Bessie Liu

<div id="highlights-block_633b33741106f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>MPCH Labs received $40 million from Liberty City Ventures to build multiparty computation technology</li>
 <li>Uniswap Labs is rumored to be in negotiations with a Singaporean sovereign fund and Polychain to raise a venture capital round of $100 million to $200 million</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Though major cryptocurrencies have traded sideways — and have become increasingly correlated to related venture valuations — a handful of technology-focused digital asset startups have of late taken in a substantial sum of capital from venture capitalists.&nbsp;



Venture studio MPCH Labs last week raised <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/liberty-city-ventures-leads-40m-series-a/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$40 million</a> in its Series A round led by Liberty City Ventures. 



MPCH Labs, meanwhile, is developing multiparty computation (MPC) technology, a cryptographic tool that allows multiple people to evaluate a computation — without revealing personal information.&nbsp;



The fundraise will be used to launch Fraction, a wallet service provider that securely manages digital assets cryptographically, and on a zero-knowledge basis, CEO Miles Parry <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/liberty-city-ventures-leads-40m-series-a/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previously told</a> Blockworks. 



“With Fraction, we bring MPC6 into the crypto space, enabling both traditional and crypto-native institutions to operate securely and in compliance with regulation and risk management,” Parry said.



Interest in backing emerging open-source Web3 projects appears to be holding steady.&nbsp;



In the latest indicator, the startup Smart Token Labs drummed up a $6 million round led by Liang Xinjun, co-founder of Fosun International. The fresh funding has been earmarked for the development and expansion of what the firm calls TokenScript, a programmable smart token interface that aims to bridge Web2 and Web3 technologies via open-source programming.



“[In] the past 12 months, we&#8217;ve gained a lot of momentum in the market with our advanced token gating solution BrandConnector,” CEO Victor Zhang said in a statement. “We&#8217;ll soon be announcing major partnerships with household names in Brand, Loyalty and CRM.&#8221;



In DeFi, the parent company of the largest decentralized crypto exchange, Uniswap, has been <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/uniswap-labs-reportedly-raising-over-100-million-in-new-funding/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">rumored</a> to be in negotiations with a Singaporean sovereign fund and Polychain to raise a massive venture round of $100 million to $200 million.



Uniswap Labs has previously received venture capital money from Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm Venture Capital, Union Square Ventures and similar players. If the negotiations are successful, the fundraise could bring Uniswap Labs&#8217; valuation up to $1 billion.



DeFi reinsurance protocol has also <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/first-blockchain-powered-reinsurer-gets-a-funding-boost/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">secured $14 million</a>. The protocol, built on the Avalanche blockchain, offers accredited investors on-chain insurance policies.



“What we tried to do was mimic a marketplace that has evolved over the course of the last 350 years to something that we think is a stable configuration for current insurance market participants,” CEO Karn Saroya <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/first-blockchain-powered-reinsurer-gets-a-funding-boost/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">previously told</a> Blockworks. 



Other notable funding rounds in the past week include:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>NFT marketplace Minteo raised a $4.3 million seed round from OpenSea Ventures.</li><li>Aikon, a B2B partner building solutions on the Open Rights Exchange (ORE) Network, raised a $10 million Series A led by Morgan Creek Digital.</li><li>An investment firm backed by hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen poured $10 million into Web3 game marketplace AQUA.</li><li>Blockchain infrastructure project Eclipse secured $15 million led by Tribe Capital, Tabiya and Polychain Capital.</li></ul>



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Funding Wrap: Crypto Tech Startups Weather Bear Market Well

<div id="highlights-block_633313094d592" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>MPC technology allows multiple individuals to access the same data without revealing private information</li>
 <li>Other round investors include QCP Capital, Mantis VC and Human Capital</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Technology venture studio MPCH Labs developing multiparty computation (MPC) technology has closed a $40 million Series A led by Liberty City Ventures.&nbsp;



Other investors who participated in the round include QCP Capital, Mantis VC, Human Capital, Global Coin Research, LedgerPrime, Finality Capital, Oak HC FT, Polygon Studios, Quantstamp and Animoca Brands.



CEO <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/miles-parry/?originalSubdomain=uk">Miles Parry</a> and Chief Technology Officer Cat Le-Huy, founders of MPCH, designed their company with the intention for it to be more secure than traditional MPC architecture.



Generally speaking, MPC technology is a cryptographic tool that allows multiple people to evaluate a computation without revealing private information — so no individual can see another party&#8217;s data. The technology is employed by institutional custody providers, such as <a href="https://www.fireblocks.com/what-is-mpc/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Fireblocks</a> and Qredo, as well as <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinbase-to-take-defi-first-approach-with-its-app-and-wallet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wallet dapps from Coinbase</a> and <a href="https://zengo.com/mpc-wallet/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ZenGo</a>.



After noticing how MPC technology was being used in different areas in the crypto industry, Parry and Le-Huy wanted to create an engine that was designed to be more secure than traditional MPC architecture.



“We built MPC6, our iteration of MPC,” Parry said in an interview with Blockworks.&nbsp;



The MPC6 engine was designed to be more secure than traditional MPC architecture — it enables multiple signers, authorizers, approvers and viewers in the same wallet, according to Parry.&nbsp;



“And using that technology, we are launching Fraction, a walleting service provider that securely manages cryptographically, and on zero-knowledge bases, digital assets,” Parry said.



Fraction was designed and beta tested with over 30 different design partners and will be MPCH’s first product, likely to be launched in the next few months.



Although Parry did not disclose the exact number of customers who have expressed interest in the product, he noted that “it was very complimentary to see how many clients have come to us and said we want to use your products.”



The latest $40 million fundraise will allow MPCH to continue scaling their products, Parry said.&nbsp;



“Now we’re launching and developing functions, products and features for our clients,” he said. “We want to make it affordable for the small startup — giving them the same tools as big institutions.”



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Liberty City Ventures Leads $40M Series A for MPCH Labs

Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_627a8bb968baa" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The fund is the largest joint commitment made toward any blockchain ecosystem, according to the company</li>
 <li>The Flow blockchain has more than 7,000 developers </li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Dapper Labs, the Web3 platform powering blockchain-based trading card platform NBA Top Shot, unveiled a $725 million ecosystem fund in a bid to spur community growth.&nbsp;



The fund is the largest joint commitment made toward any blockchain ecosystem, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Participants include venture capital firm a16z, Coatue, CoinFund, Greenfield One, Liberty City Ventures, Digital Currency Group and Union Square Ventures.



&#8220;As [Web3] accelerates and sophisticated app developers search for the best platforms, Flow is perhaps the best decentralized blockchain built for the scale, security, and ease of use most modern startups need to succeed,&#8221; CoinFund Managing Partner David Pakman said in a statement.&nbsp;



The fund will offer existing and future developers support to build applications on Flow blockchain through investments and FLOW token grants. It will focus on support for gaming, infrastructure, decentralized finance, content and creators, and the capital may also be used for team expansion, user acquisition and general operating expenses.&nbsp;



A spokesperson for the company did not immediately return a request for comment.&nbsp;



Originally developed by Dapper Labs, Flow is a blockchain built for consumers that has had daily transactions triple since September 2021, according to the company.



Flow has more than 7,000 developers building on the blockchain. The protocol has roughly 1,000 active projects and 175,000 monthly active users. The Web3 platform powers <a href="https://nbatopshot.com/?c=BS_HP&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwmuiTBhDoARIsAPiv6L-FFjSIRpXDXLPG42G8C9B1eDZzbN5KHBcYDl_wgMVfAhiAYc7uxJgaAs_HEALw_wcB&amp;gclsrc=aw.ds" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NBA Top Shot</a>, which allows users to own, sell and trade NFTs of NBA and WNBA plays and players, as well as <a href="https://nflallday.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">NFL All Day</a>, which offers licensed NFL video NFTs (non-fungible tokens).



FLOW has a market capitalization of roughly $1.5 billion, according to Blockworks data. The price was up 8.2% to trade at $3.999 in the last 24 hours as of midday Tuesday.&nbsp;



Dapper Labs <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/dapper-labs-closes-250m-round-bit2me-ico-raises-23-4m/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">closed a $250 million round</a> in September, which the company said would be used to support additional brand-driven sports-, entertainment- and music-based products. Coatue and a16z had invested then, as well.



The investment is the latest in a string of digital asset investments for a16z, which recently launched <a href="https://a16z.com/2022/04/21/announcing-a16z-crypto-research/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a crypto research lab</a>. The firm was <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/what-does-binances-investment-in-twitter-mean-for-the-social-networks-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">one of 18 investors</a> backing Elon Musk’s $44 billion bid to purchase Twitter, pledging $400 million. It also <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/a16z-leads-25m-raise-for-nft-focused-cocreate-protocol/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">led a $25 million seed round</a> to fund the launch of the NFT-focused Co:Create protocol.



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Flow Raises $725M To Fund Blockchain’s Growth

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61e71031b0e14" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“We have set ourselves the ambitious goals of building an open Web3 and facilitating an open metaverse that expands financial inclusion,” Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands said in a statement</li>
 <li>The company is an active investor in over 150 NFT and metaverse-related companies, including OpenSea, Dapper Labs, Yield Guild Games, Star Atlas, Axie Infinity, Thetan Arena, and others</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



The Sandbox parent company Animoca Brands has raised $358,888,888, to build out the open metaverse and enable individual digital ownership, the company <a href="https://www.animocabrands.com/animoca-brands-raises-usd358888888-at-usd5b-valuation-to-grow-the-open-metaverse" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> on Tuesday.&nbsp;



This funding round gives it a pre-money valuation of over $5 billion, the company said. The money will be used to continue funding strategic acquisitions and investments, as well as product development and licenses for intellectual properties.



The round was led by Liberty City Ventures and included other investors like <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/10t-holdings-plans-to-launch-third-crypto-fund/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">10T Holdings</a>, C Ventures, ParaFi Capital, Sequoia China, Stable Asset Management, Soros Fund Management and Winklevoss Capital, among others.



In 2021, Animoca Brands raised $216.28 million to build out the open metaverse by bringing digital property rights to online users through the use of blockchain and NFTs and The Sandbox closed a funding round for <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-sandbox-raises-93m-in-round-led-by-softbank/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$93 million</a> in November 2021, the company said.



“We have set ourselves the ambitious goals of building an open Web3 and facilitating an open metaverse that expands financial inclusion,” Yat Siu, co-founder and executive chairman of Animoca Brands said in a statement.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">While there was tremendous growth in this space last year, “we believe we are still at the initial stages of a new Internet revolution, and there are tremendous opportunities ahead of us in 2022 and beyond,” Siu said.&nbsp;</blockquote>



The company is an active investor in over 150 NFT and metaverse-related companies, including OpenSea, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/dapper-labs-backer-animoca-scores-85m-to-further-invest-in-the-metaverse/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dapper Labs</a>, Yield Guild Games, Star Atlas, Axie Infinity, Thetan Arena, and others.&nbsp;



Most recently, Animoca Brands participated in Metaplex Foundation’s <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/metaplex-foundation-closes-46m-funding-round/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$46 million</a> funding round on Tuesday and separately led an <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/animoca-brands-led-8m-series-a-for-burnt-finance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$8 million Series A</a> for Burnt Finance on Monday, a new NFT auction protocol built on Solana’s blockchain, Blockworks previously reported.&nbsp;



“These technologies enable the true digital ownership of users’ virtual assets and data, and make possible various DeFi and GameFi opportunities,” the company wrote. Through elements like play-to-earn, asset interoperability and open frameworks, there can be greater equitability for all participants in the space, Animoca Brands noted.&nbsp;



The precise valuation of Animoca Brands, based on share price and shares on issue prior to the capital raise, is $5.4 billion, or A$7.6B, at current exchange rates. The raise included a subscription price of $3.23, or A$4.50, per share for a total of 111,173,515 new shares.&nbsp;



The company was not available for additional comment requested by Blockworks on Tuesday.



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