Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_622bc409e82cd" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The week started off strong with Immutable’s $200 million financing round, valuing the company at $2.5 billion on Monday</li>
 <li>Bain Capital Ventures, which has about $155 billion in assets under management, launched a $560 million crypto-focused venture arm</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The crypto funding environment continued to heat up this week as massive mega rounds and funds launched in the space.&nbsp;



Over $1.82 billion in fresh capital entered the space, up 36% from <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/funding-roundup-1-34b-invested-in-crypto-companies-and-funds-this-week/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$1.34 billion </a>from last week. The total money invested this week came from about 30 deals and funds, according to PitchBook data.



The week started off strong with Immutable’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/immutable-notches-2-5b-valuation-after-series-c-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$200 million</a> financing round on Monday, which valued the company at $2.5 billion. The round was led by Temasek and included other investors like Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset and Liberty Global.



On Tuesday, Bain Capital Ventures, which has about $155 billion in assets under management, launched a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/bain-capital-ventures-launches-560m-crypto-focused-fund-as-ecosystem-booms/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$560 million</a> crypto-focused venture arm. The funds will be deployed into about 30 companies or protocols focused on DeFi and crypto infrastructure, Stefan Cohen, managing partner at Bain Capital Crypto, told Blockworks.



Over the next 10 years, the Bain Capital Crypto team anticipates crypto getting integrated and embedded into traditional consumer and business software stacks and plans to invest in companies that will bridge protocols into established software ecosystems, Cohen said on Tuesday.



Separately, Singapore-based platform Cake DeFi has launched its corporate venture arm with <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/singapore-based-cake-defi-launches-100m-in-capital-for-venture-arm/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$100 million</a> in capital, the firm told Blockworks on Wednesday. Cake DeFi Ventures (CDV) will focus its investments across Web3, the metaverse, the NFT space, gaming, esports and fintech spaces that will benefit its core business, it said.



It was also leaked that Ethereum layer-2 developer StarkWare is raising <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ethereum-scaling-startup-reportedly-triples-valuation-in-four-months/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">at least $100 million</a>, which would increase its valuation to $6 billion, Israeli newspaper Calacalist <a href="https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/rjm00s7wbq" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. StarkWare declined to comment Thursday. However, a company source, who spoke to Blockworks under condition of anonymity, said they couldn’t confirm it, “but it sounds entirely plausible.”



The new valuation is triple its previous $2 billion valuation from just four months ago, when the company raised $50 million in a Series C round led by Sequoia Capital.



Other notable capital raises this week:&nbsp;



<ul><li>Okcoin announces “Bitcoin Odyssey” collective with plans to invest <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/okcoin-announces-165m-bitcoin-odyssey-collective-partners-with-top-venture-firms-to-supercharge-bitcoin-adoption-301500256.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$165 million</a> over the next 12 months into Bitcoin-focused DeFi apps&nbsp;</li><li>Scaling and privacy solution for Web3 applications, Espresso Systems, debuted to the public with a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/espresso-systems-launches-to-public-amid-a-32m-raise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$32 million</a> funding round</li><li>Stablecoin payment builder Kado closed a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/payment-builder-kado-closes-first-capital-raise-to-expand-access-to-stablecoins/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$5.4 million</a> fundraise&nbsp;</li><li>Swim Protocol raised <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/03/09/2400100/0/en/Swim-Protocol-Raises-4M-for-Innovative-Cross-Chain-Infrastructure.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$4 million</a> in seed funding by Pantera Capital with participation from FTX, Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures and others</li></ul>



Check back next week for more funding news.



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Funding Roundup: More Than $1.8 Billion Pooled Into Crypto Companies and Funds This Week

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_622623f1e5b17" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Staff will go from 170 to 350 full-time employees over the next year, co-founder Robbie Ferguson told Blockworks</li>
 <li>Immutable raised $60 million in Series B funding in September</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Immutable, creator of the NFT-focused layer-2 scaling protocol Immutable X, secured $200 million in Series C funding, launching the Sydney-based startup to a $2.5 billion valuation.



Led by Temasek, investors in the financing round include Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset and Liberty Global.



King River Capital, Prosus Ventures, AirTree Ventures, Declaration Partners, Fabric Ventures, Possible Ventures and Alameda Research all raised their existing investments in Immutable.



&#8220;We&#8217;ll be growing from 170 to 350 people over the next year — investing in a global partnerships and gaming advisory team and tripling our product and engineering teams,” Robbie Ferguson, co-founder of Immutable, told Blockworks.



Immutable made headlines in October for creating Immutable X, which powered TikTok’s NFT (non-fungible token) collection. It was billed as the first layer-2 protocol on Ethereum that allowed instant trading and zero gas fees, which often served as a roadblock for minting NFTs.



Earlier this month, Immutable announced a $100 million joint fund with GameStop for blockchain gaming startups.



The company was founded in 2018 by brothers Robbie and James Ferguson.



“In 2017, we saw NFTs come out with CryptoPunks and [my brother and I] said, ‘This is it,’” Robbie said. “This is going to be massive because there is more uniquely ownable stuff in the world than there is currencies. The ability to have digital property rights is going to be the most important thing.”



In its early years, Immutable was known for creating “<a href="https://godsunchained.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Gods Unchained</a>,” which Robbie described as “the first multiplayer game with NFTs on Ethereum, [all] completely on-chain.”



The company has since expanded, launching tokens such as IMX in September, which sold out on CoinList in under an hour and raised over $12.5 million.



That same month, Immutable <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/layer-2-solution-immutable-closes-60m-series-b-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> a $60 million Series B funding round to boost NFT trading. BITKRAFT Ventures and King River Capital co-led the round, with participation from Alameda Research, Galaxy Interactive, VaynerFund and Apex Capital.



Along with the Monday announcement, Immutable announced new C-suite hires such as former Riot Games exec Justin Hulog. The startup also tapped ex-Shutterfly chief marketing officer, John Boris, as its chief growth officer.



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