Fundraising weekly – Puffer Finance, Centrifuge, Homium, Avalon

Dates: 15 April 2024 – 21 April 2024. This week’s notable funding rounds according to Coinfactiva.com’s research:

• Puffer Finance secured $18M in a Series A funding round from a group of investors including Brevan Howard Digital, Electric Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity Management and Research Company, Mechanism Capital, Lightspeed Faction, ConsenSys, Animoca Brands, GSR Markets LTD, Lemniscap, Sandeep Nailwal, and Yaoqi Jia. Puffer Finance is a decentralized protocol focused on anti-slashing and at-home staking on Ethereum. They introduce Secure-Signer, a remote-signing tool to prevent slashable offenses, aiming to diversify the validator set and reduce centralization in Ethereum’s proof-of-stake network.
• Centrifuge raised an impressive $15M in a Series A funding round. Centrifuge introduces the untapped market of real-world assets (RWA) into Decentralized Finance (DeFi) with its protocol, connecting DeFi to real-world assets for the first time. This groundbreaking initiative aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance and DeFi, providing a platform for the inclusion of diverse asset types.
• Homium raised $10M in a Series A funding round. Homium serves as a real estate equity mortgage lender and securitization platform, launching its first home equity loans on Avalanche. These innovative loans involve homeowners committing a portion of their home’s price appreciation, offering investors tokenized assets tracking shared appreciation home loans. Homium aims to unlock trapped home equity, address housing affordability, and provide institutional investors with a new asset class.
• AVALON received $10M in funding. Avalon stands as an interoperable digital universe powered by game engines and blockchain technology. The platform empowers gamers, creators, and anyone interested in building worlds within this digital ecosystem, aiming to create a seamless and immersive experience.
• Superlogic secured $7.6M in a Strategic funding round. Superlogic serves as a loyalty platform that leverages blockchain and AI technologies to provide enterprise-grade solutions tailored for businesses. Seamlessly integrating with existing CRM and loyalty management systems, Superlogic drives customer engagement and loyalty through innovative features and interoperable protocols.
• Sending.Network (SDN) raised $7.5M in a Seed funding round from Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital (formerly Hyperedge Capital), Web3com Ventures, Galxe (formerly Project Galaxy), SWC Global, Balaji Srinivasan, and Gabby Dizon. SDN is an open, secure web3 communication infrastructure enabling seamless chat, trade, and social interactions within and across applications.
• Thruster raised $7.5M in a Seed funding round from Pantera Capital, OKX Ventures (formerly OKEx Blockdream Ventures), Mirana Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Dewhales Capital, Manifold, Caladan, Arche Fund (Coin98 Ventures), Rarestone Capital, MrBlock, Santiago R. Santos, dingaling, MoonCat2878, Christianeth, and Hype.eth. Thruster is a decentralized exchange (DEX) designed to improve the trading experience by integrating Blast native yields, custom liquidity solutions, and a user-friendly interface.
• TeleportDAO completed a $7.1M Public Sale funding round. TeleportDAO stands as a secure and trustless platform facilitating cross-chain interoperability, providing developers with the infrastructure necessary for building cross-chain applications. This innovative system enables users to transfer various data types, including contract calls and assets like tokens and NFTs, seamlessly between blockchains without the need for intermediaries. Operating as a light client bridge, TeleportDAO adapts to different blockchains with distinct consensus mechanisms and speeds.
• CVEX (Crypto Valley Exchange) secured $7M in funding. CVEX operates as a decentralized derivatives exchange (DDEX), redefining futures and options trading within decentralized finance. Powered by the CVEX Protocol, the platform merges traditional finance practices with decentralized principles, offering a complete trading experience with safety, transparency, and ease of access.
• Usual Labs completed a $7M Strategic funding round. Usual Labs focuses on building out the USD0 stablecoin ecosystem. USD0 is a stablecoin backed by real-world assets, offering users a reliable and secure stablecoin option within the cryptocurrency landscape.
• Aark Digital secured $6M in a Seed funding round from Hashkey Capital, Arrington Capital, Cypher Capital, Morningstar Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto (IVC), and Metavest Capital. Aark Digital is a decentralized exchange (DEX) focusing on professional traders, offering Leveraged LP and leverage trading of Super Long Tail Assets.
• Plena Finance secured $5M in its funding round. Plena Finance is a crypto superApp aimed at making cryptocurrencies accessible to everyday users, emphasizing security and usability. Offering innovative technologies like Account Abstraction for full self-custody of digital assets, Plena Finance introduces automated purchasing and crypto portfolios for a user-friendly and secure experience.
• Nebra raised $4.5M in a Seed funding round from Nascent, Bankless Ventures, Tim Beiko, Nick White, Sandy Peng, Haichen Shen, and Kartik Talwar. Nebra focuses on Blockchain and zero-knowledge proof research, aiming to democratize zero-knowledge proof technology to reduce proof settlement costs on Ethereum and other blockchains.
• Zeko secured $3M in a Pre-seed funding round from UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital, YBB Foundation, Autonomy Capital, Cogitent Ventures, Genesis Block Ventures Capital (GBV), Tenzor Capital, 3Commas Capital, AVID3, NxGen, SkyVision Capital, and Presto Labs. Zeko is a decentralized, zero-knowledge, cross-chain scaling protocol built on the Mina blockchain, tailored for developers in finance, AI, gaming, and internet services.
• Aligned Layer secured $2.6M in a Seed funding round from Lemniscap, Bankless Ventures, Paper Ventures, Starkware, O(1)Labs, Sreeram Kannan, and Daniel Lubarov. Aligned Layer is a universal verification layer designed for Ethereum, enhancing its capabilities for zero-knowledge SNARK proofs.
• Saakuru Labs completed a $2.4M funding round. Saakuru Labs introduces a consumer-centric Layer 2 (L2) Protocol leveraging the OP Stack and delegate model to eliminate transaction fees for users. This system ensures a frictionless experience for applications built on top of it, offering cost-efficient and seamless connectivity from Web2 to Web3.
• Inference Labs received $2.3M in a Pre-seed funding round from Mechanism Capital, Digital Asset Capital Management (DACM), Delphi Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Bitscale Capital, Edessa Capital, ID Theory, Mozaik Capital, Newman Capital, Seed Club Ventures, Momentum 6 (M6), Skynet Trading, Sandeep Nailwal, Santiago R. Santos, DeFiDad, and Richard Dai. Inference Labs focuses on state-of-the-art AI technologies for both Web2 and Web3 spaces.
• Runes DEX secured $2M in a Seed funding round from Kenetic, Mechanism Capital, Auros Global, Future Fund, Boosty Labs, Pascal Gauthier, 0xMaki, and Art On Internet (AOI). Runes DEX is an automated market maker (AMM) platform designed for trading Runes on the Bitcoin network, integrating meme-based tokens and unique features like the “Meme Casino.”
• Ord.io received $2M in a Pre-seed funding round from Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Sora Ventures, Eden Block, Arca Fund, LongHash Ventures, Daxos Capital, Portal Ventures, UTXO Management, Rubik Ventures, AntAlpha, Kommune, Edessa Capital, Petrock Capital, PG Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, Udi Wertheimer, and Zeneca. Ord.io is a platform allowing users to search, browse, and interact with Ordinals inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain.
• GEODNET secured $2M in its funding round. GEODNET operates as a decentralized network combining real-world Earth observation with blockchain technology. The platform gathers geospatial data from space weather stations worldwide, providing secure and trusted data products to participants rewarded with GEOD tokens for their contributions.
• Lambda Finance completed a $1.8M Angel funding round. Lambda Finance emerges as a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol offering a Bitcoin-based USD stablecoin solution. This unique offering allows Bitcoin holders to partake in DeFi opportunities while maintaining exposure to Bitcoin’s long-term potential. Through Lambda Finance, users can mint BTCUSD stablecoins using their Bitcoin holdings and redeem them at any time at a 1:1 ratio, leveraging their BTC as collateral to access the broader DeFi ecosystem.
• MerlinStarter received an undisclosed amount in a Seed funding round from Amber Group, ArkStream Capital, Cogitent Ventures, Mapleblock Capital, Cryptogram Venture (CGV), Side Door Ventures, Comma3 Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund, Web3Port Labs, LK Venture, Basics Capital, Waterdrip Capital, SatoshiLab, NxGen, Saxon, HerculesDAO, DCI capital (Dutch Crypto Investors), Kangaroo Capital, Titans Ventures, and ZC Capital. Rebase, their project, is an AR Adventure and M2E App powered by Geo-Technology, bringing NFTs into the real world through a treasure hunt experience using geolocation and augmented reality.
• Skynet Trading secured an undisclosed amount from Seier Capital and Edessa Capital in its funding round. Skynet Trading operates as an algorithmic trading and investment firm specializing in the digital assets market. By harnessing advanced algorithms and market insights, Skynet Trading aims to optimize trading strategies and achieve maximum returns for clients in the dynamic realm of digital assets.
• Merlin Chain received an undisclosed amount in its funding round. Merlin Chain, developed by Bitmap Tech, operates as a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution integrating ZK-Rollup, a decentralized oracle network, and BTC fraud proof modules. Committed to scaling Bitcoin and adding fun to the ecosystem, Merlin Chain supports native Bitcoin assets and protocols, offering various applications within its ecosystem.
• Fantasy top received an undisclosed amount in its funding round. Fantasy top is a SocialFi Trading Card Game (TCG) where players compete to earn ETH, BLAST, and FAN points based on the performance of their chosen crypto Twitter influencers. Through trading cards featuring these influencers, players engage in an online game monetizing their social capital within the cryptocurrency community.

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