Financing Weekly Report | 13 public financing events, decentralized AI infrastructure developer Gaia Labs completed $20 million in financing, led by ByteTrade and others

Highlights of this Issue

According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 13 investment and financing events in the global blockchain last week (July 21-July 27); the total scale of funds exceeded US$143 million; in addition, the total amount of financing for listed companies' crypto asset reserves exceeded US$887 million, as summarized below:

• DeFi announced 1 investment and financing event, and DEX and tokenization platform Syntetika completed a $2.5 million seed round of financing;
• Web3 Games track announced 1 investment and financing event, among which Web3 fantasy football game Football.Fun completed a $2 million financing;
• Web3+AI track announced 4 investment and financing events, among which a16z led Invested in the $15 million seed round of AI decentralized data layer project Poseidon;
• Infrastructure & Tools field announced 4 investment and financing events, among which South Korean blockchain infrastructure provider DSRV completed approximately $11.6 million in the first round of B financing;
• Other Applications announced 2 investment and financing events, among which crypto mining company Bitzero received $25 million in financing;
• Centralized Finance field announced 1 investment and financing event, European investment application Lightyear completed $23 million in financing and plans to launch its own crypto product

DeFi

DEX and tokenization platform Syntetika completes $2.5 million seed round

Digital asset investment company Hilbert Group AB (Nasdaq: HILB B) announced that its tokenization platform and decentralized exchange Syntetika has completed a $2.5 million seed round. This round of financing attracted the participation of more than 35 angel investors and venture capital institutions, including Hilbert Group Chief Investment Officer Russell Thompson and former Aave and Allez Labs co-founder and venture capitalist Alex Berto.

Syntetika aims to simplify the issuance, trading and management of various on-chain assets for individuals and institutions. The platform's first product will launch a tokenized version of Hilbert Group's Bitcoin income strategy, enabling investors to earn additional income from their Bitcoin holdings.

Web3 Games

Web3 game studio Delabs Games has completed $5.2 million in new financing, and has raised a total of $17.2 million

Web3 game studio Delabs Games has raised a total of $17.2 million to date, including the latest round of $5.2 million in financing. This round of financing was combined with the Series A financing led by Hashed, TON Ventures and Kilo Fund with additional support from strategic investors. This new financing will promote the continued development of AI-enabled Web3 games through the AI game creation platform Verse8 and support the launch of Delabs Games' upcoming games. Delabs' latest game, Boxing Star X, has nearly 2 million users worldwide and recently climbed to No. 7 in DappRadar's overall game rankings, surpassing games like Axie Infinity. The next major game, Ragnarok Libre, has already surpassed 100,000 pre-registrations before its release.

AI

Gaia Labs Completes $20 Million in Funding and Will Launch the First AI-native Smartphone

Gaia Labs, a decentralized AI infrastructure developer, announced the completion of a total of $20 million in seed and Series A funding. This round of financing was led by ByteTrade/SIG Capital (Susquehanna) and Mirana/Mantle Eco Fund, with participation from EVM Capital, Taisu Ventures, NGC Ventures and other institutions. Gaia Labs currently supports more than 700,000 active nodes, with a cumulative inference count of more than 17 trillion times, and the network covers thousands of App-Chain domains and blockchain ecosystems. The new round of funds will be used to launch decentralized AI smartphones, expand node capacity, improve development toolkits and promote Web3 integration. Gaia Labs plans to release a limited number of smartphones equipped with local AI inference capabilities this year. The Gaia AI Phone is based on the Galaxy S25 Edge hardware and can run decentralized AI inference locally without relying on the cloud or data extraction, enabling users to fully control the agent.

a16z leads $15 million seed round for Poseidon, promoting the development of decentralized data layer for AI

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a well-known venture capital firm, has led a $15 million seed round for Poseidon, a decentralized data layer project for AI. Poseidon is built on Story Protocol and aims to unlock high-quality training data for the "next generation of physical AI." It is reported that Poseidon was incubated by the Story team and is committed to solving the problem of obtaining high-quality, available and legally authorized training data in the field of AI. Chris Dixon, founder of a16z Crypto, said that Poseidon's decentralized data layer will establish a new economic foundation for the Internet, incentivizing creators and suppliers to provide diverse data inputs for the next generation of intelligent systems. The project will provide AI developers with IP-safe, legal and compliant access to training data through the Story Protocol's programmable intellectual property layer and immutable registry.

Chain AI agent orchestration layer Questflow completes $6.5 million seed round, led by CyberFund

Chain AI multi-agent economy orchestration layer Questflow announced the completion of a $6.5 million seed round led by CyberFund. Other investors participating in this round include Web3.com Ventures, Delphi Labs, Systemic Ventures, Eden Block, White Star Capital, Animoca Brands, HashKey Capital, Wagmi Ventures, ElizaOS, Tezos Foundation and CatcherVC, as well as funding from Aptos, Coinbase Developer Platform and Virtuals Protocol.

Questflow is the orchestration layer for the multi-agent economy. It orchestrates multiple AI agents to take autonomous actions and earn rewards on-chain. The Multi-Agent Orchestration Protocol (MAOP) developed by the company supports automated task execution across Web2 and Web3 applications and provides on-chain payment capabilities for AI agents. The protocol has been working with companies such as Google and Coinbase and was previously selected for the Google for Startups program.

Data Guardians Network Completes $5 Million Pre-Seed Financing

The decentralized dataset platform Data Guardians Network (D-GN) recently completed a $5 million Pre-Seed round of financing. This round of financing was led by droppGroup, Saudi businessman Hamoud Al-Rumayyan and Hub Culture. The company plans to use the funds to expand contributor operations in the Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia, expand multimodal cutting-edge datasets (including speech, lip synchronization and human emotion mapping), and deepen integration with open source and enterprise-level AI frameworks. D-GN provides compliant, traceable and human-centric AI training data to enterprises and model developers through stablecoin rewards, blockchain transparency and decentralized governance.

Infrastructure & Tools

DSRV, a South Korean blockchain infrastructure provider, has completed its first round of financing of approximately $11.6 million in Series B

According to Edaily, DSRV, a South Korean blockchain infrastructure provider, has completed its first round of financing of approximately 16 billion won (approximately $11.6 million) in Series B. This round of investment was participated by major Korean investment institutions such as Intervest and NH-SK Securities, and a second round of financing with the participation of multiple financial institutions is expected to be carried out at the end of next month.

According to reports, DSRV provides infrastructure for more than 70 blockchain networks around the world and manages more than 4 trillion won in digital assets. Last year, DSRV's annual sales reached approximately 10.7 billion won, and its net profit for the period was 3 billion won. The company plans to increase sales in new business areas such as stablecoins and custody, and officially promote global market expansion including the United States, Japan, Africa and other regions.

Web3 domain name registrar Freename completes $6.5 million in Series A financing

Swiss Web3 domain name registrar Freename has completed a $6.5 million Series A financing, led by Entrée Capital and followed by Polymorphic Capital. Its seed round investors Sparkle Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund and Golden Record Ventures also participated in the round. In addition, there are new angel investors, including Target Global co-founder Mike Lobanov, Rashwan Family Office and former Coinbase Custody CEO Aaron Schnarch.

The company focuses on bridging traditional DNS and blockchain domain name systems. Freename's core technologies include a cross-chain domain name conflict management system that supports multi-chain domain name resolution such as Polygon and Solana, while maintaining compatibility with traditional browsers. Its innovative solution allows users to create custom top-level domain names and profit from second-level domain name sales. The funds will be used for product development and global market expansion.

AI-driven governance protocol Quack AI completes $3.6 million in financing, with Animoca Brands and others participating

Quack AI, an AI-driven governance protocol, announced the completion of $3.6 million in financing, with support from Animoca Brands, 071labs, Skyland Ventures, Kenetic, Scaling Labs, Carv, Merlin Chain and other strategic investors. According to reports, Quack AI is a decentralized governance protocol that uses autonomous AI agents to read, analyze, and execute DAO proposals across multiple blockchains. Quack AI was originally built on DuckChain and now supports the governance of ecosystems such as BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Optimism.

071labs makes strategic investment in Bitcoin scaling project Nubit

071labs announced a strategic investment in Nubit, a core infrastructure project for Bitcoin scaling. Nubit is committed to improving the scalability, usability, and openness of the Bitcoin ecosystem, and as a core contributor, it has developed Thunderbolt, Bitcoin's native soft fork. Thunderbolt has greatly improved Bitcoin's transaction throughput through key technologies such as UTXO bundling and OP_CAT, and has achieved native support for on-chain applications such as smart contracts, asset issuance, and DeFi. As of July 2025, the Thunderbolt mainnet transaction volume has exceeded 4 million, with more than 5,000 daily active users.

Others

Crypto Mining:

Crypto Mining Company Bitzero Receives $25 Million in Financing, the First Batch of Funds Will Be Used to Purchase 2,900 Bitmain S21 Pro Miners

Bitzero, a crypto mining company backed by Kevin O’Leary, recently received $25 million in financing, which it plans to use to expand its mining operations. The company said the first batch of funds will be used to purchase 2,900 Bitmain S21 Pro mining machines, which are expected to be deployed within four to six months, bringing the company about $10 million in new revenue each year. At the same time, Bitzero is committed to using hydropower and low-carbon energy to promote the sustainable development of its data centers in North America and Europe. Mohammed Bakhashwain, president and CEO of the company, said that this financing will accelerate the deployment of leading mining technology and further consolidate Bitzero's leading position in the field of sustainable and profitable data centers.

Soluna Holdings completes $20 million financing to advance the Kati Green Data Center Project in Texas

Soluna Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed company that develops green data centers for intensive computing applications such as Bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence, announced the completion of a new round of financing of $20 million, with Spring Lane Capital participating. The new funds will be used to expand the Kati Green Data Center project in Texas and further expand its Bitcoin custody business. The project is scheduled to start construction in the third quarter of 2025 and achieve initial power supply and business start-up in the first quarter of 2026.

Crypto asset reserves: (Not included in this issue of the financing weekly report statistics)

Listed company Windtree announced that it has obtained $520 million in new financing to expand its BNB funding strategy

Biotechnology company Windtree Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: WINT) announced that it has signed a common stock purchase agreement worth up to $500 million to establish an equity line of credit ("ELOC") and strengthen its BNB cryptocurrency funding strategy. The company has also signed an additional $20 million share purchase agreement with Build and Build Corp. 99% of the funds raised by ELOC and Build and Build Corp will be used to acquire BNB cryptocurrency.

British AI company Satsuma Technology raises $135 million to build a Bitcoin vault

British artificial intelligence company Satsuma Technology announced the successful financing of $135 million to build one of the largest Bitcoin vaults in the UK. The company said that all the committed funds are expected to be received within the next two weeks. This financing is expected to make Satsuma the second largest corporate Bitcoin holder in the UK, second only to The Smarter Web Company. At the same time, this may also become the largest single Bitcoin purchase record by a British company. Satsuma completed this financing through convertible bonds, aiming to accelerate business growth and promote the deep integration of Bitcoin and artificial intelligence.

Canadian listed company Matador received $100 million in financing to accelerate its Bitcoin reserves

Canadian listed company Matador Technologies Inc. (Toronto Stock Exchange Code: MATA) announced that it has received $100 million in financing to accelerate its Bitcoin reserve construction. The first $10.5 million has been delivered, and all funds will be invested in Bitcoin purchases. The company plans to hold 1,000 Bitcoins by 2026 and 6,000 by 2027, and aims to hold 1% of the world's Bitcoins for a long time.

Satsuma (formerly Tao Alpha) raises over 100 million pounds to promote AI and Bitcoin layout

The listed company Satsuma (formerly Tao Alpha) announced the completion of over 100 million pounds of convertible bond fundraising and opened the third round of financing, with the minimum subscription threshold reduced to 100,000 US dollars, which is expected to end on July 28. The funds will be used to expand the business and promote the construction of Bitcoin and decentralized AI infrastructure. CEO Henry Elder has officially joined the board of directors as executive director.

Listed company Mega Matrix completes $16 million in private placement financing and officially enters the stablecoin field

Mega Matrix Inc. (NYSE American: MPU) announced that it has completed $16 million in private placement financing, providing a solid capital foundation for its strategic entry into the stablecoin field. The investors in this private placement are mainly crypto funds and industry professionals, showing the market's high recognition and confidence in the company's expansion strategy. The company plans to use the financing funds mainly to build a stablecoin asset allocation system and on-chain income mechanism, and will focus on developing corporate treasury strategies based on stablecoins and governance tokens. At present, Mega Matrix has negotiated with many leading global stablecoin issuers and will start the configuration of mainstream stablecoins and governance tokens.

Hilbert Group and LDA Capital reached a 150 million Swedish kronor financing agreement to support Bitcoin funding strategy

Sweden's Hilbert Group and LDA Capital have signed a 150 million Swedish kronor (approximately US$15.8 million) structured financing agreement to support its Bitcoin funding strategy. The ATM-style financing tool allows Hilbert Group to flexibly withdraw funds over the next 36 months to purchase more Bitcoin.

Centralized Finance

European investment application Lightyear has completed $23 million in financing and plans to launch its own encryption products

European investment application Lightyear announced the completion of a new round of financing of $23 million, led by NordicNinja and followed by Markus Villig, co-founder of the taxi giant Bolt. Other investors include Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, former Checkout.com CTO Ott Kaukver and other Estonian technology professionals. According to people familiar with the matter, after this round of financing, Lightyear's valuation reached $200 million to $300 million, a significant increase from the financing in 2022.

Lightyear was founded in 2021 by former Wise employees Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer. Its application provides commission-free trading services for more than 5,000 stocks, ETFs and money market funds worldwide, and currently covers 25 countries. The company is committed to building a "European version of Robinhood" and plans to launch its own cryptocurrency products within two months.

Archax acquires German digital asset company DDA to expand its European crypto ETP layout

British digital asset exchange Archax will acquire German regulated crypto asset management company Deutsche Digital Assets (DDA) to strengthen its business layout in major European financial markets such as the UK, Germany and France. DDA currently manages approximately $70 million in assets and focuses on distributing crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) through European banks and asset management institutions. The acquisition will bring Archax new licenses such as portfolio management and investment consulting under the supervision of Germany's BaFin, enabling it to better serve EU institutional clients.

(Not included in this issue's financing weekly statistics)