Crypto VC funding: Chaos Labs tops our roundup with $55m series A

As a seasoned researcher who has been closely following the crypto space for years now, it’s fascinating to see such a surge in VC funding this week. The $130 million raised across various projects is a testament to the growing maturity and acceptance of blockchain technology in the mainstream economy.


This week saw over $130 million raised across various crypto VC funding rounds.

Here’s a breakdown of the activity from Monday, Aug. 12 through Saturday, Aug. 17:

Chaos Labs, $55 million

On-chain risk management company Chaos Labs raised $55 million in a series A round.

Haun Ventures took the main role, with Lightspeed Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, and Wintermute joining in as well.

1/ Thrilled to share the news of our $55M Series A funding round, spearheaded by HaunVentures with the support of Lightspeed Venture Partners, F-Prime Capital, Wintermute, Galaxy Digital, PayPal Ventures, Slow Ventures, The Spartan Group, and others.

Our organization is named in reference to the challenge we’re addressing.

The objective of Chaos Labs is succinctly defined as…

— Chaos Labs (@chaos_labs) August 15, 2024

As reported by Chaos Labs’ development team, the project’s clientele has more than trebled during the last year. Currently, it supports around 20 protocols such as Aave (AAVE) and GMX (GMX). These protocols leverage their technological infrastructure.

As a data analyst, I’m proud to report that our platform has amassed an impressive cumulative trading volume of $860 billion and $25 billion in loans since its inception. The team is eager to invest the fresh capital into enhancing real-time, contextually aware risk management solutions for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols.

Sahara AI, $43 million

The platform known as Sahara AI, which specializes in decentralized artificial intelligence through blockchain technology, recently made news by successfully raising a total of $43 million in funding. This significant investment round was jointly led by Binance Labs, Pantera Capital, and Polychain Capital.

Notable investors such as Samsung, Sequoia Capital, and Matrix Partners were among those who made contributions as well.

Sahara AI secured $43 million in funding, with Pantera Capital, Binance Labs, and Polychain leading the round. This investment propels us towards a future of shared, fair, and secure artificial intelligence through our decentralized blockchain platform for AI. Additionally, we welcomed contributions from…

— Sahara AI (@SaharaLabsAI) August 14, 2024

Starting from its establishment in April 2023, Sahara AI has experienced swift growth, forming collaborations with more than 35 prominent tech companies such as Microsoft and Amazon.

The company aspires to shake up the traditional AI setting by establishing a more “fair” decentralized environment.

Consequently, this funding supports their goal to guarantee fair remuneration for participants, safeguard data autonomy, and foster inclusivity throughout the entire process of artificial intelligence creation.

Sling Money, $15 million

Fintech startup Sling Money collected $15 million in a series A round, per a report from Axios.

Union Square Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and Slow Ventures took charge after a $5 million initial funding round was completed.

Thrilling announcement! 🚀 I’m thrilled to share that we’ve successfully secured a Series A round, with leadership from @usv, joined by @RibbitCapital and @SlowVentures. This significant investment propels us towards our vision of simplifying global money transfers, making them instant, effortless, and cost-effective. For more details, check out the update here, and feel free to message us if you’d like a sneak peek at what Sling has in store for the world 🌍.

— Sling Money (@SlingMoney) August 14, 2024

On the Sling Money platform, transactions can be made effortlessly between over 50 European and African nations by leveraging advanced stablecoin technology for seamless money transfers.

On this platform, it’s possible to swiftly transfer funds, regardless if it’s to other users, moving money within your personal account, or to individuals who aren’t registered on Sling.

Money transfers take place utilizing Pax Dollar, a secure digital currency that’s tied to the U.S. dollar and is overseen by the New York State Department of Financial Services for regulatory purposes.

Essential, $11 million

Indeed, it’s worth noting that the company pioneering the first declarative blockchain was part of the slice of the VC funding pie distributed this week.

The company secured $11 million in a series A round led by Archetype.

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve successfully completed an $11M Series A funding round, with Archetype Ventures taking the lead. 🎉

This significant achievement brings us one step closer to revolutionizing blockchain interactions as web3 moves towards a future focused on declarative and intent-based systems.

Many thanks to our investors for their support…

— Essential (@intentessential) August 13, 2024

As a researcher, among the other esteemed participants in this round were IOSG, Spartan, and Mirana, as well as numerous founders and early-stage investors hailing from the decentralized web3 sector.

Essential states that the financing will speed up the advancement of their blockchain technology, designed to structure interactions based on results instead of commands.

Other notable crypto VC fundraising

In a seed extension financing round headed by Helios Digital Ventures, the cross-border business payment service provider Coinduit successfully secured $6 million.

Investing in our capital will aid us in expanding our platform throughout Africa, with a focus on addressing the difficulties associated with cross-border payments in that region.

As an analyst, I’m sharing that Ion Protocol managed to secure an additional $4.8 million in a recent funding round, following an initial raise of $2.2 million. This new capital injection was backed by Gumi Capital, Cryptos, and over 90 other investors.

Currently, the fundraising efforts of the liquidity protocol that focuses on locked and re-locked assets have reached a grand total of $7 million.

Based on a post dated August 12th on X’s platform, the firm intends to employ the raised funds towards the creation of Nucleus – a specialized tool designed to tackle the revenue issues encountered by Ethereum (ETH) rollup systems.

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2024-08-17 19:28