Venture Trotter Weekly Review: Week Ending 9/30/22

Last Week’s Crypto Investment Highlights

Ruceto tracked over $310 million in institutional investments into crypto last week. Links to the recipient website, investment announcement, and token info are provided via hyperlinks on the Recipient Name, $ Raised, and Token columns respectively.

Recipient $ Raised Lead Investors Description Token
Ten31
Send and receive money instantly. Buy bitcoin. Get paid in bitcoin.
Liberty City Ventures
The MPC6 engine enables us to deploy a secure and scalable MPC solution in any sector where cryptographic signing and approval is needed
FTX Ventures, Jump Crypto
Similar to an app store for Web3
Dragonfly, Ribbit Capital
Open-source crypto wallet to access all of Web3
Microsoft’s venture fund M12
Hybrid transactional database and analytic data warehouse that is fully decentralized and community-operated
ParaFi Capital
Crypto friendly and FDIC insured banking
Tribe Capital, Tabiya
The first customizable modular rollups, using the Solana VM
Re
Tribe Capital, Defy, Exor, Stratos, Framework, Morgan Creek Digital, SiriusPoint
The Re protocol provides investors access to a massive and uncorrelated asset class: insurance premiums
Paradigm
Protect your web3 users against theft & fraud on Solana, Ethereum, & Polygon
Ramnik Arora of FTX Ventures
Crypto accounting platform
Morgan Creek Digital
Build cross-chain identity and wallet solutions
Tribe Capital, Tabiya
Customizable modular rollups, using the Solana VM
Binance Labs, dao5
API-first product company dedicated to power and solve blockchain data problems using the ground truth of on-chain data
Galaxy Digital, Polychain Capital
Bitcoin mining, powered by renewables
Framework Ventures
A decentralized exchange with P2P trading
Fosun International co-founder Liang Xinjun
A token centric middleware that connects the scale of Web2 with the promise of Web3
TCG, 1kx
The home of video NFTs
Dragonfly Capital
Harpie is the first on-chain firewall preventing hacks, scams, and theft
Index Ventures
Mobile app for crypto investing
Nomura
Enables P2P tokenized transactions that are backed by fiat.
Dragonfly Capital
Layer 1 blockchain startup founded by former employees of Meta who worked on the defunct Diem project
TBD

Aptos was covered in a previous Venture Trotter newsletter when it raised $150M in a round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto in July 2022, following it’s $200 million round in March 2022. Aptos is a Layer 1 blockchain startup founded by former employees of Meta who worked on the defunct Diem project, and it is shaping up to become a very well-funded rival to Solana and Mysten Labs SUI. Dragonfly just announced a strategic investment in Aptos, although the specific terms have not been disclosed. Following Aptos’ July round, it published v1.0 of its whitepaper.

 

Juno provides FDIC insured (for USD holdings only) crypto friendly checking accounts that enable US residents to earn, invest and spend both cash and crypto from the same account. Crypto can be purchased with zero fees. The company encourages customer loyalty with various giveaways, including their new native token, JCOIN. While this token will come with a number of perks for eligible holders, it will not be possible to trade it on secondary markets.

 

Re is a reinsurer on the blockchain that enables retail investors to earn insurance premiums by backing insurance policies. The reinsurance market presents a unique opportunity for retail investors because returns are uncorrelated with equity and crypto markets. Initially the protocol will support auto insurance policies, but it will expand as more insurers and underwriters join the protocol. Syndicates (underwriters) evaluate the risk of insurance programs that are brought to the protocol and determine if they will provide junior capital to policies.  Governance will be managed by a community DAO.

 

 

Institutional Investors in Crypto

DeFiance Capital, a Web3 and crypto VC based in the Virgin Islands with many team members in Singapore, is nearly halfway finished raising $100 million to invest in liquid tokens. The Block reported that the VC can begin investing before the full $100 million is raised.

 

Pantera, the “first U.S. institutional asset manager focused exclusively on blockchain technology,” told Bloomberg that it seeks to raise $1.25 billion for a second blockchain fund. Pantera currently has $4.5 billion in assets under management, and focuses on 3 strategies: 1) venture equity in companies that support the blockchain ecosystem; 2) discounted private token sales; and 3) liquid tokens. Pantera CEO, Dan Morehead, told Bloomberg in an interview that he is bullish on crypto over the next 10-20 years, and “Unfortunately, crypto pricing has become correlated with risk assets, which I honestly don’t think has to be true… My hope is that soon crypto will decouple from the macro markets.”

 

 

What’s happening at Ruceto

We provide institutional quality research on Web3 projects, and our deep dive report on Oasys is now available! Oasys is a new blockchain protocol for gaming with members of its founding team including executives from Bandai Namco Research, Sega Corporation, and Yield Guild Games. Check out https://ruceto.com/research/ to read it for free before the initial coin offering that’s planned for November!

 

Ruceto is democratizing Crypto and Web3 research by giving you the opportunity to earn cash bounties for writing reports. Join our Discord to learn about how you can get paid for your insight, or how you can join and follow a community of experts.

 

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Disclaimer: The content presented is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, tax, legal, or professional advice. The content is provided ‘as is’ without any representations or warranties, express or implied.

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