Funding Roundup: Crypto Companies in India, Switzerland Secure VC Funds

Two separate projects received $100 million in funding last week

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel

share

key takeaways

  • 5ire becomes blockchain unicorn after securing valuation reaches $1.5 billion following fundraising
  • Gnosis Safe rebrands as “Safe” and raised $100 million in funding led by early-stage crypto fund 1kx

Venture capital firms continue to spread their funds to crypto startups around the globe, marking yet another week of dollars finding their way into the space despite the bear market.

India-based blockchain startup 5ire secured a $100 million Series A led by investors including Alphabit, Marshland Capital, Launchpool Labs and Moonrock Capital — giving it unicorn status as it reached a valuation of $1.5 billion.  

“5ire plans to aggressively grow into implementing the set of use cases and providing related services to those willing to be pioneers in their field of business by employing 5ireChain based solutions,” a 5ire representative told Blockworks. 

The company currently has an estimated 110 employees and plans to continue expanding its finance, human resources, technology, content, marketing, partnerships and business development teams.

Well-known digital asset management platform Gnosis Safe rebranded as “Safe” following a community vote and raised $100 million in funding led by early-stage crypto fund 1kx.

The foundation said the cash will allow Safe to develop a series of ecosystem applications and tools on its smart contract account protocol. 

Safe was not the only company that 1kx extended its coffers to this week. The firm also led funding for cross-chain infrastructure protocol Li.Finance. 

In Switzerland, Nevermined, a Web3 ecosystem development company focused on providing tools for users to read, write and own digital assets raised a 3 million euro ($3 million) seed round co-led by Signature Ventures and Polymorphic Capital. 

The startup started off as an incubation project within Keyko, a full-stack Web3 product and services company, and was aiming to solve issues around data sharing with tokenization and smart contract gateways. As it evolved, it became a decentralized digital assets solution with broader applicability.

“We see many startups that try to combine Data with Blockchains. Nevermined is the first company that understands the complexities and provides actual solutions at the intersection of Data and Web3,” Juliane Hahn, managing director at Signature Ventures, said in a statement.

“In the future, every data-driven company will require the ability to turn their data silos into data ecosystems.”

Moving forward, Nevermined CEO Don Gossen told Blockworks that the company plans to focus its efforts on marketing and branding and improve scalability by making its modular services more readily available via different channels.

Other capital raises this past week: 

  • Animoca Brands, the Hong Kong-based gaming software and venture capital company behind The Sandbox, secured $75 million to expand its ‘open metaverse’ concept. Following the raise, the company is now valued at $5.9 billion.
  • Quadrata, a startup that is building a Web3 identity passport, raised a $7.5 million seed round led by Dragonfly Capital Partners.
  • Decentralized sports gaming Scorefam secured $25 million from Global Emerging Market via an initial coin offering.

Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 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.

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.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

An overview of the Base Ecosystem, with a focus on market leaders.

article-image

Although bitcoin hitting $120k by year’s end is looking unlikely

article-image

About 270 million HYPE has been claimed, valued around $7.6 billion

article-image

Stanford professors David Mazières and Dan Boneh will lead the lab alongside a cohort of graduate student researchers

article-image

With more companies holding BTC, bitcoin yielding strategies could become “a new corporate finance norm,” CoinShares posed

article-image

The proposal comes after Polygon governance considered a controversial use of bridged liquidity for yield

article-image

Can the community balance its decentralized ethos with the need for inclusivity and constructive debate?