Auradine funded $80 million, Mezo $21 million, Puffer Finance $18 million, Centrifuge $ 15 million, DePIN $10 million, Dex Thruster $ 7.5 million
It became known that over the past week, many projects in the crypto industry have received funding rounds including: Auradine, Mezo, Puffer Finance, Centrifuge, DePIN, DEX Thruster
Auradine, a blockchain project focused on privacy and artificial intelligence, raised $80 million in Series B funding. Investors included Celesta Capital, Mayfield Fund, Marathon Digital, StepStone Group, Top Tier Capital Partners, MVP Ventures, and Maverick Capital. Auradine develops "breakthrough solutions in scalability, resilience, and security," as well as produces ASIC miners called Teraflux. The company has supplied devices to more than 30 leading crypto mining firms, with orders totaling $80 million. According to co-founder and CEO Ravi Khemani, the fresh capital will be used to increase production capacity and accelerate the development of new products. In May 2023, Auradine raised $81 million in Series A financing led by venture firms Celesta Capital and Mayfield.
Mezo, a Bitcoin scaling network, closed a $21 million funding round led by Pantera Capital. Other investors include Multicoin Capital, Hack VC, ParaFi Capital, Nascent, Draper Associates, Primitive Ventures, Asymmetric Ventures, and others. Founder and CEO of Mezo and Thesis, Matt Luongo, declined to reveal the startup's valuation but said that it plans to issue a token. He described the network as an "economic layer" focused on creating an ecosystem of applications based on user needs. Mezo uses "proof of HODL" as its consensus mechanism, where users secure the network by locking up BTC and Mez tokens. As of writing, Mezo's TVL exceeds $81 million, with 2,616 holders contributing their funds. The team currently consists of 48 people and plans to double its staff by the end of 2024.
Puffer Finance, a liquid re-staking protocol, raised $18 million in Series A funding led by Brevan Howard Digital and Electric Capital. Other investors include Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Franklin Templeton, Fidelity, Mechanism Capital, Lightspeed Faction, Consensys, Animoca, GSR, Lemniscap, and others. Puffer Finance's co-founder Amir Forouzanani revealed that the project received funding through a SAFT. The token's valuation increased to $200 million. As of writing, Puffer Finance's TVL stands at $1.2 billion, ranking it third among liquid re-staking protocols after Ether.Fi and Renzo. With the new capital, the team plans to launch the mainnet, which will expand validator participation in the Ethereum ecosystem and enhance its decentralization. In January 2023, Binance Ventures invested an undisclosed amount in Puffer Finance.
Centrifuge, a decentralized protocol, raised $15 million in Series A funding led by ParaFi Capital and Greenfield. Other investors include Circle Ventures, IOSG Ventures, Arrington Capital, Spartan Group, Wintermute Ventures, and others. The funds will be used to create a lending market for RWA on Base, Coinbase's L2 network, and to hire additional staff. Centrifuge aims to serve as a bridge between traditional and decentralized finance. In February 2021, Centrifuge raised $4.3 million in a Series A round led by Galaxy Digital and IOSG Ventures.
Uplink, a DePIN platform, raised $10 million in funding led by Framework Ventures. Uplink provides a decentralized network connection for creating more distributed and user-managed infrastructure. Users and companies can earn rewards for contributing to or using the network. Uplink plans to launch a token by the end of 2024.
DEX Thruster, a decentralized exchange (DEX) built on Blast, closed a $7.5 million seed round led by Pantera Capital. Other investors include OKX Ventures, Mirana Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Manifold Ventures, Arche Fund, and others. The project's valuation reached $70 million, according to a representative of the startup under the pseudonym 0xFri. Thruster was launched in March as the first DEX on Blast. As of writing, Thruster's TVL stands at $303 million.
