The cryptocurrency industry is attracting an increasing number of institutional players. This is evidenced by new investments in infrastructure, and the increasing attention that companies are paying to bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of recent weeks are in the ForkLog review.
Babylon Bitcoin Staking Protocol has Raised $70 Million
The Babylon first cryptocurrency staking protocol team has closed a $70 million funding round.
It was led by Paradigm with the participation of Polychain Capital, Bullish, HashKey Capital, HTX Ventures, ViaBTC Capital, IOSG and other investors.
Babylon opens up the possibility for users to stake BTC in systems using the Proof-of-Stake mechanism and earn income from it. At the same time, the protocol is designed to increase the security of other blockchains.
Turkish fintech Colendi raised $65 million at a valuation of $700 million
The Turkish startup of the digital bank Colendi has closed a Series B financing round in the amount of $65 million. This was reported by the investment office of the President of Turkey.
The funds were provided by Citi Ventures, Migros Ticaret AS, Sepil Ventures, Re-Pie Asset Management, Finberg and Hedef Holding.
Bulent Tekmen, co-founder and CEO of Colendi, spoke about plans for a double listing in Istanbul and London, as well as an IPO by 2026.
In March, the startup initiated a new round of financing with the aim of raising $150 million by the end of 2024. The new investment is expected to increase Colendi's valuation to $1 million.
The fintech startup has 17 million users in Turkey. Colendi aims to expand its audience to 1 billion people by targeting fast-growing markets such as Indonesia and Pakistan.
AI startup Chainge raised $13 million
Chainge startup, which is developing an artificial intelligence-based cross-chain trading solution, has closed a $13 million funding round.
💥 Chainge has secured $13Million in investment from GEM Digital & Alpha Token Capital to supercharge our AI-Trading Protocol's Expansion!
This leap is poised to drive sustained growth, bringing cutting-edge AI-driven solutions to a global audience
📰 https://t.co/PXDtO1np1H pic.twitter.com/CTKk30I90l
Investments were provided by GEM Digital Limited and Alpha Token Capital.
The company's goal is to break down barriers in the field of digital assets and make cross—chain trading safe and accessible to everyone.
According to the press release, Chainge's total trading volume exceeds $1 billion. The solution already supports 55 networks.
Cysic's ZKP solution team raised $12 million
Cysic, a company developing a solution with zero-knowledge proof technology, has closed a preliminary round of Series A financing in the amount of $12 million.
We are thrilled to announce Pre-A fundraising round of $12 million, led by @HashKey_Capital and @OKX_Ventures. This funding round was also marked by participation from prominent investors, including @ABCDELabs, @BitDigital_BTBT,@CoinSwitch, @IDG_Blockchain, Matrix Partners,… pic.twitter.com/NaXwpgUbbQ
— Cysic (@cysic_xyz) May 24, 2024It was led by HashKey Capital and OKX Ventures with the participation of ABCDE, Bit Digital, Coinswitch, IDG, Matrix Partners, Polychain, SNZ Holding and Web3.com Ventures.
The funds raised will be used to strengthen the company's global expansion plans, hire new employees and simplify the production of equipment.
Founded in August 2022, Cysic intends to provide real-time generation of zero-disclosure evidence.
Web3 startup Neynar raised $11 million from Coinbase
Neynar, a company that provides developers with tools for creating decentralized social networks, has closed a Series A funding round worth $11 million. This is reported by Fortune Crypto.
It was led by Haun Ventures with the participation of a16z, Coinbase Ventures and Union Square Ventures.
According to the publication, most developers using Neynar's services today create applications on Farcaster. However, the startup plans to expand to create projects based on any social protocols.
The Fortunafi tokenization platform raised $9.5 million at a valuation of $48 million
The RWA tokenization platform has closed strategic and seed funding rounds totaling $9.51 million. The startup's valuation has reached $48 million, writes The Block.
Investments were provided by Shima Capital, Manifold and others. The $3.16 million strategic funding round was closed in December 2023, and the $6.35 million seed round was closed in October 2021.
The company intends to launch five new tokenized assets based on shares of the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange and online broker Robinhood, bitcoin ETF, securities index (a mixture of SPDR, S&P 500, ETF Trust, Invesco QQQ Trust) and the Hilbert Capital fund.
Fortunafi also introduced the Reservoir protocol and the rUSD stablecoin for DeFi platforms. Their launch is scheduled for June 2024.
KelpDAO platform raised $9 million
The KelpDAO liquid restaking platform has closed a private financing round worth $9 million.
We're thrilled to announce that we've raised $9 million in private sale.
This round was led by SCB Limited and @LaserDigital_, who collectively invested $3.5 million.
30+ reputed funds, notable angel investors and key community voices also joined in.https://t.co/OUZ6pFfiJ2
It was led by SCB Limited and Laser Digital with the participation of Bankless Ventures, Hypersphere Ventures, Draper Dragon, DACM, Cypher Capital, GSR, HTX Ventures, DWF Ventures and other investors.
As part of the funding round, KelpDAO also sold its KELP tokens, which have not yet been released.
The funds raised will be used to launch restaking in bitcoin, Solana and BNB blockchains.
Also on ForkLog:
The Scale AI AI project has raised $1 billion at a valuation of $13.8 billion.Farcaster's DeSoc platform has raised $150 million.UXLINK has raised $5 million from SevenX Ventures, INCE Capital and HashKey Capital.