These Crypto Startups Nabbed Funding Rounds To Close Out 2022
Despite all the bad news, crypto startups are still securing funding rounds as the bear market stretches into its second year
Exclusive art by Axel Rangel, modified by Blockworks
Bear market conditions have plagued the crypto industry, and the recent demise of crypto exchange FTX has cast oceans of doubt for day to day consumers. That hasn’t stopped crypto funding rounds.
Singaporean based crypto trading firm Amber Group this month closed a $300 million Series C led by Fenbushi Capital US.
“Prior to the collapse of FTX, Amber was in the process of completing an extension to our Series B+ at a $3B valuation in preparation for a potentially prolonged crypto winter,” the company tweeted. “Post the FTX collapse, we paused after a partial closing and instead moved forward on Series C.”
According to a Twitter post from Dec. 16, Amber Group had less than 10% of its capital on FTX prior to its collapse. It reportedly laid off 300 staff at the start of the month — roughly 40% of its workforce — and terminated sponsorship deals with Chelsea Football Club.
Amber said the fresh round of funding will help it focus on serving institutional and high-net-worth clients.
Another significant fundraise this month was secured by Aztec Network, an Ethereum security layer geared towards privacy.
Aztec’s $100 million Series B was led by prominent venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), with participation from A Capital, King River and Variant, among others.
The incoming cash will be used to develop its blockchain encryption architecture, which will allow “users to verify that blockchain rules were followed correctly without revealing any underlying information,” the company said in a Dec. 15 blog post.
“In the current public blockchain paradigm, users and entities unknowingly broadcast data in the public, compromising privacy and security to get trustlessness,” Aztec wrote.
Finally, the third largest funding round this month went to Fleek, a developer platform for crypto companies.
The company secured a $25 million Series A led by Polychain Capital. A handful of other investors, including Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group and Protocol Labs participated in the round.
Fleek hopes to continue building its platform and growing its team, the company told TechCrunch.
Other funding rounds this month include:
- Nillion, a blockchain-less decentralized file storage network, nabbed $20 million in its latest funding round led by Distributed Global.
- Tax and accounting software for digital assets, Bitwave closed a $15 million Series A co-led by Hack VC and Blockchain Capital.
- Blocknative, a company building web3 infrastructure, also secured $15 million in its Series A led by Blockchain Capital and a few other investors.
Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:
- Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
- Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
- Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
- 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
- Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
- The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
- Supply Shock: Tracking Bitcoin’s rise from internet plaything worth less than a penny to global phenomenon disrupting money as we know it.
