Crypto VC roundup: Story Protocol secures $80m to address IP theft

As a seasoned crypto investor with over two decades of experience under my belt, I must admit that this week has been nothing short of exhilarating for me. The flurry of activities in the crypto VC space is reminiscent of the dot-com boom of the late 90s and early 2000s, but with a unique twist.

As a seasoned venture capitalist with over a decade of experience in the crypto space, I’ve seen my fair share of ups and downs. This week, I had the pleasure of witnessing a significant milestone for several promising startups, including Story Protocol’s successful $80 million series B funding round. It is always exhilarating to see the potential of these innovative projects unfold before our eyes, and this event was no exception. The energy in the room was palpable, and it reminded me once again why I chose to work in this dynamic and fast-paced industry.

During the time span from August 18th through August 24th, there’s been a whirlwind of activity in the world of crypto venture capital. As reported by Crypto Fundraising, a total of 32 blockchain startups successfully secured over $202 million in funding from various investors within that time frame.

Below we look at a few of the standouts.

Story Protocol, $80 million

In a recent Series B funding round, Story Protocol managed to secure $80 million. The lead investor in this round was the serial venture capital firm focused on cryptocurrency, Andreessen Horowitz. Additionally, Polychain Capital, Hashed, Samsung Next, SparkLabs Global, and several other investors also contributed to this funding round.

In this latest Series B funding round, a total of $140 million was raised by our San Francisco-based startup, increasing its overall valuation to a staggering $2.25 billion.

1/ Announcing $140M in total fundraising to build Story, the World’s IP Blockchain.

— Story (꧁IP꧂) (@StoryProtocol) August 21, 2024

As a forward-thinking crypto investor, I’m excited about the company’s mission to address a growing issue – the misuse of intellectual property, especially in the age of advanced generative AI. They are determined to safeguard our digital assets and ideas from unauthorized duplication or exploitation.

In simple terms, the story’s blockchain system enables creators to save their intellectual property within the platform. Licensing agreements are incorporated into self-executing contracts, known as smart contracts, ensuring that the terms are automatically enforced.

By doing so, it guarantees that intellectual property creators receive payment when their work is utilized, addressing the increasing apprehensions about tech giants exploiting AI systems to consume copyrighted content without due permission.

Sorella Labs, $7.5 million

Up next is Sorella Labs, another startup based in San Francisco. This company recently raised $7.5 million in funds for continuing their project to create tools that help find and optimize the highest value transactions on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain.

As a seasoned investor with years of experience under my belt, I have come to appreciate the significance of research-driven investment strategies in the tech sector. In my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with various companies and witness firsthand their transformative impact on the industry. So when I hear that Paradigm, a company known for its thorough research approach, spearheaded a funding round, it immediately piques my interest. Joining forces with other esteemed participants like Nascent, Uniswap Ventures, Robot Ventures, and Bankless Ventures, they’re undoubtedly poised to make strategic investments that could shape the tech landscape for years to come. I eagerly await updates on their ventures and the potential returns they may bring.

Sister Labs intends to utilize the funds for broadening their business scope and expediting the progress of their primary product lines, namely Brontes and Angstrom.

Corn, $6.7 million

Corn is another winner in this week’s crypto VC fundraising column. The Ethereum layer-2 network, which uses hybrid tokenized Bitcoin (BTC) as gas, collected $6.7 million in a seed round led by Polychain Capital. 

In addition to this, Binance Labs, Framework Ventures, and Polygon‘s co-founder, Sandeep Nailwal, were among those who contributed to the funding round as well.

It’s said that Corn is planning to establish an “ecosystem of crop circles” where users, apps, and token holders are carefully matched. This setup aims to tackle issues that many decentralized networks encounter, such as inadequate liquidity and a lack of practical use for tokens.

BSX Exchange, $6.2 million

As a crypto investor, I’m excited to share that the decentralized derivatives protocol BSX Exchange, running on the Ethereum Layer 2 network, Base, has successfully secured $6.2 million in funding. This was achieved through their pre-seed and seed funding rounds.

The initial funding round, valued at $4 million, was primarily headed by Blockchain Capital. Notable participants in this round also included Bankless Ventures and Maelstrom, an investment firm linked to BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes.

As an analyst, I’m excited to share that our company, BSX, is planning to broaden its horizons beyond derivatives trading. We have earmarked fresh capital for this expansion and have set our sights on launching a spot aggregator in September. Furthermore, we aim to introduce several earn-and-stake products shortly following the launch of our spot aggregator.

Orderly Network, $5 million

In a recent funding round totaling $5 million, the Orderly Network – a project dedicated to creating a web3 liquidity infrastructure – managed to secure investments from various prominent sources such as OKX Ventures, Manifold Trading, and Origin Protocol.

The group responsible for the project intends to employ the available resources to enhance their ability to build a permissionless marketplace for trading on various blockchains within the web3 environment.

At present, Orderly caters to six different blockchain platforms, such as the Ethereum Mainnet and Polygon, with an aim to offer extensive liquidity for any asset within these systems.

Other funding rounds

Summarizing this week’s significant venture capital fundings are three ventures: Soulbound, Stork Network, and Thalex. Collectively, they garnered over $12 million. In the realm of web3 social gaming, Animoca Brands contributed $4 million to support their ongoing endeavor of fostering a new creator economy.

Soulbound is developing a platform that merges GameFi and SocialFi to deliver an innovative digital experience. According to its creators, the funds raised will be used to forge gaming collaborations, boost social engagement, and extend incentives for streamers like bounties and social quests.

In a recent development, Stork Network garnered approximately $4.705 million in seed funding to broaden their product offerings, specifically working on establishing an open data market. This funding round was jointly led by Lightspeed Faction and Lattice, with additional investment from CMS and Wintermute Ventures as well.

To conclude, Thalex, a platform specializing in crypto derivative trades, managed to secure 3 million euros ($3.3 million) during their series A extension, as reported by Axios. The extended round saw participation from investors such as Bitfinex, Bitstamp, and Flow Traders, with IMC and Wintermute also contributing to the project.

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2024-08-25 05:45