Follow the Money: $160M Venture Deals, $500M Solana-Reserve & Blockchain Services Take Center Stage

Capital floods crypto's next frontier—blockchain infrastructure just scored its biggest validation yet.

Venture Arms Race Heats Up

$160 million in fresh venture deals signals institutional confidence isn't just back—it's aggressive. Funding rounds are closing faster than traders can say 'bull market,' with VCs placing bets that infrastructure will eat finance.

Solana's Half-Billion Dollar Power Move

A $500 million reserve initiative anchors Solana's ecosystem against volatility—because nothing says 'we're here to stay' like stacking half a billion in treasury assets. The move positions SOL not just as a token, but as a reserve asset challenging traditional finance's playbook.

Services Over Speculation

Builders are pivoting from pure speculation to blockchain-as-a-service solutions. Real utility finally gets its moment—turns out businesses prefer saving millions on settlement costs over meme coin rallies.

Wall Street's watching while retail sleeps on the shift. The smart money isn't chasing pumps—it's building pipes. And frankly, if banks don't adapt faster, they'll just become expensive legacy APIs wrapped in marble.

Classic venture capital

During this period, 14 projects received funding from venture capital firms, which raised a total of almost $160 million, while 3 more startups did not disclose the amount of investment. In particular:

• $30 million — Brale. The stackablecoin startup platform raised the funds in a funding round led by private investor Lightspeed with participation from NEA, Refract, Foundation Capital and others. Brale is solving the technical and operational challenges associated with issuing stablecoins. Funds will be used to support global regulatory activities as well as expand operations.

• $22 million — Kredete. An African fintech startup that helps migrants build credit histories and access financial services using stablecoins has closed a Series A round. It was led by AfricInvest through Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund and Financial Inclusion Vehicle, with Partech and Polymorphic Capital also participating. The company will use the funds to expand into Canada, the UK and key markets in Europe, develop its lending infrastructure and launch Africa’s first stablecoin credit card.

• $20 million — Stablecore. Financial platform Stablecore received investment to support banks and credit unions in the US in integrating digital asset-based products. The round was led by Norwest, and participants include Coinbase Ventures, Curql, BankTech Ventures, Bank of Utah, EJF Ventures and Bankers Helping Bankers Fund. The raised capital will be used to expand the company’s customer base among more than 8,000 local and regional banks and credit unions in the U.S. and to grow the team to support them.

• $19 million – GRVT. The decentralized exchange specializing in blockchain financial privacy and using zero-knowledge technology has closed a Series A funding round. It was co-led by ZKsync, Further Ventures, EigenCloud and 500 Global. The company will use the raised funds to develop infrastructure, integrate real-world assets (RWAs) and launch innovative products for active traders and passive investors.

• $17 million — T-Rex. The entertainment-focused blockchain has raised funding and created a fund to convert online content postings into user rewards for interactions on YouTube, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter) platforms. Investors include Portal Ventures, North Island Ventures, Framework Ventures, Arbitrum Gaming Ventures, ArkStream Capital, Mindfulness Capital, Hypersphere, SNZ and Arche Fund.

• $11 million — Synthesys. The RWA startup has raised funding from private investor Mark Pui. The funds will be used to scale infrastructure to build the next generation of capital markets based on tokenized securities. Synthesys is developing three key products – Network, One and Zodiac – that together form an interconnected infrastructure to integrate traditional financial institutions into the tokenized economy.

• $10 million — Mavryk. L1-net has raised a strategic investment from MultiBank Group to expand its plans to tokenize RWA assets in the real world. The investors will back a real estate tokenization project worth over $10 billion in the UAE through MultiBank’s platform.

• $8 million — Openverse. The company, which develops Web3 infrastructure for the internet and RWAs, closed a strategic Series B funding round with participation from Bright Capital, KC International, Innovation Engine, Go2Mars, Becker Ventures, Gaea Ventures and other investors.

• $7 million — Titan. Solana-based cryptocurrency trading platform, closed a seed round of funding led by Galaxy Ventures with participation from Frictionless, Mirana, Ergonia, Auros, Susquehanna and several business angels. The funds will be used to develop infrastructure and scale the platform.

• $6.9 million — Bio Protocol. A project that combines artificial intelligence and blockchain to advance the decentralized science industry (DeSci) announced the closing of a funding round. It was led by Maelstrom Fund with participation from Mechanism Capital, Animoca Brands, Presto Labs and other funds. The funds are being used to develop a platform and AI software for science, integrating features such as onchain prediction markets, credit markets and agent communication.

• $4 million — Senpi. Senpi, a startup working on a non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet with integrated AI agents for autonomous onchain asset management, announced that it has raised funds in a seed round led by Lemniscap and Coinbase Ventures. The project aims to transform familiar wallets from asset repositories into so-called intelligent financial agents.

• $2.4 million — Oumla. The Saudi fintech startup specializing in digital asset infrastructure closed a seed round of funding led by Core Vision with participation from Avalanche and a group of private investors. The company will use the raised funds to expand its team and strengthen partnerships with regulators, banks and government agencies in Saudi Arabia.

• $1.24 million — Hodli. Italian AI and fintech project, closed a private funding round. The company aims to become a leading asset manager in Europe, as well as obtain a European MiCA license.

• $1.2 million — Epoch Protocol. The startup raised funding for a solution that simplifies the use of Web3. The round was backed by L2 Iterative, Alphemy Capital, G20 Group, LongHash VC and Safe, as well as private investors.

Several other projects raised funding but did not disclose the specific amount of money received.

The Sonic SVM project presented an update to the ACM protocol, which “turns attention into a programmable tradable asset class,” and also announced a fundraising. The company will use the institutional capital raised to build the ACM platform as a new LAYER of economic infrastructure.

The Beezie platform completed a strategic funding round led by Moonrock Capital.

Real asset tokenization startup FinChain received strategic investment from Sonic Labs to launch tokenized assets on the Sonic platform.

Token Sales

Only one project tokenization took place this week:

• $1.42 million — Superform. The non-custodial DeFi revenue marketplace aggregator raised the funding in a tokensale on the Echodot platform. The funds are being used to launch Superform v2, the first stackablecoin neobank.

A separate section of our website contains information about active and planned tokensales. In addition, the team maintains a special Telegram channel where key thematic updates are promptly published.

Corporate placements and deals

This week, several institutions announced that they raised capital through issuance of securities or other financial instruments:

• $500 million — Helius. The firm unveiled a treasury strategy with a focus on Solana. The company plans to use more than $500 million raised in a private placement of public equity to build reserves. As part of the deal, investors will be offered common stock or pre-funded warrants priced at $6.88 with a three-year term. If the warrants are fully exercised, the total financing will exceed $750 million.

• $145 million — Winfeng Financial. The company said it raised the funds through an equity issuance. Part of the capital will be used to launch a virtual asset trading service and virtual asset investment management service. Winfeng Financial aims to create a Web3 financial services ecosystem by combining traditional finance with blockchain technology.

• $100 million — Soluna. The bitcoin computing and mining data center developer has received a line of credit from Generate Capital to refinance and build active data center projects.

• $68.85 million — Capital B. The European company raised the funding in a private placement. The new capital will increase bitcoin reserves, strengthen the balance sheet, and solidify the first cryptocurrency as a long-term reserve asset.

• $3 million — GrainChain. Bed Bath & Beyond announced an additional investment in convertible bonds in GrainChain, an agritech company. Using blockchain and smart contracts GrainChain connects producers, warehouse operators, buyers and financiers across the supply chain.

Acquisitions and mergers

Crypto investment group Keyrock, which specializes in marketmaking, announced the acquisition of alternative investment fund manager Turing Capital for $27.8 million.

Chiliz Group has acquired a 51% controlling stake in a cybersports organization, OG Esports. The company is investing in growing the team, scaling operations and increasing engagement with fans and players.

Crypto platform MoonPay announced the purchase of fintech company Meso, which combines traditional finance with cryptocurrency infrastructure. MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright called the deal a “game changer” for the company, as it opens up the opportunity to combine key elements of the payment infrastructure to form a single global network.

Gas pedals, grants and DAO funding

Mastercard announced that five new companies have joined Start Path, a program aimed at developing startups in the field of blockchain and digital assets. The startups in question are Plume Network, Borderless, Nominis, Keyrails, and Nomyx. The program launched in 2023 and supports promising projects shaping the future of digital finance through trusted blockchain solutions.

Top investors

Counterparties such as Mirana Ventures, Mastercard, Auros Global, Animoca Brands, Alphemy Capital were the most active investors from September 13-20.

What is in the center of investors’ attention?

Over the week, the largest funding was attracted by projects focused on blockchain services and infrastructure. Startups in sectors such as CeFi, DeFi, NFT, and other areas also received capital.

Recall that between September 6 and September 13, crypto projects received funding totaling more than $5.04 billion.

Follow the materials on Incrypted to keep abreast of new investments in the development of the digital world.

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