NEAR Protocol raised $350 M, Sky Mavis and its effort after being hacked

Overview of the 10 biggest investment deals in the past week with basic information and development goals of the projects.

Overview of investment & funding activities in W14/2022

In the TOP 10 most famous investments & sponsorship deals in the past week, we have:

• 3 projects about gaming, gaming guild: Community Gaming, GOALS, Polemos.
• 2 projects about blockchain/L2: The HBAR Foundation, NEAR Protocol.
• 1 project about asset management: Moneybox.
• 1 project about metaverse: Improbable.
• 1 enterprise: Sky Mavis.

Enterprises and companies fundraising in W14/2022

The HBAR Foundation and its $250 M Metaverse Fund

What is The HBAR Foundation?

The HBAR Foundation is the organization of the Hedera Hashgraph blockchain. This is the organization that launches funds, incentives and grants for projects built on Hedera's ecosystem. Currently, there are 19 grant packages for HBAR-sponsored projects. Over the past week, the HBAR Foundation has announced a massive $250 M Metaverse Fund.

Purpose of the Metaverse Fund: This Metaverse Fund is worth $250 M in the form of HBAR tokens. This Venture Fund package targets B2C or B2B2C projects on Hedera's blockchain. This fund will focus on pouring capital into the Web3 ecosystem, collectibles, sports, and Metaverse around the Hedera ecosystem. Last week, the HBAR Foundation also launched a $155 M Crypto Economy Fund package exclusively for Hedera Hashgraph.

Sky Mavis Raised $150 M

What is Sky Mavis?

Sky Mavis is known in the world as the father of the game Axie Infinity, the largest and fastest unicorn in Vietnam. Sky Mavis is a startup that applies blockchain technology to games (gamefi) with its first and most successful game, Axie Infinity.

In the last week, the whole world has been buzzing with the biggest hack in the blockchain market. A total of more than $600 M was stolen from Ronin Network (the blockchain of Sky Mavis). However, major funds in the world have supported Sky Mavis with a capital of $ 150 M, announced in the past week.

Famous Venture Capitals participating in the funding round:

• Binance: Biggest CEX in the world, run by Changpeng Zhao (CZ). Binance is the leading investor in this round.
• a16z: An investment fund founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, based in Silicon Valley, California. a16z focuses on investing in technology startups, and the fund is also a well-known market maker.
• Animoca Brands: The leading investor  in the blockchain gaming market. As a publisher for big blockchain games such as REVV Racing, The Sandbox. Animoca Brands also regularly pours large capital into blockchain entertainment startups.

Goals after the funding round: Sky Mavis will use the money to audit and upgrade the security of the Ronin bridge and to refund victims of the $622 M hack. Also, the fund will be used to upgrade Ronin Network’s system.

Projects that already have Tokens

Projects that already have Tokens and still receive additional investments proves that they have new products, new segments, and need more money to develop. This news will greatly affect the nature and price of the tokens, so please refer to it for more investment perspectives.

NEAR Protocol (NEAR) raised $350 M

What is NEAR Protocol?

NEAR is a decentralized application platform that is secure enough to manage high-value assets like money or identity and performant enough to make them useful for everyone, putting the power of the Open Web in their hands. In the last week, NEAR has announced a big investment round, worth around $350 M.

Famous Venture Capitals participating in the funding round:

• Tiger Global Management: An American investing company, mainly focusing on internet technology, software, consumer and financial industries.
• FTX Ventures: The investment arm of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

Goals after the funding round: The funds will be used to introduce the NEAR blockchain to more regions of the world. Currently, NEAR has a strong community in Asia, Africa and Europe. NEAR will bring its products to Latin America, Turkey and India. This round of funding sent the price of NEAR to $20. Recently, there has been a rumor that NEAR is about to launch a stablecoin called USN, with a staking interest of up to 20%, similar to Terra's Anchor Protocol.

Hivemapper (HONEY) raised $18 M in a Series A round

What is Hivemapper (HONEY)?

The Hivemapper Network is building the world's first blockchain-based global map. You can mine HONEY tokens from Hivemapper when purchasing their dashcam, while contributing to the decentralized global map. Hivemapper Dashcam automatically transfers data and collected imagery to the Hivemapper Network via its app. Hivemapper has raised $18 M in the last week.

Famous Venture Capitals participate in the funding round:

• Multicoin Capital: An investment fund based on “investment thesis” that specializes in investing in the crypto market in the form of investing in project tokens and shares in blockchain companies.
• Solana Ventures: The venture capital arm of the Solana blockchain.

Goals after the funding round:  The capital will be used to prepare for the upcoming Hivemapper mainnet launch. At the same time, it aims to attract more dashcam buyers, creating a complete and decentralized map for the community.

Projects without tokens

Projects that do not have Tokens and are invested in may be able to develop and build their basic foundations.

For the project itself, the supporters in this phase are very meaningful to them, so the list below may not help you in investing, but it helps in choosing potential projects to learn about. You can look for opportunities such as participating in Testnet, IDO,...

Binance.US raised $200 M seed round

What is Binance.US?

Binance.US is the US affiliate of the world's largest exchange Binance. Binance.US is specifically built for US residents. Binance.US will have different elements from the original Binance, affected by laws in the US. Over the past week, Binance.US successfully raised a seed round of $200 M, at a pre-money valuation of $4.5 B.

Famous Venture Capitals participating in the funding round:

• RRE Ventures: An American Venture Capital firm based in New York City. The firm primarily invests in seed, series A and series B rounds and focuses on companies operating in the software, internet, communications, aerospace, robotics, 3D printing and financial services sectors.
• Foundation Capital: A venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley. The firm was founded in 1995, and in 2012 managed more than $2.4 billion in investment capital.

Goals after the funding round: The capital will be used for Binance.US to develop and launch new products in the future. In addition, the capital also helps Binance.US regain its position in the US market.

Improbable raised $150 M 

What is Improbable?

Improbable is a British technology company founded in 2012. Improbable is currently building a metaverse network with a capacity of over 10,000 people without lagging. Improbable has its own technology called Morpheus and M², which mostly contribute to the metaverse sector.

Famous Venture Capitals participating in the funding round:

• a16z: An investment fund founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, based in Silicon Valley, California. a16z focuses on investing in technology startups, and the fund is also a well-known market maker.
• SoftBank: A Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company, and focuses on investment management. They primarily invest in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. They also run the Vision Fund, the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund.

Goals after the funding round:The capital will be used to establish and develop M² (MSquared), a network of interoperable Web3 metaverses powered by its Morpheus technology. The M² network will combine Improbable Morpheus technology with new services designed to support interoperability, commerce in digital assets and governance in Web3.

Moneybox raised $46 M in Series D

What is Moneybox?

Moneybox is an online asset management platform via mobile app. Moneybox's products are diverse, including investment advice, common stocks, ISA shares, fund certificates, loan advice, mortgages, etc. Over the past week, Moneybox has successfully called for $46 M in a Series D round.

Famous Venture Capitals participating in the funding round:

• Fidelity International Strategic Ventures: A global investment firm based in London, UK. This is a venture capital firm with more than 16 funding rounds around the world. The total value of money invested for other projects is around $175 M, and the combined asset value is around $20 B.
• Polar Capital: A boutique, investment-led asset manager. Based in England since 2000, this is a long-standing company and invests in a wide range of products from all over the world. This company also has its own stocks called POLR.

Goals after the funding round: The company will use the capital to launch its first financial planning services, add a broader range of ETFs, and introduce crypto investing. 

Community Gaming raised $16 M in Series A 

What is Community Gaming?

Community Gaming is a platform which facilitates esports tournament prize payouts in cryptocurrency. Community Gaming hosts tournaments for a variety of games, from traditional games like Apex Legends to blockchain gaming like Axie Infinity. Community Gaming has been attracting a lot of professional gamers around the world because of the attractive rewarding format.

Famous Venture Capitals participate in the funding round:

• SoftBank: A Japanese multinational conglomerate holding company, and focuses on investment management. They primarily invest in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the Vision Fund, the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund.
• Animoca Brands: The leading investor  in the blockchain gaming market. As a publisher for big blockchain games on blockchain such as REVV Racing, The Sandbox. Animoca Brands also regularly pours large capital into blockchain entertainment startups.

Goals after the funding round: The funds will be used to prepare for many upcoming Community Gaming plans. In the near future, there will be launches of new products, helping players earn daily passive income through more sources than just competitions.

GOALS raised $15 M seed round

What is GOALS?

GOALS is a blockchain game. This is a traditional football game, similar to FIFA. GOALS is a place where players can own players, shirts, shoes,... Besides, GOALS is also a free-to-play game, with the new play-to-own mechanism.

Famous Venture Capitals and KOLs participating in the funding round:

• Northzone: A venture capital fund, investing in many fields and mainly at seed stages, Series A, B. The fund has had more than 175 times of funding, successfully raising more than $1.7B for the Fund. This is also a backer of the world's largest online music platform-Spotify. 
• Gérald Piqué: He is a World-class football player, currently playing for Barcelona club as a defender. He has won many major prizes in football such as Champions League, World Cup or Euro.
• Nicolas Julia: CEO of Sorare, an NFT trading card soccer game.

Goals after the funding round: The capital will be used for GOALS to continue building the infrastructure for its game. GOALS is still deciding between building on Polygon, StarkWare or Solana.

Polemos raised $14 M seed round 

What is Polemos?

Polemos is an online gaming platform on blockchain. In other words, Polemos is a Gaming Guild in the form of a DAO, gathering many gamers around the world in a single community. Currently, Polemos has cooperated with many games on its platform, such as Fancy Birds, Galaxy Fight Club, Legends of Venari. In the past week, Polemos has raised $14 M in funding.

Famous Venture Capitals participating in the funding round:

• Delphi Ventures: A new branch of Delphi Digital. They focus on developing projects together, analyzing data and interviewing key personnel, providing long-term financial and intellectual capital for promising projects in the Crypto sector.
• GoldenTree Asset Management: An American asset management firm founded in 2000. The firm has its headquarters in New York City and offices in Dublin, London, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and West Palm Beach.

Goals after the funding round: The funds will be used to expand Polemos' staff, invest in technology for Polemos. And also help Polemos to collaborate with more games.

Conclusion

This is the end of the TOP 10 most outstanding investment deals in the past week. Hopefully, through this article, you will have an overview of the projects that have raised capital during the week.

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