Last Week’s Crypto Investment Highlights
Ruceto tracked over $310 million in institutional investments into crypto last week. Links to the recipient website, investment announcement, and token info are provided via hyperlinks on the Recipient Name, $ Raised, and Token columns respectively.
| Recipient | $ Raised | Lead Investors | Description | Token |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strike | $80,000,000 | Ten31 | Send and receive money instantly. Buy bitcoin. Get paid in bitcoin. | |
| MPCH Labs | $40,000,000 | Liberty City Ventures | The MPC6 engine enables us to deploy a secure and scalable MPC solution in any sector where cryptographic signing and approval is needed | |
| Coral | $20,000,000 | FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto | Similar to an app store for Web3 | |
| OneKey | $20,000,000 | Dragonfly, Ribbit Capital | Open-source crypto wallet to access all of Web3 | |
| Space and Time | $20,000,000 | Microsoft’s venture fund M12 | Hybrid transactional database and analytic data warehouse that is fully decentralized and community-operated | |
| Juno | $18,000,000 | ParaFi Capital | Crypto friendly and FDIC insured banking | JCOIN |
| Eclipse | $15,000,000 | Tribe Capital, Tabiya | The first customizable modular rollups, using the Solana VM | |
| Re | $14,000,000 | Tribe Capital, Defy, Exor, Stratos, Framework, Morgan Creek Digital, SiriusPoint | The Re protocol provides investors access to a massive and uncorrelated asset class: insurance premiums | Various |
| Blowfish | $11,800,000 | Paradigm | Protect your web3 users against theft & fraud on Solana, Ethereum, & Polygon | |
| Tactic | $11,000,000 | Ramnik Arora of FTX Ventures | Crypto accounting platform | |
| AIKON | $10,000,000 | Morgan Creek Digital | Build cross-chain identity and wallet solutions | |
| Eclipse | $9,000,000 | Tribe Capital, Tabiya | Customizable modular rollups, using the Solana VM | |
| Bitquery | $8,500,000 | Binance Labs, dao5 | API-first product company dedicated to power and solve blockchain data problems using the ground truth of on-chain data | |
| Aspen Creek Digital Corporation | $8,000,000 | Galaxy Digital, Polychain Capital | Bitcoin mining, powered by renewables | |
| Krypton | $7,000,000 | Framework Ventures | A decentralized exchange with P2P trading | |
| Smart Token Labs | $6,000,000 | Fosun International co-founder Liang Xinjun | A token centric middleware that connects the scale of Web2 with the promise of Web3 | |
| Glass | $5,000,000 | TCG, 1kx | The home of video NFTs | |
| Harpie | $4,500,000 | Dragonfly Capital | Harpie is the first on-chain firewall preventing hacks, scams, and theft | |
| Solvo | $3,500,000 | Index Ventures | Mobile app for crypto investing | |
| Fnality | Undisclosed. Seeking a £50 million Series B | Nomura | Enables P2P tokenized transactions that are backed by fiat. | |
| Aptos | Undisclosed | Dragonfly Capital | Layer 1 blockchain startup founded by former employees of Meta who worked on the defunct Diem project | TBD |
Aptos was covered in a previous Venture Trotter newsletter when it raised $150M in a round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto in July 2022, following it’s $200 million round in March 2022. Aptos is a Layer 1 blockchain startup founded by former employees of Meta who worked on the defunct Diem project, and it is shaping up to become a very well-funded rival to Solana and Mysten Labs’ SUI. Dragonfly just announced a strategic investment in Aptos, although the specific terms have not been disclosed. Following Aptos’ July round, it published v1.0 of its whitepaper.
Juno provides FDIC insured (for USD holdings only) crypto friendly checking accounts that enable US residents to earn, invest and spend both cash and crypto from the same account. Crypto can be purchased with zero fees. The company encourages customer loyalty with various giveaways, including their new native token, JCOIN. While this token will come with a number of perks for eligible holders, it will not be possible to trade it on secondary markets.
Re is a reinsurer on the blockchain that enables retail investors to earn insurance premiums by backing insurance policies. The reinsurance market presents a unique opportunity for retail investors because returns are uncorrelated with equity and crypto markets. Initially the protocol will support auto insurance policies, but it will expand as more insurers and underwriters join the protocol. Syndicates (underwriters) evaluate the risk of insurance programs that are brought to the protocol and determine if they will provide junior capital to policies. Governance will be managed by a community DAO.
Institutional Investors in Crypto
DeFiance Capital, a Web3 and crypto VC based in the Virgin Islands with many team members in Singapore, is nearly halfway finished raising $100 million to invest in liquid tokens. The Block reported that the VC can begin investing before the full $100 million is raised.
Pantera, the “first U.S. institutional asset manager focused exclusively on blockchain technology,” told Bloomberg that it seeks to raise $1.25 billion for a second blockchain fund. Pantera currently has $4.5 billion in assets under management, and focuses on 3 strategies: 1) venture equity in companies that support the blockchain ecosystem; 2) discounted private token sales; and 3) liquid tokens. Pantera CEO, Dan Morehead, told Bloomberg in an interview that he is bullish on crypto over the next 10-20 years, and “Unfortunately, crypto pricing has become correlated with risk assets, which I honestly don’t think has to be true… My hope is that soon crypto will decouple from the macro markets.”
What’s happening at Ruceto
We provide institutional quality research on Web3 projects, and our deep dive report on Oasys is now available! Oasys is a new blockchain protocol for gaming with members of its founding team including executives from Bandai Namco Research, Sega Corporation, and Yield Guild Games. Check out https://finyki.ruceto.com/research/ to read it for free before the initial coin offering that’s planned for November!
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Disclaimer: The content presented is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, legal, or professional advice. The content is provided ‘as is’ without any representations or warranties, express or implied.
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