VC Dec. Report, the number of financing increased by 4.3%

Author: WuBlockchain

According to statistics from RootData. A total of 98 investment projects in the crypto VC sector were publicly disclosed in December, showing a 4.3% increase compared to November 2023 (94 projects) and a 5.4% increase compared to December 2022 (93 projects). Note: Since not all financings are disclosed in the same month, the above statistics may increase in the future. The industry-level classifications are as follows:

In December, among various tracks in the crypto market, the financing proportion for infrastructure projects is approximately 11%, DeFi about 17%, CeFi about 5%, NFT/GameFi about 14%, and L1/L2 about 11%.

The total financing amount in December was $910 million, a decrease of 25.4% compared to November 2023 ($1.22 billion) and a 2.2% decrease compared to December 2022 ($930 million). The top 10 rounds by amount were as follows:

Bitcoin financial services company Swan raised $40 million for expansion and $125 million for its own venture and private equity investments. Swan’s investments are primarily focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem, currently collaborating with BitGo to launch a joint venture trust company focused on Bitcoin.

Japanese communication giant Line’s NFT subsidiary Line Next announced a $140 million investment from a consortium led by private equity firm Crescendo to expand its Web3 ecosystem. Line Next will officially launch the NFT platform DOSI in January and plans to release a social app for AI-based character creation and a Web3 game using Brown & Friends characters. Line considers this investment the largest funding round in the Asian blockchain Web3 industry this year.

Australian crypto mining company Arkon Energy completed a $110 million financing round, with Bluesky Capital Management leading. $80 million will be used for expansion in the U.S., and an additional $30 million is dedicated to an AI cloud service project in a 30MW data center in Norway. Arkon Energy has agreed to purchase facilities from blockchain data center consultant Sabre56, doubling the capacity of the new site to 300 megawatts (MW).

Game developer Nexon announced a $100 million Web3 fund to support its blockchain game ecosystem MapleStory Universe and related IPs. The funds will be used to support developers in building SDKs and creating a sandbox platform for players and creators to make blockchain games. Nexon also plans to integrate MapleStory Universe with Polygon Supernets by March 2024.

Crypto asset infrastructure company Andalusia Labs raised $48 million in Series A funding, valuing it at “over $1 billion.” The startup has three main crypto asset technology solutions: the L2 blockchain named Karak, the cryptocurrency risk management market named Subsea, and the institutional platform named Watchtower.

Digital asset exchange GFO-X announced the completion of a $30 million Series B financing round, led by M&G Investments, who will join the board of Global Futures and Options Holdings. As part of the Series B funding, M&G Investments’ asset management department invested $20 million in the UK cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Global Futures & Options Holding (GFO-X), the first FCA-regulated and centrally cleared crypto derivatives trading venue in the UK.

Jia Nan Yunzhi signed a securities purchase agreement with an institutional investor, issuing and selling up to 125,000 shares of Series A convertible preferred stock at a price of $1,000 per share.

Crypto mining company HIVE Digital announced the completion of a $28.75 million private placement, including the sale of a total of 5,750,000 special warrants, with a statutory hold period of four months and one day. The funds will be used to expand Bitcoin mining operations, operating capital, and general corporate purposes.

Pledge project Babylon raised $18 million in a round of investment led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC, with participation from OKX Ventures. The funds raised will be used for the development of the protocol. Babylon is a marketplace that provides Bitcoin as collateral assets.

Crypto mining company Stronghold announced the signing of a securities purchase agreement with an existing institutional investor, selling 2,300,000 shares of Class A common stock and share equivalents at a price of $6.71 per share equivalent. The company also issued warrants to the buyer for the purchase of a total of 2,300,000 shares of Class A common stock.