The cryptocurrency industry is attracting an increasing number of institutional players. This is evidenced by new investments in infrastructure, and the increasing attention that companies are showing to bitcoin as an asset class. The most important events of recent weeks are in the ForkLog review.
LayerZero team raises $120M at $3B valuation
The team behind the LayerZero project raised $120 million according to the results of the Series B funding round. The cross-chain protocol was valued at $3 billion.
The startup was supported by a16z Crypto, Sequoia Capital, Circle Ventures, Samsung Next, OpenSea, Christie’s and other investors.
Team started negotiations on raising additional funding in May 2022. Two months before the firm estimated at $1 billion as part of the Series A investment round.
The protocol developed by the company connects various blockchains, allowing decentralized applications to transfer data between chains.
LayerZero supports Ethereum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, Aptos, Arbitrum and Optimism. The protocol has been integrated by Uniswap, SushiSwap and PancakeSwap.
Blockchain startup Sei raises $30M at $800M valuation
Exchange-oriented blockchain project of the first level Sei Network received $30 million in funding at an estimate of $800 million.
Jump Capital, Distributed Global, Multicoin Capital, Asymmetric Capital Partners, Flow Traders, Hypersphere Ventures and Bixin Ventures took part in the investment round.
More than 120 projects have already been created on the blockchain. The latest public testnet has attracted about 3.6 million unique users and processed more than 35 million transactions in less than a month, according to company co-founder Jayendra Jog.
The funds will be used to find “the right strategic partners, especially in the main network”, as well as to expand the presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
The head of Sei added that the project is still in the public testing phase. The launch of the main network is scheduled for the second quarter of 2023.
Alchemy Pay raises $10M to expand in South Korea
Alchemy Pay raised $10 million from market maker DWF Labs for business development in South Korea. According to the results of the strategic investment round, the payment platform was valued at $400 million.
The press release speaks of Alchemy Pay’s aim to capitalize on South Korea’s high adoption rate of cryptocurrencies and help local firms achieve greater internationalization.
The list of startup partners includes Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Diners Club, Google Pay and Apple Pay, as well as regional mobile wallets and internal transfer systems.
Alchemy Pay operates in 173 countries and supports over 50 fiat currencies.
Bitget Receives $10M Strategic Investment from Dragonfly
Dragonfly Venture Capital Announces Strategic Investment in Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitget in the amount of $10 million.
The funds are intended to expand Bitget’s markets and range of services, as well as educational initiatives.
In 2023, the company expects to accelerate the transformation into a universal crypto investment platform. This is intended to be facilitated by efforts to expand and improve spot trading, income-generating products, a platform for launching tokens, and developing an ecosystem.
On-chain data indexing platform Satsuma raises $5 million
Satsuma, blockchain data indexing platform, raised $5 million in a seed funding round led by Initialized Capital and Archetype. Other investors include OpenSea, Y Combinator, Homebrew and South Park Commons.
Satsuma co-founder and CEO Jonathan Kau noted that the company was founded in March 2022 and closed its funding round in May. The startup was in no hurry to announce the fundraising as it focused on the development of the platform.
Satsuma simplifies the search and analysis of the data stored on the blockchain, helping developers gain a deeper understanding of the project, such as its amount of locked funds.
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