Fresh off the launch of its $25 million venture fund, OP Crypto Capital Management Ltd. seeks to play a more active role in the lifecycle of blockchain startups ranging from gaming to Web 3.0. Former Huobi executive turned founder David Gan spoke with Cointelegraph about the transition from his former company, the growth potential of crypto niches and the role his fund will play in bootstrapping the next generation of crypto startups. Seamless transition After more than three years at Huobi Ventures and Huobi Labs, Gan transitioned to his new role seamlessly, he said. One of the primary motivations for …

African cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card has concluded a $15 million Series A financing round led by some of blockchain’s biggest venture funds, underscoring the growth potential of digital assets on the continent. The fundraiser, which was described as the largest ever by any African cryptocurrency exchange, will enable Yellow Card to scale its operations across Africa and onboard new talent, the company announced Monday. The Series A came roughly one year after Yellow Card successfully raised $1.5 million from various investors. The investment round was led by Valar Ventures, Third Price and Castle Island Ventures with additional participation from Square, …

Blockchain infrastructure developer Blockdaemon has secured its status as a crypto unicorn after concluding a $155 million Series B fundraiser, putting the company on track to expand its operational footprint in a significant way. With Series B now closed, Blockdaemon’s valuation has swelled to $1.255 billion, the company announced this week. To date, the company has raised just under $190 million, with the latest funding round led by the Softbank Vision Fund 2. Additional investors included Goldman Sachs, Kraken Ventures, Morgan Creek Digital, CoinFund, Matrix Capital Management and Sapphire Ventures. Konstantin Richter, Blockdaemon’s founder and CEO, said the capital injection …

Digital asset manager Cobo has raised $40 million to advance institutional pathways to decentralized finance products, offering compelling evidence that more Asia-Pacific investors are seeking secure access to the DeFi market. The Series B financing will be used by Cobo to develop the first DeFi-as-a-service, or DaaS, infrastructure, which allows institutions and their customers to access decentralized finance products in a compliant manner, the company announced Wednesday. Specifically, the capital will be deployed to acquire regulatory licenses and ensure that anti-money laundering guidelines are followed on all products. Cobo further explained that DaaS gives institutions more secure exposure to DeFi …

Solana ecosystem project Orca has concluded an $18 million Series A investment round led by some of the biggest venture funds in crypto, offering further evidence that high-profile investors are keen to back SOL-based startups. Orca, which operates as a decentralized exchange, will use the funds to continue developing its automated market maker solutions for Solana, the company announced Wednesday. The raise comes less than eight months after the project was launched by a two-member team consisting of Yutaro Mori and Grace Kwan. In addition to Three Arrows Capital, Polychain, Placeholder and Coinbase Ventures, Series A participants included Jump Capital, …

With venture capital funding seemingly prioritizing emerging technology, the blockchain industry experiences a significant influx of capital from corporate backers. According to the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2021 published on Wednesday, blockchain-based businesses account for 10% of startups worldwide. The figure is part of a more significant trend that has seen emerging technology become a fast-growing sub-sector in terms of early-stage funding. The report divides startups into growing, matured and declining sub-sectors. Unsurprisingly, blockchain technology is in the first group, where the average growth rate is 107%, along with agriculture technology (agtech) and new food, advanced manufacturing and robotics, artificial …

Blockchain intelligence platform Metrika has concluded a $14 million Series A fundraiser to bootstrap the next phase of its growth strategy, further underscoring the venture capital demand for budding blockchain startups. Metrika announced Tuesday that the funding will be used to further develop its blockchain intelligence platform, which provides monitoring and analytics for decentralized networks, as well as to expand its user base. The investment round was led by Neotribe Ventures with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Samsung NEXT, Nyca Partners and others. Combined with its $3.7 million seed round, Metrika has successfully raised $17.7 million to date. Although Metrika has …

On Thursday Avalanche’s (AVAX) price hit a new all-time high at $68.89, and over the last few months, the project has risen to challenge the Ethereum network’s dominance among smart contract platforms. According to the project’s website, the layer-one protocol is capable of surpassing 4,500 transactions per second (TPS) with a time to finality of less than 2 seconds. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $32.10 on Sept. 7, the price of AVAX has rallied 111% to establish a new all-time high on S as its 24-hour trading volume spiked 200% to …

Altcoins continue to book notable gains on Sept. 16 as a slew of celebrity endorsements, major investments and the growing popularity of cross-chain bridges catch investors' attention. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24 hours were Audius (AUDIO), Avalanche (AVAX) and Celer Network (CELR). Superstars invest in Audius The Audius platform is a decentralized music-sharing and streaming protocol that aims to cut out the middleman from the music industry and allow fans, subscribers and creators to interact with each other directly. According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, market conditions for …

The Avalanche Foundation has announced a significant $230M investment from a venture capital group spearheaded by Polychain and Three Arrows Capital for the purpose of supporting the growth of the DeFi ecosystem and their ever-expanding list of applications that utilize the blockchain. Since launching in September 2020, Avalanche has cultivated a burgeoning influence on the DeFi landscape, with its smart contracts platform now providing the infrastructure for over 270 industry projects including SushiSwap, Chainlink, Circle, and The Graph, among others. The $230M capital — raised through the private sale of its native token — will be allocated by the foundation …

Cryptocurrency trading platform Abra has raised $55 million in funding to bootstrap the next phase of its growth strategy, bringing several high-profile investors on board from both inside and outside the blockchain industry. Abra will use funds from the Series C investment to grow its product offerings in wealth management, trading and payments, as well as expand its in-house capacity, the company announced Wednesday. Amex Ventures, a venture capital arm of American Express, was among the contributors alongside Blockchain Capital, Ignia, Kingsway Capital and Stellar Development Foundation. Abra has now raised over $85 million since its inception. Bill Barhydt, Abra's …

Decentralized exchange dTrade has raised $22.8 million for a market-making fund designed to provide the ecosystem with higher liquidity, potentially setting the stage for wider DeFi adoption on Polkadot once the DEX launches later this year. The funds will enable dTrade to launch with “deep liquidity” backed by some of crypto’s largest market makers, the company announced Tuesday. Specifically, the capital will be used to facilitate on-chain loans to market makers that provide order book liquidity on dTrade. Community members will also have the opportunity to participate in the on-chain program once dTrade launches, which is expected soon after Polkadot …