Avail scores $43m, M^0 secures $35m, Sandbox raises $20m

The week between June 2 and June 8 witnessed an influx of funds into the blockchain space; 21 startups raised a total of $399.7 million from venture capital firms and angel investors.

Data from Crypto Fundraising shows that five startups have raised more than $108 million from series A rounds, while seven other startups have raised a total of $52.6 million from unknown rounds.

Cryptocurrency roundup June 2–8 | Source: Crypto Fundraiser

Additionally, three startups raised $19 million in seed rounds, and one startup raised $10 million in a private round. Here’s a breakdown of the most notable funding rounds:

Avail raises $43 million in series A financing

Avail, known for its data availability network, raised $43 million in a Series A round led by Founders Fund, Dragonfly and Cyber ​​Fund. Other contributors to the round included SevenX, Figment, Nomad Capital, LocalGlobe, Altos Ventures and Chapter One.

The latest funding round follows Avail’s $5 million pre-seed and $27 million seed rounds in March 2023, after it was spun off from Polygon.

Avail reportedly plans to use the funds to develop the fusion layer and fusion security layer, which aims to increase modular blockchain scalability and security.

M^0 raises $35 million in series A round

Another big winner of Series A was the decentralized stablecoin issuance protocol M^0.

The startup, which pronounces its name “M Zero,” raised $35 million in a round led by Bain Capital Crypto, a subsidiary of private equity firm Bain Capital.

The fundraising also included contributions from Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, GSR, Caladan and SCB 10X.

Structured as equity plus tokens, the fund will support the continued development of M^0’s stablecoin ecosystem. So far M^0’s total funding stands at $57.5 million.

The company raised $22.5 million in seed money from Pantera Capital in April 2023.

Sandbox raised $20 million

Metaverse and web3 gaming company The Sandbox raised $20 million from Kingsway Capital and Animoca Brands, bringing its valuation to $1 billion.

According to The Sandbox, the funding will improve its creator economy, expand its decentralized mobile metadata platform, and improve social features, avatar skills, and 3D editing tools on the platform.

Tether invests $18.75 million in XREX Group

Not to be left out of the VC funding race, stablecoin issuer Tether announced an $18.75 million investment in XREX Group, a regulated blockchain financial institution.

We are proud to share this @Tether_to Announced a strategic investment of $18.75 million in XREX Group. This collaboration aims to foster innovation in the digital asset sector, facilitate USDT-based cross-border payments in emerging markets, and innovate regulatory technology. /one pic.twitter.com/c9TtEOYzy4

— XREX Inc. (@xrexinc) June 5, 2024

According to the press release provided by XREX, this move aims to facilitate USDT-based cross-border payments in emerging markets.

It will also launch XAU1, a stablecoin pegged to Tether Gold (XAUt). Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said that the partnership is a development that increases financial inclusion in emerging markets.

Glacier Labs and Mint Blockchain raised $13 million in total

Glacier Labs, a Layer 2 aggregation network, and Mint Blockchain, an Ethereum L2 network for the NFT industry, collectively raised $13 million. Glacier Labs has raised $8 million in seed funding from Foresight X, UOB Venture Management, Laser Digital, KuCoin Ventures, and others.

Mint Blockchain, on the other hand, raised $5 million from Jsquare, SNZ Capital, Antalpha Ventures and others.

The funds will support Glacier Network’s decentralized application (dapp) infrastructure and network expansion of Mint, which currently supports more than 80 applications and has 400,000 active users.

Everclear raises $5 million from Pantera Capital

Another beneficiary of the week’s VC action was Everclear.

The San Francisco-based company, formerly known as Connext, raised $5 million through an over-the-counter (OTC) deal with Pantera Capital.

The funds will develop Everclear’s “clearing layer,” which aims to solve liquidity fragmentation for modular blockchains, according to the company.

Stashh Labs and Halo Wallet raise $6.3 million

Concluding our crypto fundraising activities for the first week of June are Stashh Labs and Halo Wallet, who collectively raised $6.3 million.

Stashh Labs has raised over $3.3 million in funding from investors including Animoca, 6th Man Ventures, Shima Capital, and Hashkey Capital to support the launch of Stashh 2.0.

Halo Wallet has raised $3 million from Cyberport, HashKey Capital, IDG Capital and KuCoin Ventures to accelerate its social monetization mission.

Both companies aim to enhance their platforms with new features and expanded support for multiple blockchain ecosystems.