Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_618541103bc5f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Solidus Labs plans to accelerate its growth and expand its offering to new use-cases including DeFi platforms and law enforcement</li>
 <li>Of the $14.8 million raised, $14.3 million has already been distributed and $500,000 has been allocated for its last community round, Co-founder of Aleph Zero Antoni Zolciak told Blockworks</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto-native risk monitoring firm Solidus Labs closed a $15 million strategic round, the company said on Friday.&nbsp;



The capital raise was led by Liberty City Ventures with participation from Exor Seeds and GSR. The round comes just six months after its last fundraise of $20 million for a Series A in May.&nbsp;



The funds will be used to address the growing demand for advanced crypto-native risk monitoring solutions, it said. 



The firm has doubled its team since the beginning of 2021 and plans to accelerate its growth and expand its offering to new use-cases including <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/microsofts-rhodes-crypto-defi-and-nfts-have-moved-beyond-early-adoption/">DeFi</a> platforms and law enforcement, Solidus Labs <a href="https://www.soliduslabs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> in a statement. 



“Tightening <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/hester-peirce-theres-a-jurisdiction-battle-over-crypto-regulation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">regulation</a>, intensifying enforcement, institutional adoption, and a retail demand for more protections all mean that the key to crypto growth is better risk monitoring and compliance, and we’ve been feeling that through our pipeline,” Asaf Meir, Solidus Labs’ founder and CEO, said in a statement. 



“Simply put, this strategic round will allow us to serve more clients sooner and address many new use-cases in the DeFi and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/south-korean-regulator-nfts-are-not-virtual-assets/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFT</a> risk frontiers,” Meir added. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Aleph Zero raises $14.8 million</h3>



Separately, Aleph Zero has raised $14.8 million in funding after the launch of their mainnet, the company said Thursday.&nbsp;



About $14.3 million has already been distributed and $500,000 has been allocated for its last community round, Co-founder of Aleph Zero Antoni Zolciak told Blockworks.&nbsp;



A majority of the capital raised will be used for research and development of Aleph Zero, as well as operational, legal, and marketing expenses, Zolciak said.&nbsp;



The capital raise is a combination of funds curated from community and public sales as well as pre-seed and seed investment rounds from Jun Capital, Genblock Capital, Supernova, PetRock Capital and others, it said.&nbsp;



The three-year-old company is a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ark-invest-cathie-wood-is-bullish-on-eth-as-proof-of-stake-transition-nears/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">proof-of-stake</a> (PoS) public blockchain with private smart contracts and an optional native privacy layer. 



“As the Aleph Zero Foundation, we’re keen to support projects looking to build on top of the platform through a variety of grant activities as well as creating an ecosystem fund. We’ll definitely have more details to disclose early next year,” Zolciak said.&nbsp;