James Cirrone

Eleven crypto startups pulled in a collective $66.7 million in new early stage funding rounds this week.&nbsp;



Coming in at number one was SynFutures with a $22 million series B fundraise. Pantera Capital led the round for the crypto and NFT futures DEX, along with Susquehanna International Group and HashKey Capital.



Alongside this significant cash injection from top crypto venture capital firms, SynFutures also <a href="https://medium.com/synfutures/introducing-the-v3-public-testnet-28994fc29288">debuted</a> version three of its exchange. For now, it&#8217;s in a public testnet that can only be accessed via a desktop.



The updated model for the platform relies on a new automated market maker (AMM) called Oyster. It features an on-chain order book, a new liquidation framework specifically for derivatives trading, and a way to provide liquidity through a single token of a trading pair.



Read more: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/derivatives-trading-dex-funding">SynFutures raises $22 million, introduces public testnet for v3</a>



Speaking of liquidity on DEXs, Elixir Protocol just raised $7.5 million to address that exact issue.&nbsp;



The funds for the DeFi protocol were raised at a $100 million valuation, with Hack VC leading the round. NGC Ventures, AngelList Ventures, Bloccelerate and various angels also invested.&nbsp;



With the additional cash now on hand, Elixir wants to help <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/dexs">DEXs</a> and other protocols be able to adopt a decentralized order book model by helping provide liquidity to get trades off the ground.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Metaverse gets a win</h2>



Upland, a metaverse aiming to mimic the terrain of the real world, raised $7 million on Friday as part of an extension of its 2021 series A round.



Existing investors C3 Venture Capital and Animoca Brands contributed to the round as did new investor EOS Network Ventures.&nbsp;



Upland allows its users to own virtual property mapped to the real-world geography of Earth. And like our planet, real estate on Upland varies quite a bit in price depending on the location you choose, Upland chief of staff Danny Brown Wolf told Blockworks in September 2022.



Blockworks previously reported that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/upland-kaboom-nfts-crypto-fundraise-playground-us-access">Upland users directed a fundraising campaign for a nonprofit building playgrounds</a> in communities that lack them.&nbsp;



As of last month, Upland has raised just shy of $90,000 for charitable causes through sales of in-game map assets, in other words, <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/nfts">NFTs</a>.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Other notable fundraises</h2>



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>Crypto price aggregator Coin Metrics raised over $6.7 million, according to a Wednesday <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1758833/000175883323000002/xslFormDX01/primary_doc.xml">SEC filing</a>.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Solana treasury asset manager Squads Protocol <a href="https://twitter.com/SquadsProtocol/status/1713968139023827056">secured</a> $5.7 million in a round led by Placeholder with a smattering of other participating VCs.</li>



<li>MyShell, an opBNB-based AI tool provider, <a href="https://medium.com/myshell-ai/myshell-secures-5-6-million-seed-funding-to-revolutionize-the-ai-native-app-landscape-b744327a235c">received</a> $5.6 million in a seed round with INCE Capital, Folius Ventures, Hashkey Capital and more investing.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Beluga <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231019826261/en/Beluga-Raises-4M-Seed-Round-to-Provide-a-Trusted-Platform-for-Crypto-Users-to-Invest-with-Confidence">raised</a> $4 million in seed funding from head investor Fin Capital and over a dozen others. It’s a platform designed to onboard newcomers into crypto and Web3.</li>



<li>Darewise Entertainment <a href="https://www.animocabrands.com/darewise-entertainment-raises-usd-3500000-in-token-presale">raised</a> $3.5 million through a presale of an upcoming token meant to undergird its eventual Bitcoin metaverse offering.</li>



<li>Third Time Entertainment, which created a token-based virtual horse race betting game, closed on a $2 million plus seed round.&nbsp;</li>



<li>Fileverse, a decentralized version of Google Docs and/or Medium, <a href="https://twitter.com/fileverse/status/1714288331570471336">announced</a> it raised $1.5 million on a pre-seed basis from companies, VCs and angel investors.</li>



<li>Hardware wallet provider Ryder <a href="https://www.prweb.com/releases/ryder-announces-new-hardware-wallet-replacing-seed-phrases--1-2m-raise-from-oak-grove-ventures-trust-machines-muneeb-ali-sbx-capital--others-301962021.html">raised</a> $1.2 million from multiple investors.</li>
</ul>



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DEXs

Crypto funding: A focus on decentralized orderbook exchanges in $66M week

Ornella Hernandez

<div id="highlights-block_62b0dc3fa1740" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Funds will be used to expand its primary and secondary marketplace and explore multi-chain opportunities</li>
 <li>The marketplace receives an average of 22 million unique sessions per month and sees over 40,000 NFTs traded daily</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Magic Eden, the top Solana NFT marketplace, announced a $130 million series B funding round Tuesday, bringing its valuation to $1.6 billion. 



Electric Capital and Greylock co-led the round, and Lightspeed Venture Partners joined as a new anchor investor. Previous investors Paradigm and Sequoia Capital participated as well.&nbsp;



Funds will be used to expand the company’s primary and secondary marketplaces to fully support the NFT (non-fungible token) creator and collector journey, Magic Eden told Blockworks.



The primary marketplace, the Magic Eden Launchpad, is a dedicated service for Solana creators that has launched over 250 projects to date. 



“We want to be there every step of the way of the long creator journey: pre-mint, launch, post-mint. We have always known our creators deeply, and we intend to develop other tools across operations, marketing and tech support,” Magic Eden CEO Jack Lu said.



As for the company’s secondary marketplace, which accounts for 92% of the Solana NFT market share, the plan is to explore multi-chain opportunities, invest in the team, and enhance the user experience with improved insights, analytics and trading tools.&nbsp;



Additionally, the company intends to double down on its nascent forays into NFT gaming after <a href="https://blog.magiceden.io/p/eden-games-launch-announcement" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launching</a> the Eden Games platform earlier this year. Believing that the “future is ultimately cross chain,” it will also use funds to explore multi-chain opportunities to attract new users and projects.



Regardless of market movement, Magic Eden is building on a 10-year time horizon. “Magic Eden’s goal is to define the future of NFTs by supporting the next generation of digital creators and introducing the next billion users to Web3,” Lu said.&nbsp;



“We know that NFTs are the on-ramp into blockchain,” added Lu, and the most successful collections “pique people’s curiosity not because they’re simply an NFT, but because the value that the NFT represents entices new user acquisition — whether it’s token gated content, access…community-based projects, or artistic value.”



Magic Eden’s cumulative volume was at 19,901,672 solana at the time of writing. The marketplace’s most popular NFT collections in terms of trading volume in the past seven days are Primates, Okay Bears and Yeah Tigers.



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Funding

NFT Marketplace Magic Eden Raises $130M for Creator, Collector Support

Sebastian Sinclair

<div id="highlights-block_6296b90c9be0f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and GV Capital, the investment arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc.</li>
 <li>The extended round follows its Series B in February in which it managed to pick up a further $33 million in fresh capital</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Blockchain infrastructure provider InfStones said it has edged closer to “unicorn status” with this latest funding round of an extended Series B, which saw the firm pick up a further $66 million.



The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2 — one of the world&#8217;s largest technology-focused investment funds — and GV Capital, the investment arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc.



Participation in the round also came via venture capital firms INCE Capital and SNZ Holding as well as venture funds 10T Fund and A&amp;T Capital. A representative from InfStones was not immediately available for comment on its post-money company valuation to date.



The fresh injection of capital will be used for enterprise-wide expansion and to accelerate growth, according to a company statement shared with Blockworks on Wednesday. That includes growing the firm&#8217;s team and its offerings, an expansion into new markets, and acquisition efforts.



“Our vision is to provide a rugged, easy-to-use Web3 environment to build a more transparent, intelligent world,” InfStones CEO Zhenwu Shi said in the statement. “We intend to drive rapid adoption of Web3 decentralized applications worldwide.”



InfStones&#8217; latest raise follows on from its Series B raise in February in which the firm managed to pick up $33 million to further develop its platform. The company also had a $10 million Series A raise in August of last year, bringing InfStones&#8217; total funding to roughly $109 million to date.



InfStones was founded in 2018 as a staking and infrastructure platform, providing services to institutional clients.



The company dubs itself as a &#8220;Platform-as-a-Service,&#8221; supplying blockchain infrastructure to Web3 innovators while boasting support to over 10,000 nodes on a &#8220;rapidly growing&#8221; list of blockchains including Ethereum, Chainlink, Polkadot, Cardano and Solana.



“InfStones provides the foundational infrastructure layer for the Web3 era, offering an enterprise-grade node management and staking platform that makes it painless for customers to participate in Web3 and DeFi,” Dennis Chang, managing partner at Softbank Investment Advisers, said.



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Blockchain Infrastructure Provider InfStones Nabs $66M in Extended Funding Round

<div id="highlights-block_6284fcb366613" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>FTX Ventures and Liberty City Ventures led the round, banking on DoraHacks&#8217; capacity to facilitate funding in Web3 startups</li>
 <li>Total funding to date for Dora has reached almost $50 million since its inception in late 2020</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto Web3 developer incentive platform DoraHacks has raised tens of millions of dollars in fresh funding from some of the industry&#8217;s largest investment arms.



According to a press release on Wednesday, the platform has picked up $20 million in a Series B1 funding round aiming to accelerate its offerings, including its decentralized autonomous organization, Dora Grant DAO, which launched earlier this year.



The investment, led by FTX Ventures and Liberty City Ventures, will also go toward Dora&#8217;s Infinite Fund which aims to pour money into &#8220;disruptive ideas&#8221; in fintech. The fund is slated for sometime later in the year via a non-fungible token (NFT) drop, Dora said.



Circle Ventures, Gemini Frontier Fund, Sky9 Capital, Crypto.com Capital and Amber Group also participated in the round.



The funding follows on the heels of an $8 million strategic round led by Binance Labs last year. The platform also picked up a further $20 million raise for its DAO-as-a-service incubator. Total funding to date for the budding ecosystem has reached nearly $50 million, per the release.



DoraHacks&#8217; platform supports and curates Web3 startups via hackathons – an event for programmers, designers and others to collaborate on projects. The platform said it has raised $25 million worth of grants for more than 2000 startups since its inception, per the release.



More than 40 Web3 ecosystems including the likes of Solana, Polygon and Avalanche have adopted DoraHacks as a &#8220;core partner&#8221; in hackathons and community grant programs, providing access to the global developer community, Dora said.



“DoraHacks is key to advancing the development of the infrastructure for Web3,&#8221; Liberty City Ventures partner Emil Woods said. &#8220;We expect increased engagement with our portfolio companies as the ecosystem grows.&#8221;



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DoraHacks

Web3 Hackathon Incubator DoraHacks Nabs $20M From FTX, Liberty City

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_619ea534401ae" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“We’re happy to include more investors that will make Celsius stronger,” Mashinsky said</li>
 <li>Earlier this week, Celsius Network announced it would invest an additional $300 million into its bitcoin mining capabilities</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto lending platform Celsius Network has upped its $400 million Series B round from October to $750 million after oversubscribing the raise, the company’s CEO Alex Mashinsky told Blockworks on Wednesday.&nbsp;



Celsius previously closed its capital raise of $400 million, led by West Cap and Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), bringing its valuation to $3.25 billion in October.



“We paid over $1 billion to our community in yield, and I think the investors&#8217; excitement in almost doubling the round show that our mission of ‘doing good then doing well’ is working and they want to be apart of it,” Mashinsky said. “We’re happy to include more investors that will make Celsius stronger.”&nbsp;



The company’s new proceeds will go toward expanding its product offerings, growing into new markets and further bridging centralized finance and DeFi via its recently announced project CelsiusX, the company said in a statement.&nbsp;



Additionally, Celsius will use the funds to further improve the utility of its platform for its supportive community of users, and its commitment to sustainable <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-to-invest-additional-300m-in-bitcoin-mining/">Bitcoin mining</a>, the company said.



Earlier this week, Celsius Network announced it would invest an additional $300 million into its bitcoin mining capabilities as the platform’s assets under management continue to grow, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-to-invest-additional-300m-in-bitcoin-mining/">reported</a>.&nbsp;



Celsius began building its mining business last year as a way to diversify its sources of yield, Mashinsky told Blockworks at the time. The business will continue to scale its mining operations based on the amount of assets managed, Mashinsky added. Celsius’s AUM has grown to $28.6 billion.&nbsp;