Funding Roundup: Crypto Companies Landed $185M This Week

Cryptocurrency and Web3 companies locked down a cumulative $185 million this week — down from a total of $213 million last week.  

The majority of companies raising over the last seven days were rustling up pre-seed or seed funding. Many of the startups are building out Web3’s infrastructure. 

Here are the highlights of some of the most notable funding news this week:

Taurus:

Taurus, the digital asset infrastructure firm, closed a $65 million Series B led by Credit Suisse. Other investors included Deutsche Bank, Pictet Group and Arab Bank Switzerland.

Taurus’ latest capital inflows will be used to grow its team, the company said in a statement, under the more specific focus on hiring engineering and sales talent. 

Sabih Behzad, Deutsche Bank’s head of digital assets, said the company plans to integrate Taurus’ technology into its own IT environment.

“This will form a key part of our digital asset custody platform and will make it easier for us to develop and roll out our digital asset custody offering,” Behzad said in a statement. “Through this investment, Deutsche Bank is delighted to partner on the development of the market for digital assets.”

One sign to keep an eye out for Deutsche Bank’s move into cryptocurrencies.

Superplastic:

Superplastic, an entertainment and product brand that has launched various NFTs, has secured $20 million in an extension of the startup’s Series A led by Amazon’s Alexa Fund.

Other prominent venture funds — including Craft Ventures, Google Ventures, Galaxy Digital, Sony Japan and Animoca Brands — also participated.

The Vermont-based company creates “synthetic celebrities” — who could soon be featured in Amazon Primes’ next original video series, “The Janky & Guggimon Show.” ​​Both Janky and Guggimon currently boast over a million Instagram followers.

Seems like virtual celebrities are all the new hype for tech giants.

Monad Labs:

Former Jump Trading founders have secured $19 million in a seed round for their latest startup, Monad Labs. 

Venture capital firm Dragon Capital led the raise. Other participants included Paceholder Capital, Lemniscap and Shima Capital.

Prominent DeFi figures Cobie and Hasu also chipped in, the company said in a statement. 

The latest capital will allow Monad Labs to continue building its layer-1 smart contract platform.

“We are excited to work alongside our investors to bring Monad to market, build out its capabilities and show the world exactly what blockchains can do,” said Keone Hon, co-founder and chief executive of Monad Labs, in a statement.

Other notable funding rounds include:

• Zion, a self-styled “Web5 Creator Network” built on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network, landed $6 million in a round led by ​​XBTO Humla Ventures.
• Sending Labs — a Web3 communication app — took home $12.5 million in seed funding in a round led by Insignia Venture Partners, MindWorks Capital and Signum Capital.
• Crypto market index Alongside took in $11 million from a16z.

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