Crypto funding: Investment firms dominate $359M week

Crypto firms raised over $359 million in fresh funding rounds this week. 

Among the big draws: Web3 venture capital firm CoinFund, pulled in $158 million from institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals.

CoinFund is an avid investor in startups, recently helping to kick in $10 million to blockchain network Neutron. The firm also contributed to the pre-seed rounds for Dfinity and Cryptoys in 2017 and 2021, respectively.

The nine-figure cash injection will allow CoinFund to continue contributing to pre-seed and seed stage investments across the Web3 ecosystem. 

CoinFund, founded in 2015, has a staff of close to 30 people and has more than 100 investments across six investment vehicles. Over the last 18 months, the firm raised over $550 million using venture and liquid investment strategies, according to a statement. 

Other investment firms brought in fresh capital this week. PSE Trading, a digital asset fund based in Hong Kong, raised $10 million, an affiliated representative told Blockworks. Cipholio Ventures was a key investor in the firm.

Meanwhile, Polychain Capital, a mainstay in the crypto investing world, reportedly garnered $200 million this week for a fourth crypto venture capital fund, according to Fortune. 

Blockworks reached out to Polychain to confirm but didn’t receive an immediate response.

A focus on metaverse and zero-knowledge proofs

Elsewhere, Futureverse’s $54 million Series A round showed there’s perhaps still an appetite for virtual worlds among venture capital. 

Futureverse had just two named investors: 10T Holdings and Ripple, the latter of which recently scored a partial victory in its years-long legal fight with the SEC.

Futureverse is an amalgamation of 11 different firms and is now squarely focused on metaverse applications. One key component: Artificial intelligence (AI) content generation tools designed to enhance the music, objects, characters and animations that comprise metaverse experiences.

Futureverse is particularly known for its mobile soccer game, AI League, which is licensed with FIFA. In the past year, Futureverse released an AI-powered boxing game featuring the likeness of fighting legend Muhammad Ali.

Meanwhile, zero-knowledge proof startup RISC Zero secured $40 million in a Series A round led by Blockchain Capital. Participants included Galaxy Digital, IOSG, RockawayX and Maven 11, among others. 

In August 2022, RISC Zero got its start by closing a $12 million seed round led by Bain Capital Crypto.

With the latest funding, the firm plans to bring its Bonsai computing platform to market. Bonsai aims to provide parallel zero-knowledge proof technology for developers in any language and on any chain, according to a press release. 

Other notable fundraises

• Cosmic Wire, a Web3 tech firm, raised $30 million to develop decentralized apps. Groups tied to two rival networks led the seed round: the Solana Foundation and Polygon. 
• P0x Labs, the team building the Manta Network, wrapped up a $25 million Series A and reached a $500 million valuation in the process. Polychain Capital was a lead investor.
• Binance Labs invested $10 million in a DeFi lending protocol called Radiant.
• Ethena, a startup developing an Ethereum-based stablecoin, raised $6 million from Dragonfly Capital and others. Former BitMEX co-founder and ex-CEO Arthur Hayes also participated.

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