Judging by the past seven days or so of mega rounds and fresh funds launching, the crypto-funding environment isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.

Here’s where the big dough’s flowed since we last compiled this roundup a week ago…

 

Griffin Gaming Partners raises US$750m to support crypto gaming

Gaming-focused venture capital firm Griffin Gaming Partners last week announced the launch of its second major fund, this time incorporating a crypto/Web3 focus.

The fund, reportedly the biggest in gaming at US$750 million, was apparently oversubscribed and now gives Griffin Gaming Partners more than US$1 billion in assets under management. The firm had already raised about US$235 million for its first fund in November.

Griffin Partners focuses on the gaming industry broadly but also the growing Web3 sector. One of its co-founders and managing directors, Nick Tuosto, told CoinDesk last week: “[Web 3] is one of our central theses from a macro perspective within games”. “It’s our view that the enablement of digital asset ownership within games may be the single most important technological unlock in the history of games.”

Investments for Griffin’s Fund II came from major institutions, university endowments, family offices, sovereign wealth funds and strategic partners in the gaming industry, Tuosto told the New York-based crypto-media outlet.

Bain Capital launches US$560m crypto venture arm

One of the world’s biggest startup-investment firms with over US$155 billion in assets under management, Boston-based Bain Capital last week announced a mammoth US$560 million fund that will focus on crypto-related investments.

The Bain Capital Crypto (BCC) fund will “support the renegades and pioneers building the next generation of internet infrastructure,” according to the firm’s announcement.

Bain Capital says it set up the fund due to its belief that crypto represents a “monumental technology shift towards open, community-driven, and decentralised services”.

The fund will support blockchain builders and creators through three areas the VC firm identifies, including: technical and economic research; governance design and participation; and participation across stages.

 

Aussie startup Immutable raises US$200m

As Stockhead reported early last week, the Sydney-based crypto startup firm Immutable has pulled in another US$200 million – this time led by Singapore’s investment-fund behemoth Temasek.

Also participating in the Series C funding round were notable venture capital firms Mirae Asset, ParaFi Capital, Declaration Partners and Tencent Holdings, as well as major blockchain-gaming company Animoca Brands.

The blockchain gaming-focused firm is the developer of two of the biggest and most promising GameFi projects in the industry, including Gods Unchained and Guild of Guardians.

Immutable is also the developer of Ethereum layer 2-scaling platform Immutable X (IMX).

 

Okcoin co-launches US$165 million Bitcoin-adoption pledge

Last week the Chinese-founded, San Francisco-based crypto exchange Okcoin, along with the Stacks Accelerator and Stacks Foundation, announced the launch of the “Bitcoin Odyssey” – a US$165 million funding pledge from participating investment firms to help further Bitcoin adoption.

The Bitcoin Odyssey is funded by Digital Currency Group, GBV Capital, White Star Capital and GSR, among other big investors, and has a particular focus on the development of decentralised finance (DeFi) apps enabled on the Bitcoin network by the Stacks (STX) protocol.

 

Cake DeFi; Hedera’s HBAR Foundation; Starkware and more

• Cake DeFi, a Singapore-based decentralised finance platform has launched a US$100m venture arm called Cake DeFi Ventures (CDV) which reportedly has a focus on investing in Web3, NFT gaming, metaverse and fintech startups.

The fund is being led by Cake DeFi co-founders Julian Hosp and U-Zyn Chua.

https://twitter.com/InsiderEthereum/status/1501698930580590594

• Hedera Hashgraph, a unique layer 1 crypto network that takes a different fundamental approach from most blockchain-related tech – has launched a US$100 million “Sustainable Impact Fund” through its HBAR Foundation.

The fund’s goal is the investment in Hedera-based solutions that involve carbon emissions, offsets and removals, as well as other nature-based projects.

• Starkware, an Ethereum layer-2 startup that uses ZK-rollup tech, is reportedly close to closing a US$100 million funding round, which would give it a US$6 billion valuation.

The story was broken by Israeli newspaper Calcalist late last week, although the full details are yet to be confirmed at the time of writing.

• Lunar, a Danish-based financial technology firm, has closed a US$77 million funding round that now makes it a double-unicorn-valued enterprise (US$2 billion). The company has also announced it’s launching a new crypto-trading platform.

The D-2 round brings the series’ total funding to US$310 million and the latest crop of prominent financial backers included Heartland, Kinnevik, Tencent, and IDC Ventures.

• Espresso, a Web3 scaling and privacy solution, is publicly launching amid a US$32 million funding round, led by Greylock Partners and Electric Capital.

Other backers included Sequoia Capital, Blockchain Capital, Slow Ventures,  Polychain Capital, Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, Gemini Frontier Fund, Paxos and Terraform Labs.

 

 

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