The first quarter of 2024 witnessed a resurgence in venture capital investment in the crypto and blockchain sector, buoyed by the launch of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January.
Following a downturn in 2023, venture capital firms in the industry are regaining momentum, with signs of improved sentiment driving investments.
According to a report by Galaxy Digital, venture capital funding in crypto and blockchain totaled $5.75 billion across 58 funds in 2023, showing a significant rebound from the previous year.
AI-Blockchain Solutions Gain Traction
Venture funding in the crypto space is seeing a notable shift towards solutions integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain technologies.
Startups like Utila, Synnax, Sahara, TON Foundation, UXLINK, and TEN have recently secured substantial funding, highlighting growing investor interest in this intersection.
Utila Completes $11.5M Seed Funding Round
Utila, an enterprise-focused wallet provider, has secured $11.5 million in seed funding from prominent investors, including NFX, Wing VC, and Framework Ventures.
The startup offers a self-custody wallet platform catering to institutional investors, facilitating transactions across multiple chains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana.
With over $3 billion transacted on its platform in the past six months, Utila serves a diverse client base, including hedge funds, OTC desks, and market makers.
Synnax Closes $1M Pre-Seed Investment Round
Synnax, a Dubai-based startup, has raised $1 million in pre-seed funding for its credit intelligence platform focused on digital assets.
Led by No Limit Holdings, the funding round aims to develop an unbiased credit rating standard using decentralized AI models.
Synnax seeks to address transparency and bias issues prevalent in current credit rating systems, facilitating the transition to blockchain technology.
Sahara’s Seed Round Reaches $6M
Sahara, a startup dedicated to developing a decentralized AI network, has closed a $6 million seed funding round led by Polychain Capital.
The funding will support the growth of Sahara ecosystem components, including Sahara Vault, Sahara ID, and Sahara Network.
With a focus on privacy and security, Sahara aims to create autonomous Knowledge Agents (KAs) for analyzing proprietary data, catering to various industries.
TON Foundation Lands $8M Investment
The Open Network (TON) Foundation has received an $8 million investment from Mirana Ventures, further bolstering the blockchain project founded by Telegram’s team in 2019.
The partnership with Bybit and the Mantle Network aims to integrate Toncoin into various offerings, including staking rewards and cashback. TON Space, Telegram’s self-custodial wallet, is also set to integrate TON-based MNT tokens, enhancing user connectivity.
UXLINK Raises $10M in Funding
UXLINK, a Web3 social platform, has closed a $10 million funding round led by OKX Ventures and Web3Port Foundation.
The platform emphasizes two-way interactions and features a social decentralized exchange for digital assets trading.
With over 3.5 million verified users and 75,000 decentralized groups, UXLINK aims to redefine social networking in the blockchain era.
TEN Attracts $9M Investment from R3 Consortium
TEN, an Ethereum layer 2 network developed by Obscuro Labs, has raised $9 million in a funding round led by banking consortium R3.
Backed by Republic Crypto, KuCoin Labs, and others, TEN combines optimistic rollups and zero knowledge rollups to offer an encrypted layer 2 solution.
Scheduled for mainnet release in October, TEN aims to provide customizable privacy levels for smart contracts, catering to developers’ needs.
