This Issue's Highlights
According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 11 funding and investment events in the global blockchain space last week (March 16–22), with a total funding volume exceeding $1.086 billion, as summarized below:
- The DeFi sector announced one investment and financing event: Ironlight Group announced the completion of a $21 million Series A round.
- Three investment and financing events in AI and Web3 have been announced, with Gency AI completing a new $20 million funding round, with investors including TikTok;
- In the infrastructure and tools sector, one investment event was announced: Web3 API platform Uniblock raised $5.2 million, with participation from SBI and others.
- The centralized finance sector announced two investment and financing events, including stablecoin cross-border payment platform TransFi raising $19.2 million.
- Two funding events were announced in the prediction markets sector, with the prediction market platform Kalshi completing a new round of financing exceeding $1 billion, reaching a valuation of $22 billion;
- Two other Web3+AI funding events were announced, with Republic securing a new round of funding from Hamilton Lane, bringing its total funding to $202 million.
DeFi
Ironlight raises $21 million to expand its compliant tokenized securities infrastructure
Fintech company Ironlight Group, focused on tokenized securities infrastructure, has announced the completion of a $21 million Series A funding round. The financing involved several Wall Street and financial services executives, including former TD Bank President and CEO Greg Braca, as well as institutional investors such as the Sei Development Foundation and Laidlaw Private Equity. The funds will be used to expand Ironlight Markets, its alternative trading system (ATS) regulated by SEC Regulation ATS and FINRA, and Ironlight Technologies, its platform for issuing, distributing, and settling tokenized securities. Ironlight currently supports tokenization and on-chain atomic settlement for assets including private equity, structured products, fixed income, private credit, and real estate.
AI
Gency AI raises $20 million to build a decentralized advertising network
AI and blockchain infrastructure company Gency AI has announced the completion of a $20 million new funding round, with investors including TikTok, HF0, XYZ, Streamlined Ventures, Hat-Trick Capital, Arksteam, MH Ventures, ViaBTC, and Basics Capital. The company will use the funds to expand its decentralized ad execution and settlement network, enhance its privacy-preserving computing stack, and accelerate product deployment and ecosystem partnerships in North America, Asia, and Europe. Gency AI enables automated, transparent settlement of ad impressions, conversion outcomes, and revenue distribution through on-chain verifiable credentials and smart contracts, addressing key challenges such as lengthy ad settlement cycles and opaque attribution and data ownership.
Derivio raises $6 million to power its intelligent agent trading platform
The AI-native trading platform Derivio has announced the completion of a $6 million funding round, with investors including YZiLabs, CMT Digital, Big Brain VC, Signum Capital, UOB Venture Management, Everstake Capital, and Proximity. Derivio plans to build infrastructure around "agentic trading," leveraging AI agents to process high-speed, large-scale market and on-chain data to enable more automated strategy execution and trading decisions.
Web3 intelligent asset OS platform OptiView completes strategic funding
The Web3 intelligent asset OS platform OptiView has announced the completion of a new funding round, led by Honey Capital, LandScape Capital, and Super Labs. At its core, the project features a proprietary sovereign AI agent and has served over 100,000 users with daily active users ranging from 5,000 to 7,000. CEO Sammy stated: "The AI engine is set to be fully deployed, empowering users to transition from passive holding to autonomous intelligent wealth management."
Infrastructure & Tools
Web3 API platform Uniblock raises $5.2 million in funding, with SBI and others participating.
The Web3 API platform Uniblock has raised $5.2 million, with participation from SBI, AllianceDAO, BFF, NGC, and others. Uniblock previously raised $2.3 million in November 2023, with participation from Cadenza and others.
Capital B, TOBAM, and UTXO Management jointly complete a €3 million funding round.
French public companies Capital B, TOBAM, and UTXO Management jointly completed a €3 million financing round and adjusted the conversion prices of TOBAM’s convertible bonds A-03, A-04, and A-05 to accelerate the implementation of its Bitcoin treasury strategy. This transaction is expected to enable the company to acquire an additional ~36 BTC.
Centralized Finance
Dtcpay, a Singapore-based stablecoin payment infrastructure company, has announced the completion of a $10 million Series A round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India. The company has obtained a Luxembourg electronic money institution license to expand regulated payment services across the European Economic Area. Dtcpay builds stablecoin payment infrastructure for businesses and consumers and has partnered with Visa to launch cards that connect digital and traditional finance. Its platform enables real-time settlement between stablecoins and fiat currencies.
Stablecoin cross-border payment platform TransFi completes a $19.2 million funding round.
The stablecoin cross-border payment platform TransFi has completed a $19.2 million funding round, comprising $14.2 million in Series A equity financing and $5 million in committed liquidity financing. The round was led by Turing Financial Group, a strategic investor in digital payments and financial infrastructure. TransFi leverages stablecoins as a settlement rail to provide an alternative to traditional correspondent banking and SWIFT systems for emerging markets, supporting over 40 fiat currencies and 100 digital assets, integrating more than 250 local payment methods, and operating in over 70 countries with more than 100 global clients and 2 million end users. The new funds will be used to expand into Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa, deepen regulatory licensing efforts, and grow its liquidity network.
Prediction markets
Predictive market platform Kalshi has completed a new funding round exceeding $1 billion, reaching a $22 billion valuation—double its $11 billion valuation in December last year. According to sources familiar with the matter, the round was led by Coatue Management, and Kalshi’s current annualized revenue stands at $1.5 billion.
Kalshi was founded in 2018 and saw a surge in popularity in 2024 after a court permitted it to offer election trading. The company operates as a financial exchange regulated by the CFTC and is authorized to conduct business nationwide under federal rules. In February, its trading volume surpassed $10 billion, a twelvefold increase from six months earlier. Despite recent criminal lawsuits and regulatory disputes brought by states such as Arizona, investors remain enthusiastic about the rapidly growing market.
The prediction market platform Myriad has announced the completion of its seed funding round, with the specific amount undisclosed. Investors in this round include MoonPay Ventures, Auros, EVG, Verda Ventures, Side Door Ventures, Wave Financial, Walrus, and OFR, among others. Individual investors include Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat, NFT collector Blondish, and Luca Netz, CEO of Pudgy Penguins.
This funding announcement follows the launch of Myriad Season 3, during which the platform migrated event contracts to BNB Chain. Simultaneously, the platform’s liquidity model has been upgraded from an automated market maker to a central limit order book, introducing new features such as slippage control, limit orders, and dynamic fees.
Others
According to an official announcement from Republic, Hamilton Lane has announced a strategic investment in the on-chain investment platform Republic, strengthening collaboration between the two parties in tokenizing private markets and enhancing retail investor access. Republic has raised a total of approximately $202 million in funding. This includes a $150 million Series B round completed in October 2021, with investors including CoinFund, Tribe Capital, and Galaxy Interactive; and approximately $11 million raised through an ICO public sale between July and August 2020, with tokens priced at $0.12 and locked until the end of Q3 2020.
Robinhood Ventures invested approximately $14.6 million in Stripe.
According to The Block, Robinhood Ventures Fund I, traded on the NYSE under Robinhood, announced an investment of approximately $14.6 million to purchase Class B common shares of Stripe and $20 million to acquire Series D preferred shares of the AI audio company ElevenLabs. The fund aims to provide retail investors with exposure to private companies and currently holds positions in Revolut, which offers cryptocurrency trading services, as well as Airwallex, Boom, Databricks, and Ramp. The report notes that Stripe operates the stablecoin platform Bridge, and Robinhood’s management stated it will continue to invest in cutting-edge fintech and artificial intelligence companies.