What are the most noteworthy project financings and early-stage opportunities this summer?

Original title: The Best Fundraising Rounds of the Summer

Original author: Stacy Muur, crypto researcher

Original translation: TechFlow

Morpho Labs | Lending

Financing Summary

· Total amount raised: $69.35 million

· Latest round of financing: Undisclosed, $50 million

· Investors: Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, Fenbushi Capital, a16z, Ribbit Capital, etc.

Introduction

Morpho is considered the most important phenomenon in the DeFi space this year, with a current total locked value (TVL) of over $1.5 billion. It ranks as the 5th largest lending protocol on DefiLlama so far.

Morpho is a decentralized, non-custodial lending protocol that allows the creation of immutable and efficient lending markets in a permissionless manner. Think of it as a secure marketplace for lending products, active on Ethereum and Base networks.

Early Bird Opportunity

To receive future $MORPHO tokens, you must participate in the protocol as a supplier or borrower. You can enter Morpho's estimated fully diluted market capitalization (FDV) in the interface to calculate the additional annualized yield (APY) you will receive after the token goes live. As a result, many lending pairs on Morpho have positive APRs.

Website | dApp | X | Documentation | Fundraising Announcement | CryptoRank Profile

MegaETH | L2

Financing Summary

· Total amount raised: $20 million

· Latest round of financing: Seed round, $20 million

· Investors: Dragonfly Capital, Vitalik Buterin, Joseph Lubin, Robot Ventures, etc.

Introduction

MegaETH claims to be the first "real-time blockchain" with full Ethereum compatibility. In this context, "real-time" means that MegaETH processes transactions as soon as they arrive and publishes updates instantly.

The concept of MegaETH stems from the limitations of most EVM-compatible blockchains, which can typically only handle 3-digit transactions per second (TPS). In contrast, MegaETH aims to reach 100,000 TPS.

To achieve this real-time performance, MegaETH leverages the security of Ethereum, Optimism's fault proof system, and its own optimized sequencer.

Early Bird Opportunities

There are currently no events for early participants. However, the project is recruiting developers to build, so the launch of the testnet may be coming soon. Stay tuned.

Website | X | CryptoRank Information

Sentient | AI

Financing Summary

· Total amount raised: $85 million

· Latest round of financing: Seed round, $85 million

· Investors: Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, Framework Ventures, Robot Ventures, Delphi Ventures, etc.

About

Sentient is a foundation focused on developing an open general artificial intelligence (AGI) platform.

It provides a blockchain protocol for AI product contracts and transactions, a community-built AI innovation library, and incentives for AI developers. The foundation supports AI projects through community contributions and aims to align AI progress with collaborative efforts.

Early Bird Opportunity

The platform is not yet live and the status is coming soon. However, you can join the waitlist and become one of the early users to get access.

Website | X | Financing Announcement |CryptoRank Information

Daylight Energy | DePIN

Financing Summary

· Total amount raised: $13.2 million

· Latest round of financing: Series A financing, $900 10,000

· Investors: a16z, Framework Ventures, Digital Currency Group, etc.

Introduction

Daylight is a DePIN protocol focused on energy distribution. It uses the Base blockchain to integrate energy devices through its application and rewards users for using green energy.

Daylight provides solar panels, battery storage, heat pumps, and weatherization services from local professionals, and is currently available in Texas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

Essentially, it connects consumers with green energy suppliers and will incentivize their cooperation once the token goes live.

Early Bird Opportunity

The Daylight Protocol testnet is live! If the Daylight app is available in your country (unfortunately, it’s not available where I am), you can connect your distributed energy devices to the app and start earning rewards.

Website | App |X | Funding Announcement | CryptoRank Profile

Particle Network | Infrastructure

Funding Summary

· Total Amount Raised: $25M

· Latest round of financing: Series A, $15 million

· Investors: Spartan, Hashkey Capital, Morningstar Ventures, Animoca Ventures, etc.

Introduction

Particle Network is a modular chain abstraction infrastructure that provides a seamless experience of "one account, one balance, any chain".

As an L1 solution, Particle Network unifies all chains through universal accounts, solving the problem of user and liquidity fragmentation in Web3. Through this system, users can maintain one account and balance across the entire ecosystem, eliminating the need for manual bridging or managing assets across multiple chains.

Early Bird Opportunity

The Particle Network mainnet is scheduled to go live in Q3 2024. In the meantime, users can test its chain abstraction capabilities through Particle Pioneer, their testing and community project.

The testnet has already attracted widespread participation, with more than 1.3 million general accounts registered and more than 114 million transactions.

Website | X | Financing Announcement| CryptoRank Information

aPriori | Liquid Staking and MEV

Financing Summary

· Total amount raised: $10 million

· Latest round of financing: Seed round, $8 million

· Investors: Pantera Capital, Hashed, Arrington Capital, Consensys, OKX Ventures, Binance Labs, etc.

Introduction

aPriori is a Monad-based MEV-driven liquid staking platform that repurchases MEV and redistributes the proceeds to the protocol and ecosystem. It develops transaction-centric infrastructure to enhance Monad's throughput and user experience.

Early Bird Opportunity

aPriori products are not yet online and there is no early bird program at present. However, the testnet is expected to be launched shortly after the latest funding announcement, so it is a good idea to keep an eye on it.

Website | ori#funding-rounds" target="">CryptoRank information

Pi Squared｜Infrastructure

Financing Summary

· Total amount raised: $12.5 million

· Latest round of financing: Seed round, $12.5 million

· Investors: Polychain Capital, Robot Ventures, Samsung Next, ABCDE, etc.

Introduction

Pi Squared (Proof of Proof) provides trustless remote computing, AI, and interoperable smart contracts for any blockchain or dApp.

They are developing Pi Squared's universal settlement layer, which ensures end-to-end correctness of general-purpose computing while adhering to typical blockchain constraints and minimizing the trust base.

The foundation supports next-generation L2 and application chains, multi-chain bridging, cross-chain DeFi, distributed computing, and more.

Early Bird Opportunity

Like aPriori, there are currently no incentives or early bird programs available. However, the project has great potential and is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

Website | X | Financing Announcement | CryptoRank Profile

Other Notable Protocols

OpenLedger | AI

Raised $8 million in a seed round, with investors including Hashkey Global, Polychain Capital, etc.

Mezo | BitcoinFi

Raised $7.5M in strategic funding round from GSR, Flow Traders, ArkStream Capital, etc.

NPC Labs | NFT RWA

Raised $18M in seed round from Pantera Capital, Hashkey Capital, Tirana Ventures, etc.

Mountain Protocol | CDP

Raised $8M in Series A round from Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Borderless Capital, etc.

M^0 | RWA

Raised $35M in Series A round from Galaxy Ventures, GSR, Wintermute, etc.

How to Conduct Deep Dive Research (DYOR)?

For this research, I used funding data from Messari. However, there are many other tools that can help analyze funding data and identify new opportunities.

Here is a list of tools I found useful:

Messari

DefiLlama

CryptoRank

Crypto Fundraising

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