Crypto VC roundup: Andrena raises $18m, Vessel secures $10m in seed round funding

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As a seasoned researcher with a knack for deciphering the latest trends in the tech and startup world, I can’t help but feel a sense of exhilaration upon witnessing the recent funding rounds announced by Andrena, Vessel, Cartridge, Pentagon Games, and DeAgentAI.

Last week, a number of startups, such as Andrena, Vessel, Cartridge, and Pentagon Games, successfully obtained substantial amounts of financing.

Andrena, $18 million

Last week, Andrena, a major U.S. internet service provider, secured $18 million in its first round of funding, which was headed by Dragonfly Capital.

Significant investment firms contributing to the funding round are Castle Island Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Wintermute Ventures, CMT Digital, and 6th Man Ventures.

We’re excited to share the news that we’ve successfully raised $18 million! This round was headed by Dragonfly Capital Partners (@dragonfly_xyz). Many thanks to our investors, including 6thMan Ventures, Wintermute, Parafi Capital, Robot Ventures, EV3 and others. (Thread)

— DAWN (@dawninternet) August 7, 2024

Andrena garnered approximately $33 million in investments, whereby $15 million was contributed from an earlier funding round, which was likewise spearheaded by DragonFly Capital.

The company is developing a decentralized autonomous network protocol named DAWN, which aims to help users sell their excess internet bandwidth to a network of providers. 

As a forward-thinking crypto investor, I’m excited about DAWN, a project that’s all about creating a decentralized internet infrastructure. Instead of relying on a single centralized provider, we’re building a network of wireless base stations placed on rooftops. These stations will interconnect to form a mesh network, ensuring seamless internet access without the need for a traditional service provider.

Andrena has not provided a specific launch date for DAWN.

Vessel, $10 million

On August 8th, I was privileged to be part of a successful seed fundraising round, totaling $10 million for the zero-knowledge based, decentralized exchange known as Vessel. This milestone marks an exciting step forward in our journey towards a more secure and democratized financial ecosystem.

In this initiative, Sequoia Capital took the lead. Co-founders Sandy Peng and Ye Zhang from Scroll, along with the Avalanche Foundation, Algorand Foundation, IMO Ventures, Folius Ventures, Incuba Alpha, and a number of angel investors collectively contributed to the financing.

🚢We’re thrilled to share that Vessel has successfully raised $10M during its seed funding round. The funds will be smartly allocated towards:

— Vessel (@VesselFinance) August 8, 2024

The capital raised will be used to merge the efficiency of centralized exchanges with the transparency of decentralized exchanges, enhance liquidity efficiency, and advance zero-knowledge-proof technologies for DeFi.

Vessel Finance is a rapidly growing, decentralized trading platform leveraging Zero Knowledge (ZK) technology, aiming to develop into a comprehensive layer-3 network supporting Decentralized Finance (DeFi).

Its goal is to combine the ease of use and speed of centralized exchanges (CEXes) with the openness and safety offered by decentralized platforms.

Cartridge, $7.5 million

On August 5th, Cartridge, a company known for its expertise in creating on-chain games and self-governing virtual worlds, successfully concluded a $7.5 million Series A investment round.

Bitkraft Ventures took the lead in this funding round, with participation from Fabric, Dune, StarkWare, Primitive, and Ergodic.

The business additionally presented Dojo 1.0, a versatile open-source development kit intended for crafting verifiable video games. Simultaneously with the financial disclosure, Cartridge is supporting numerous blockchain games slated for launch this summer, such as Loot Survivor, Paved, and Dope Wars.

In a conversation with GamesBeat, Cartridge’s CEO Tarrence V. mentioned that the fresh funding will allow for team growth and improvements in their ecosystem. He highlighted that Dojo will serve as the foundation for creating games entirely based on blockchain technology, with plans to develop these games exclusively on the blockchain.

An extra pair of items are currently being worked on as well: the Player Identity & Reputation Manager known as the Cartridge Controller, and the Slot, a layer where commands are carried out.

Pentagon Games, $6 million

In a recent investment round, game development company Pentagon Games – supported by Animoca Brands – successfully secured $6 million. This funding was bolstered by several prominent backers such as Binance Labs, Polygon, Symbolic Capital (previously Hyperedge Capital), NFX, Republic, The Spartan Group, and Yield Guild Games.

Guided by co-founders Emma Liu and Idon Liu, Pentagon Games boasts a proficient workforce versed in the web3 domain. The Lius, a dynamic duo, possess a solid history of successfully overseeing communities and projects accommodating up to 1.2 million players. They are also responsible for running blockchain operations, validating Polygon nodes, and creating some of the pioneering web3 games. Additionally, Hugh Behroozy, serving as the chief publishing officer, contributes his extensive 15-year expertise in film, gaming, and visual effects to the team.

In her latest address, CEO Emma Liu expressed enthusiasm about the company’s future, as they aim to pioneer the upcoming era of gaming. Their primary objective revolves around creating an innovative platform, enabling gamers to interact uniquely with content and be compensated for their active involvement.

Emma observed that with the growing interest in distinctive virtual adventures and digital characters, gamers are likely to gravitate towards platforms that provide such innovative features more frequently.

DeAgentAI, $6 million

In a seed funding round, DeAgentAI, a network focused on AI within Web3, successfully raised $6 million. This round was primarily led by Web3.com Ventures and Vertex Capital, with additional backing from Higgs Capital, Kernel Labs, Waterdrip Capital, Tido Capital, PANONY, CatcherVC, Goplus, and UXLINK.

DeAgentAI leverages sophisticated artificial intelligence to offer tailored services spanning various sectors, all while running on distributed platforms such as Solana (SOL) and Ethereum (ETH). It has created an AI-worker tier that merges AI technology with specialized competencies to generate groundbreaking solutions, such as financial prognostications and artistic writing.

Backed by Vertex Capital investors, our platform assures its user base that they can anticipate the release of fresh products within the upcoming months.

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2024-08-11 15:32