Edition #76 - 03 SEP 2023
Crypto asset manager Grayscale has officially won its lawsuit against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) today. Specifically, the US Court of Appeals stated that the asset management firm be granted their petition for review, while the Commission’s rejection was vacated.
gaming developments
​​​​​​​​​​​​Adidas is partnering with NFT artists to launch its first digital artist-in-residence program. The artists will get to collaborate with the sportswear giant on digital and physical items.
​​Startup focused on equipping NFT creators with digital storefronts FirstMate raised $3.75M funding round led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, NextView.
metaverses & AI
​​​​​​Web3 Metaverse platform ZTX (ZepetoX) raised $13M in a Seed funding round led by Jump Crypto, with participation from Collab+Currency, Parataxis Capital, MZ Web3 Fund, Everest Ventures Group (EVG).​​
​AI-powered blockchain data explorer Lore Explorer raised $2.3M funding round from SALT fund, Arca Fund, Floodgate, Balaji Srinivasan.
defi
​​​​​​​​​​​Web3 governance platform with data-driven voting JKLabs raised $2M in a Pre-seed funding round led by 1kx, with participation from Seed Club Ventures, Spice Capital, THE LAO, Arweave, Boys Club, Packy McCormick, Sandeep Nailwal.​​
​​Company focused on building DeFi protocols and tools on Solana Ellipsis Labs raised $3.3M in a Seed funding round led by Electric Capital, with participation from Robot Ventures, Anagram.
​​Liquid staking protocol for Bitcoin Lightning Network Stroom Network raised $3.5M in a Seed funding round led by Greenfield Capital, with participation from Lemniscap, No Limit Holdings (NLH), Cogitent Ventures, Ankr Network, Mission Street Ventures.
funding rounds
​​​​​​​​​​Layer 1 blockchain Linera raised $6M in a Seed funding round led by Borderless Capital, a16z crypto and participation from Laser Digital, Digital Finance Group (DFG), Cadenza, Eterna Capital, MH Ventures, Matrixport Ventures, L2 Iterative Ventures (L2IV), ArkStream Capital, Flow Traders, GSR Markets LTD, Open Web Collective OWC, Tribe Capital, Cygni Capital.
​​EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain connecting multiple chains ZetaChain raised $27M funding round from BlockchainCom (Blockchain Ventures), Human Capital, VY Capital, Sky9 Capital, Jane Street, VistaLabs, CMT Digital, Foundation Capital, Lingfeng Innovation Fund (LIF), GSR Markets LTD, Krust Universe.
Blockchain-based credit marketplace Maple raised $5M in a Strategic funding round led by BlockTower Capital, Tioga Capital Partners, with participation from Cherry Ventures, The Spartan Group, GSR Ventures, Veris Ventures, Maven 11 Capital, Framework Ventures.