This week, the blockchain sector witnessed significant activity with 34 startups collectively raising $109.3 million in various funding rounds. The funding rounds ranged from series A to grants, showcasing the growing interest and investment in blockchain technology and innovation. This influx of funding highlights the diverse range of projects in the blockchain space, focusing on areas such as web3, privacy, identity, and more.
One notable funding round was secured by Nexus Laboratories, a web3 startup specializing in zero-knowledge-powered scaling and privacy tools. The company raised an impressive $25 million in a series A round, with investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Faction Ventures, and the Blockchain Builders Fund. This funding will support the development of a new zero-knowledge virtual machine called Nexus 1.0.
Another standout funding effort came from Layer3, a New York-based startup that closed a $15 million series A funding round. The company’s omnichain identity and distribution protocol streamlines user engagement and token distribution across multiple blockchains. With funding from ParaFi, Greenfield Capital, Electric Capital, and King River, Layer3 aims to drive further adoption and innovation in the crypto space.
The NEAR Foundation announced the formation of Nuffle Labs, securing $13 million in funding to advance NEAR’s modularity and promote decentralized development. The funding includes a grant from the foundation and investments from Electric Capital, Canonical Crypto, Fabric Ventures, and Robot Ventures. Nuffle Labs plans to leverage NEAR’s products to offer rollups and enhance ecosystem development.
Ava Protocol, formerly known as OAK Network, raised $10 million in seed funding to support the development of cross-chain smart contract automation. Investors such as Electric Capital, Taisu Ventures, and Shima Capital back Ava’s vision of intent-centric, event-driven autonomous transactions for Ethereum and beyond.
Irys, a startup focused on improving on-chain data management and combating misinformation, successfully raised $4.8 million in a strategic funding round led by Lemniscap. The company aims to use the funds to develop systems that improve scalability and efficiency in blockchain ecosystems.
Symbiotic, a developer of a shared security protocol, secured $5.8 million in a seed round led by Paradigm and cyber.Fund. The company plans to expand its operations and development efforts, focusing on enabling decentralized networks to bootstrap sovereign ecosystems through customized restaking implementations.
Israel-based Kima Network closed a $5 million pre-seed funding round led by Blockchange Ventures and FinSec Innovation Lab. The startup aims to bridge traditional financial services with decentralized finance tools through its decentralized settlement protocol. The funds will support Kima in developing its web3 settlement infrastructure.
In addition to the startup funding rounds, Paradigm, a prominent crypto-focused venture capital firm, announced a new $850 million fund. This fund will target crypto projects in their earliest development stages, positioning Paradigm at the forefront of the next wave of crypto innovation. The firm has been an early supporter of key industry players like Uniswap, Optimism, and Flashbots, emphasizing its commitment to fostering growth and innovation in the crypto space.