Several measures of inflation, including the Consumer Price Index and Personal Consumption Expenditures Index, have moderated in recent months, boosting confidence that US cost pressures are moderating and slowly returning to the Federal Reserve's 2% target.
However, macroeconomic conditions are barely affecting the investment strategies of venture firms in the Web3 space. “We believe that when you’re investing in early-stage companies with a long investment horizon, you can’t really let macro dictate your investment pace too much,” Carlos Pereira, partner at BITKRAFT Ventures, told Cointelegraph.
According to Pereira, current economic conditions have less of an impact on seed rounds. Rather, they’re more likely to influence Series A rounds. “In worse markets, it can be a better time to be a later-stage, Series A type investor as it gets “cheaper” to act on incremental validation points, vs. in hotter markets, those businesses may be seen as closer to launching a token, and in turn get more expensive,” he said.
The partner said BITKRAFT Ventures’ crypto strategy is “inch wide, mile deep,” focused on the intersection of Web3 and interactive entertainment. Some of BITKRAFT’s recent investments include “cozy games”—less competitive and hard-core games—and the development of open-source AI models powered by blockchain technology.
This edition of Cointelegraph’s VC Roundup features some of the startups that raised capital in July.
Mira Closes $9M seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures, Framework Ventures
Decentralized infrastructure platform for artificial intelligence Mira has closed a $9 million seed round led by BITKRAFT Ventures and Framework Ventures, with participation from Accel, Crucible, Folius Ventures, Mechanism Capital, SALT Fund, and notable angel investors. Mira offers user-friendly SDKs for navigating AI infrastructure complexity. The funds will be used to expand globally and develop the Mira network and ecosystem applications, including Klok, an AI copilot for crypto. Mira’s API marketplace allows developers to access open-source AI resources and create Mira Flows for usage-based fees, according to the company in a statement.
Astria raises $12.5M in strategic fundraise led by dba, Placeholder VC
Sequencing layer startup Astria has raised $12.5 million in a strategic funding round led by dba and Placeholder VC, with participation from RockawayX and returning investors. The funds will be used to advance the Astria Sequencing Layer and Astria Stack, enabling permissionless rollup deployment without centralized sequencers, the company said in a statement. The round saw contributions from Maven11, 1kx, Figment Capital, Batu, and angel investors.
Astria’s Sequencing Layer offers a decentralized network for transaction ordering across multiple rollups, while the Astria Stack provides tools for deploying Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) rollups. Celestia-based rollup Forma has already launched on the Astria Stack. Since May, more than 42,000 non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been minted or purchased on Forma, according to Astria.
Compute Labs raises $3M pre-seed for tokenized GPUs on Solana
Tokenized real-world asset startup Compute Labs has raised $3 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed funding round led by Protocol Labs, with participation from various investors, including Blockchain Coinvestors, MH Ventures, OKX Ventures, Symbolic Capital, and notable crypto leaders like Sandeep Nailwal of Polygon and Illia Polosukhin of Near Protocol. Incubated by NVIDIA Inception VC Alliance, Compute Labs seeks to tokenize enterprise-grade GPUs onchain and offer open access to compute revenue via a GPU Restaking solution.
The funds will be used to build the core project team and complete the development of their first GPU non-fungible token (GNFT) vaults by mid-July.
BOB raises $1.6M for startups’ incubation
Hybrid layer-2 solution BOB, or “Build on Bitcoin,” has raised additional funds to support its incubator program. According to an announcement, the startup secured $1.6 million in funds in a round led by Ledger Ventures and angel investors, including individuals from BlackRock, Rarible, Ordinals, Aave, Curve, Threshold, Magic Eden, Mechanism, Injective, Vessel Capital, Babylon, and Centrifuge, among others.
The funds will be allocated for a BOB incubator focused on new and innovative startups working on the Bitcoin infrastructure and BOB DApp space. According to the startup, the initiative seeks to bridge the gap between Bitcoin’s global adoption and Ethereum’s innovation powerhouse. In March, BOB closed a $10 million seed funding round led by Castle Island Ventures.
Dora closes $5.5M funding co-led by Dragonfly, Lemniscap
Multichain search engine Dora has closed a $5.5 million early-stage funding round, co-led by Dragonfly Capital and Lemniscap, with participation from Robot Ventures, Ethereal Ventures, Maven11, Arche Capital, and other angel investors. The funds will be used on Dora’s search and cross-chain transaction features and to expand collaborations with blockchain networks. Dora is said to support over 20 chains, including Ethereum and Arbitrum, offering a multichain Block Explorer, APIs for token and NFT data, organized data structures, transaction functionalities, and an embedded wallet.