Blockworks and Pudgy Penguins Lead the Way in $56M Funding Week

DeFi and NFT-related projects dominated over the past few days

article-image

Artwork by Blockworks

share

Crypto startups collectively brought in approximately $56 million this week, with Blockworks bringing in the most cash — $12 million — out of the 13 companies that had funding rounds. Compared with last week’s $52 million raised, money flow to crypto and Web3 companies has remained flat. 

A broad overview of the week shows that DeFi and NFT-related projects got the most attention. But Blockworks’ funding announcement was unique in that it was the only crypto media company to get a cash injection. 

Blockworks closed its fundraise this week with a valuation of $135 million. The strategic funding round was led by 10T Holdings with additional participants Framework Ventures and crypto angel investor Santiago Santos. Santos co-hosts the Empire podcast with Blockworks co-founder Jason Yanowitz. 

The funding will go toward expanding the company’s product offerings and its research platform, which has already announced a new governance tracking tool called GovHub.

A focus on DeFi and NFTs

Pudgy Penguins was also a top fundraiser this week, booking $9 million in its seed round. The popular NFT platform and publisher launched in 2021. It has since gained hundreds of thousands of followers across various social media platforms.  

Pudgy Penguins CEO Luca Netz, who acquired the company in April 2022, stressed his desire to expand and improve upon the NFT brand’s intellectual property.

“[Pudgy Penguins] is a transcendent IP brand that is providing a community of both crypto-native and non-crypto native consumers with enjoyable products, experiences, and content,” Netz said. “With the backing of our partners and community, we are excited to create the leading Web3 IP brand of tomorrow.”

In the realm of DeFi, Odsy Network collected $7.5 million at a valuation of $250 million. The company stressed the need to build more decentralized mechanisms in the face of centralized Web3 entities collapsing such as FTX and Celsius. 

The seed round was led by Blockchange Ventures along with others such as Rubik Ventures, Node Capital and FalconX, according to a press release shared with Blockworks. 

Odsy’s main product is called a dWallet (dynamic decentralized wallet). These “are programmable and transferable signing mechanisms that live on the decentralized Odsy Network, and that can sign transactions on practically any other blockchain,” according to the press release.

Other notable fundraises

  • Webb Protocol, a Web3 privacy firm, has raised $7 million in a seed round co-led by Polychain and Lemniscap.
  • Decentralized crypto exchange and DeFi protocol Dolomite had a $2.5 million funding round, which was spearheaded by venture capital funds Draper Goren Holm and NGC, with participation from Coinbase Ventures. 
  • Cookbook, a community-sourced collection of Ethereum virtual machine smart contracts, raised $2 million to support new Web3 projects and developers by, in part, creating free educational content.
  • Smilee, a decentralized on-chain options protocol, also raised $2 million with the help of Dialectic and a host of other venture capital firms.

Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates (19).png

Research

Suilend has grown into the top money market and liquid staking provider on Sui. STEAMM, Suilend’s Superfluid AMM, presents a compelling avenue for growing market share within Sui’s DEX landscape and revenue generation for the protocol. Suilend’s multi-product suite position it well for owning market share across key verticals. While current metrics across the Sui ecosystem are likely inflated due to Sui Foundation incentive programs, SEND trades at amongst the lowest multiples in the lend/borrow sector, suggesting that a bull case for continued growth in the ecosystem may be mispriced.

article-image

Silk Road founder Ulbricht made a triumphant return to the Bitcoin Conference, 10 years on from sentencing

article-image

A Blockworks Research report looked at who could take up some of the marketshare in the launchpad space

article-image

Business-to-business stablecoin payments are on the rise, per a report from Artemis, Dragonfly and Castle Island

article-image

Crypto continues to do its thing: incentivizing behavior

article-image

Kraken will soon offer Backed ‘xStocks’ as Solana tokens

article-image

In a unanimous decision, the US Court of International Trade has ruled that Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are unlawful