AI compute sectors.
“Our partnership with BITMAIN has allowed us to advance our thinking on ASIC compute and create a more scalable model for data center design as we expand our footprint,” said Asher Genoot, CEO of Hut 8. “The U3S21EXPH will be the first miner from BITMAIN broadly commercialized with DLC cooling within a U form factor, making it rack-ready like traditional data center hardware. This innovation bridges critical engineering gaps between Bitcoin mining and AI data center infrastructure in both form factor and cooling technology, and we believe this convergence will enable us to unlock significant synergies and flexibility going forward.”
The U3S21EXPH can achieve an efficiency of 13 joules per terahash, producing up to 860 terahash. It uses DLC cooling, a technology traditionally reserved for high-performance computing (HPC) data centers, to make Bitcoin mining more energy efficient and scalable.
“Asher and Mike have been invaluable thought partners to BITMAIN since the early days of US Bitcoin Corp, where they demonstrated a unique focus on cost-efficient procurement and operations,” said Irene Gao, Vice President of Mining at BITMAIN. “Hut 8’s technical expertise, operating strength, and track record of innovation made this partnership a natural evolution of our relationship as we began the journey of developing next-generation ASIC technology.”
The commercial agreement between Hut 8 and BITMAIN includes a fixed hosting fee and a purchase option for Hut 8 to buy the hosted machines in up to three tranches. This structure allows Hut 8 to assess market conditions before making further investments, minimizing financial risk. If Hut 8 exercises this purchase option, its self-mining capacity could grow from 5.6 EH/s to 20.6 EH/s.
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crypto exchanges
German Government Shuts Down 47 Exchanges, Says They’re Tied To ‘Illegal Activity’
Published
3 hours agoon
September 19, 2024By
adminSome customer and transaction data was seized by the government in the process of the investigation, it said. Given that the people behind those activities often reside in other countries outside of Germany, where criminal activities like this are “tolerated or even protected,” the authorities noted it may be nearly impossible for German government officials to prosecute them.
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fetch.ai
FET price rises as CEX inflows rise ahead of Cudos merger vote
Published
8 hours agoon
September 19, 2024By
adminThe Artificial Superintelligence Alliance token rose for the third consecutive day, reaching its highest point since June 27.
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance coin (FET) jumped to a high of $1.5768 on Sept. 19, 127% above its lowest point this month. This rally mirrored the performance of most cryptocurrencies, which surged after the Federal Reserve slashed interest rates.
FET also spiked as data from Nansen showed it had over $7.8 million in centralized exchange inflows in the last 24 hours, representing a 127x jump from the previous average. A big increase in exchange inflows often signals that some holders are starting to sell.
Meanwhile, the number of FET tokens held by smart money wallets continued to rise, reaching a year-to-date high of 5.9 million. These smart money wallets increased to 25, up from last month’s low of 21.
Data also revealed that the volume of FET traded across exchanges surged to over $623 million, its highest point since March this year. According to CoinGlass, FET’s futures open interest rose to over $92 million, its highest level since June 9.
The Artificial Superintelligence Alliance token also gained momentum following several significant AI-related news developments. In China, Alibaba unveiled a series of AI tools, including over 100 open-source AI models.
Meanwhile, OpenAI is reportedly raising funds at a $150 billion valuation, solidifying its position as the biggest player in the AI industry. The company also partnered with T-Mobile, a move that the company believes will boost its earnings by over $39 billion in the long term.
The coin also rose ahead of an important vote in which alliance members will determine whether Cudos will become the next part of the alliance. The current three members of the alliance are Fetch, Ocean Protocol, and SingularityNET.
Cudos, the potential new member, bridges the gap between blockchain and cloud computing by providing decentralized storage solutions. Its token was up by 13%, giving it a market cap of over $68 million.
FET, the biggest AI cryptocurrency, does well when there are good news about the industry. Other AI tokens like Bittensor (TAO) and Akash Network (AKT) have also jumped by double digits in the past few days.
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