Solverse, a Solana-focused accelerator program, has tapped 21 subject matter experts to advise on up-and-coming Solana projects, setting the stage for further development of the high-performance blockchain network. Representatives from 21 companies were selected to join the Solverse mentorship program. The mentors themselves come from diverse backgrounds, including global investment banking, blockchain infrastructure and media. Representatives from Alameda Research, Axia8 Ventures, Bitscale, Lemniscape and many others will make up the mentorship panel. The infrastructure provided by Solana will bring De-Fi capacity and sophistication to the next level,” said Wayne Lin, founder of Axia8 Ventures. “Our goal with Solverse is to …

Pontem Network, a decentralized application that seeks to connect Facebook’s Diem to public blockchains like Ethereum, has raised $4.5 million in seed investments, setting the stage for continued development of the ambitious digital currency project. The Pontem Network is described as a Polkadot Substrate-based chain, which means it can serve as a testnet for Facebook’s Diem blockchain. By utilizing a Polkadot parachain, Pontem can introduce developers to Diem’s potential, allowing them to validate their ideas before submitting them to the Diem Association. Pontem co-founder Stas Oskin said his platform’s vision is to “allow developers to build for Diem and at …

Cryptology Asset Group, a Malta-based investment outfit co-founded by serial entrepreneurs Mike Novogratz and Christian Angermayer, is set to offer support for crypto VC firms. In a release issued on Thursday, the European holding company announced plans to float a $100-million investment into first-time crypto funds. As part of the announcement, the investment outfit revealed that it will adopt an entrepreneurial approach in building its crypto fund portfolio with a focus on emerging managers and GP seeding. Cryptology already has a significant footprint in the crypto and blockchain space with investments in the likes of crypto asset manager Iconic Funds …

Polygon ecosystem is getting a major funding boost thanks to a new joint venture fund with blockchain venture capitalist AU21 Capital, setting the stage for wider adoption of the Ethereum-compatible infrastructure platform. The $21 million Polygon Ecosystem Fund announced Wednesday is designed to provide direct funding support for promising projects building on top of Polygon. The fund will offer business development and marketing support, as well as human capital incentives. Receiving support from AU21 is a source of strength from Polygon, given the venture capital firm’s track record in supporting highly successful projects, including The Graph, Casper Labs and Elrond, …

The capital raise was led by Blockchain Capital, Fintech Collective, LongHash Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, Continue Capital and Kain Warwick, the founder of DeFi protocol Synthetix. The funds will be used to strengthen Balancer’s role as a core infrastructure provider of the DeFi market. “By allowing for the most flexible and composable liquidity pools in the AMM space, the Balancer Protocol is uniquely positioned as a core infrastructure component for decentralized finance protocols and applications,” said Aleks Larsen, an investor with Blockchain Capital. He added: “We see this aspect of the technology in Balancer as a strong long-term indicator, as protocols …

Talos, an up-and-coming institutional technology provider for cryptocurrency trading, has secured $40 million in Series A funding from some of the biggest venture capitalists in the digital asset market. The raise, which was led by Andreessen Horowitz, also had participation from PayPal Ventures, Fidelity Investments, Galaxy Digital, Elefund, Illuminate Financial and Steadfast Capital Ventures. Talos said the Series A funding will help bootstrap the expansion of its institutional trading platform. The company provides fund managers and other institutions with liquidity sourcing, direct market access, and clearing and settlement services. Its clients include buy-side institutions and financial service providers such as …

DeversiFi, an Ethereum-based layer-two decentralized finance platform, has secured $5 million in strategic investments from some of crypto’s biggest venture capital firms, sending a strong signal that demand for DeFi opportunities remains strong. DeversiFi intends to make DeFi trading more accessible, allowing users to invest, trade and send tokens without having to pay gas fees. The platform announced its DVF governance token on March 25 with a fixed supply of 100 million. The decentralized exchange relaunched as DeversiFi 2.0 in June 2020, incorporating the Starkware kSTARK layer-two scaling technology. Will Harborne, DeversiFi’s co-founder, described the importance of layer-two scaling for …

A crypto project says its goal is democratizing a type of investment that has been “in the hands of the rich for far too long.” Nodeseeds says it tokenizes private sales and seed rounds — allowing enthusiasts to gain exposure to promising startups at all stages of their evolution if they have an appetite for risk. The project’s founders hope to tackle some of the biggest problems that exist in public sales at present. Those interested in getting involved often need to complete Know Your Customer checks on platforms they may be unfamiliar with, and their contributions can be capped. …

Delphi Digital — a multiservice cryptocurrency investment, consulting and research firm — announced on Friday the launch of "Delphi InfinNFT," a new investment wing focused on nonfungible tokens and the NFT ecosystem. Per a post on Twitter, the fund will invest upward of $5 million into “NFT marketplaces, DAOs, social tokens, fractionalization, NFT infrastructure, and any other new developments that may arise during the syndicate's investment cycle,” and the team will be bolstered by noted NFT collector “Gmoney.” 0/ Our team is thrilled to announce the launch of the world's first on-chain NFT fund on @SyndicateDAO called "Delphi INFINFT" run …

While it’s encouraging to see that the number of female crypto investors is on the rise, women participation within the blockchain technology sector remains low. This was recently confirmed in a report from the World Economic Forum, which found that the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed back gender parity by an entire generation. Vesselina Ratcheva, new economy and society lead for the World Economic Forum, further told Cointelegraph that women indeed remain a minority in the blockchain industry. Funding of women-led blockchain projects Fortunately, a number of new funding initiatives are being offered to drive female participation within the blockchain sector. …

Hashdex, the Rio de Janeiro-based crypto asset manager with over 4 billion Brazilian real ($765 million) in assets under management, has raised $26 million in a new funding round from investors. According to Bloomberg on Wednesday, venture capital firm Valor Capital Group led the funding round with participation from Coinbase Ventures — the VC arm of American exchange giant Coinbase — and SoftBank. The $26-million capital influx comes as Hashdex is set to pursue its expansion outside Brazil. Indeed, the company is reportedly planning to open as many as 75 new locations across the world before the end of the …

Babel Finance, a Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency financial services provider, has secured $40 million in venture capital financing to expand its offerings to more institutional clients. The Series A investment round was led by Zoo Capital, Sequoia Capital China, Dragonfly Capital, BAI Capital and Bertelsmann, and Tiger Global Management, the company announced Monday. Venture capital and private equity funds from North America, Asia and Europe participated in the raise. Flex Yang, CEO of Babel Finance, said the investment round will aid the company in meeting growing institutional demand for crypto assets: “The alliance with our new investors from traditional finance is …