DeFi development firm Neon Labs has concluded a $40 million private token sale as part of its ongoing efforts to create an Ethereum-compatible environment on Solana, underscoring heightened investor demand for scalability and liquidity solutions in the rapidly growing decentralized finance market. The private sale of NEON tokens was led by Jump Capital, a Chicago-based venture firm, with additional participation from Shu Zu’s Three Arrows Capital, Solana Capital, Rockaway Blockchain Fund, Ethereal Ventures and CoLab Ventures, among others. Over 60 angels and ecosystem partners participated in the token sale, the company confirmed. Proceeds from the sale will go towards Neon …

Blockchain platform Telos raised $8 million in funding led by ConsenSys and Polygon investor John Lilic. The funding was secured right before the launch of Telos’ Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) platform, ending the company’s ongoing streak of bootstrapped initiatives. Telos aims to redirect the recently secured capital on the platform’s development and marketing in addition to improving the liquidity of the ecosystem “without needing to resort to TLOS token sales in the event of a prolonged bear market over the next year.” According to Telos chief architect Douglas Horn: “While this [bootstrapping] preserved our identity as an egalitarian, self-governing community, …

Some of blockchain’s biggest venture firms have spearheaded a new investment fund dedicated to Web 3 gaming, also known as GameFi, potentially opening the door to a highly lucrative industry that sees cryptocurrency and blockchain merging with the traditional gaming sector. On Friday, Solana Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and derivatives exchange FTX announced the launch of a $100 million GameFi ecosystem fund. The funds will be used to invest in gaming studios, technology companies and other projects “at the intersection of blockchain and gaming,” the companies said. Lightspeed Venture Partners executive Amy Wu described gaming as a massive opportunity to …

While the Ethereum blockchain has the community advantage, the competition with Solana is heating up thanks to the rise of blockchain-based play-to-earn games, which is now simply called GameFi. Founded by Scopely and Glu Mobile veterans, game developer and publisher Faraway announced that the studio has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and major crypto exchange FTX. Along with the $8-million seed round, Faraway now has $30 million in total funding from renowned crypto ecosystem investors a16z, Sequoia Capital, Pantera Capital, Jump Capital and Solana. The company is developing its flagship title, …

Blockchain gaming platform Enjin is establishing a new fund to support the development of the metaverse ecosystem and make it more decentralized. Enjin, a startup behind the nonfungible token (NFT)-focused blockchain Efinity, has formed a $100 million fund to support Efinity adopters as well as other related projects, the startup announced Thursday. “It is now time for us to turn this into an official, public, and conscious piece of our growth strategy, and support a free, open, and decentralized Metaverse,” Enjin said, adding that it will consider equity investments in seed funding rounds and token purchases to nurture the ecosystem. …

The blockchain gaming ecosystem has seen explosive growth over the course of 2021 as nonfungible tokens (NFT) and the play-to-earn gaming model helped create new income opportunities for people around the world while also ushering in a new cohort of users to the cryptocurrency sector. One project involved in gaming and the building of the Metaverse is The Sandbox (SAND), a blockchain-based virtual world where users to create, build, buy and sell digital assets in the form of a game. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.70 on Oct. 27, the price …

Global cryptocurrency and financial platform AscendEX recently concluded a $50 million Series B fundraiser that was backed by some of blockchain’s biggest venture funds, putting the company on track to bridge the gap between centralized finance and the budding world of DeFi. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, AscendEX’s head of business development Shane Molidor and Wes Kaplan, the platform’s director of marketing and operations, talked about the company’s growing value proposition beyond the crypto exchange business and highlighted the role of institutional investors in fueling innovation in the industry. Venture capital forges strategic partnerships AscendEX’s Series B was led …

Blockchain-focused investment firm Sanctor Capital has raised $20 million to fund emerging projects in the cryptocurrency space, offering the latest evidence that venture capital continues to flood the market. The investment fund will be used to bootstrap projects in some of crypto’s hottest segments, including DeFi, GameFi and cross-chain infrastructure development, Sanctor announced Tuesday. In addition to funding early-stage companies, Sanctor will also provide guidance to blockchain founders on how to launch and scale their products. DeFi, which stands for decentralized finance, has become one of crypto’s most valuable industries with over $245 billion in total value locked. GameFi, meanwhile, …

The metaverse continues to be the next attraction point of crypto for investors, with The Sandbox, an Animoca Brands subsidiary and nonfungible token (NFT) metaverse platform, raising fresh capital in a funding round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. Marking SoftBank Vision Fund 2’s first investment into the crypto assets, The Sandbox’s Series B round saw $93 million raised with the participation of Animoca Brands, True Global Ventures, Galaxy Interactive, SCB 10X, Polygon Studios and Samsung Next, among others. According to the announcement, The Sandbox aims to speed up the growth of its open metaverse with games, live performances and …

The Avalanche Foundation has unveiled “Blizzard” — a fund offering more than $200 million in incentives to developers who build on the Avalanche network. The fund will provide liquidity to those early-stage projects that innovate decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and other products on Avalanche. Avalanche is a Proof-of-Stake network that launched in September 2020. The network boasts Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatibility, allowing developers to port decentralized applications over from Ethereum. The network now boasts more than 320 projects that are currently building on it, including top stablecoin issuer Tether, popular DEX SushiSwap, and oracle providers Chainlink and …

Nonfungible token, or NFT, investment firm Sfermion have announced a secondary funding raise of $100 million — appropriately titled Fund II — from a number of established cryptocurrency investors including British billionaire Alan Howard, American entrepreneur Chris Dixon, Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and venture capital firm Digital Currency Group, amongst others. Whereas predecessor Fund I focused solely on NFT investment opportunities, seven-figure Fund II will be utilized to “accelerate the emergence of an open, decentralized metaverse” through strategic investments. Founded in 2019 by Andrew Steinwold, Sfermion are intent on identifying and investing in emerging projects, technologies and individuals …

Two blockchain entrepreneurs have launched a new cryptocurrency fund designed to bootstrap promising Web 3 startups, sending a strong signal that venture capital is eyeing the next builders of the decentralized internet. On Friday, Kevin Chou and Mahesh Vellanki unveiled SuperLayer, a crypto venture studio building Web 3 projects directly on the Rally network, a crypto-social platform that lets creators and artists launch their own digital currency. The venture studio will launch projects in-house before recruiting product managers to further develop the business. Notably, SuperLayer has received backing from big-name investors, including Marc Andreessen of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, …