Encryption Industry Investment and Financing Weekly Report: A total of 11 events raised over $107 million

Last week (from July 14 to 20), there were a total of 11 investment and financing events in the global blockchain industry, with a total financing scale exceeding $107 million. In addition, the total financing amount of listed companies' encryption asset reserves exceeded $635 million. An overview of the main investment and financing events is as follows:

• There was 1 investment financing event in the DeFi sector: the tokenized money market fund platform Spiko completed a $22 million Series A financing, led by Index Ventures.

• There are 2 investment and financing events in the Web3 gaming sector: among them, the Web3 fantasy football game Football.Fun completed a $2 million financing.

• There was 1 investment and financing event in the Web3+AI field: XerpaAI completed a $6 million seed round financing, led by UFLY Capital.

• There have been 5 investment and financing events in the infrastructure and tools sector: among them, the decentralized messaging protocol XMTP completed a $20 million Series B financing round, led by several well-known investment institutions.

• There is 1 financing event in other application areas: the blockchain-based travel platform Blockskye completed a $15.8 million Series C financing, led by Blockchange.

• There is 1 investment and financing event in the centralized finance sector: Dakota, a stablecoin bank founded by a former Coinbase executive, completed a $12.5 million Series A financing round, led by CoinFund.

DeFi

The tokenized money market fund platform Spiko has completed a $22 million Series A financing, led by Index Ventures. Spiko focuses on providing tokenized money market fund services for European companies, allowing users to earn daily returns by investing in low-risk assets such as Eurozone and U.S. government bonds. The platform utilizes blockchain technologies such as Ethereum and Arbitrum and has processed over $900 million in liquid funds to date. The company plans to collaborate with multiple institutions, aiming to surpass $1 billion in assets under management by 2025.

Decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX has completed the acquisition of the encryption social trading platform Pocket Protector, marking its first external acquisition. The transaction was completed in a cash + DYDX token combination, with the specific amount undisclosed. The two co-founders of Pocket Protector will join dYdX as President and Head of Growth, respectively, and their developed Telegram trading bot along with a technical team of nine will be incorporated into dYdX.

Web3 Games

Web3 fantasy football game Football.Fun has announced the completion of a $2 million funding round, led by 6th Man Ventures(6MV), with participation from several investment firms. Football.Fun is a Web3 fantasy football platform where player cards can be traded like tokens. Users can build teams through player card packs, participate in tournaments, and trade player shares on a dynamic market based on AMM.

The global mini-game platform PlaysOut has completed a new round of strategic financing. This round of financing will mainly be used to promote the deep implementation of the "Mini-game 2.0" model in terms of technology and ecology. PlaysOut is a global mini-game infrastructure and distribution platform aimed at embedding modular game systems into super applications.

AI

The artificial intelligence growth platform XerpaAI announced the completion of a $6 million seed round financing, led by UFLY Capital. The funds will be used for product innovation, international expansion, and strategic hiring. XerpaAI focuses on AI and social networks, aiming to enhance user acquisition, brand influence, and distribution efficiency for innovative companies in the Web3 and AI sectors. Currently, XerpaAI has established operational teams in multiple locations and has engaged in deep cooperation with important ecological partners in the blockchain and AI industries.

Infrastructure and Tools

The decentralized messaging protocol XMTP developer Ephemera has completed a $20 million Series B funding round, led by several well-known investment institutions, with participation from multiple organizations. After this round of financing, Ephemera's equity valuation is $300 million, while the broader network encompassing the token-issuing XMTP protocol is valued at $750 million.

The XMTP protocol has now been integrated into a newly launched application on a certain trading platform, upgrading from an optional feature to core infrastructure. This protocol offers end-to-end encryption communication services, supporting secure interactions between wallet addresses, with the test network having gone live in February of this year. Ephemera has stated that it will expand its team to promote the mainnet launch of the protocol and ecosystem development.

The privacy finance protocol AI Cross Matrix(ACM) has completed a $12 million seed round financing with participation from multiple investment institutions. ACM utilizes ZKP( zero-knowledge proof), ring signatures, and AI-based routing obfuscation technology to build a tracking-resistant cross-chain asset transfer infrastructure.

The encryption infrastructure company Function(, formerly Ignition), has completed a $10 million seed round of financing, led by a certain investment institution with participation from multiple other institutions. The company is dedicated to developing institutional-level yield solutions for Bitcoin. Function's core product, FBTC, is a fully reserved, composable Bitcoin derivative asset, currently with a total locked value of (TVL) reaching $1.5 billion. This product allows institutional users to allocate Bitcoin to yield scenarios while maintaining custodial control and a 1:1 asset backing.

Web3 smart layer W3.io announced the completion of a $7 million seed round financing, led by Blockchange Ventures with participation from multiple institutions. The alliance is building the programmable smart automation network Prodigy Network, aimed at lowering the barriers for enterprises to use blockchain technology. The CEO of W3.io stated that the project is dedicated to developing plug-and-play business solutions covering global micro-payments, mortgages, and other scenarios.

The stablecoin payment and embedded financial services platform KUN announced the completion of its Series A financing, with multiple institutions as investors. Since its establishment 20 months ago, KUN has raised a total of over $50 million.

Other Applications

The blockchain-based travel platform Blockskye has announced the completion of a $15.8 million Series C funding round, led by Blockchange, with participation from several institutions. This round of financing will be used to expand into the European, Latin American, and Asian markets, and to develop real-time payment products based on stablecoins. Blockskye connects directly with suppliers such as airlines through blockchain technology, helping corporate clients reduce travel costs. The company claims that its platform can reduce travel expenses by 14.5% and achieve an 84% savings on agency fees. Currently, the team consists of over 40 members, with plans to add 30 new positions in technology, sales, and other areas.

Centralized Finance

The stablecoin bank Dakota, founded by former executive Ryan Bozarth of a trading platform, has completed a $12.5 million Series A financing round led by CoinFund, with multiple institutions participating. Dakota facilitates fund transfers through stablecoins, providing banking-like account services for businesses and individuals. Its business model combines traditional banking functions with blockchain technology, primarily serving overseas corporate clients in non-encryption sectors. The platform has processed $1.6 billion in transaction volume to date, and it is expected to reach $4 billion by the end of 2025. Although it does not hold a banking license, the company is registered as a money service business in the United States and Europe.