Finishing: Luan Peng, RootData
According to incomplete statistics from RootData, from August 11 to August 17, 2025, a total of 21 public investment and financing events occurred in the blockchain and crypto industries, with a cumulative financing of approximately US$2.295 billion.
From the perspective of track distribution, the projects that have received financing are mainly distributed in infrastructure and CeFi tracks. Popular projects include crypto payment infrastructure company Mesh, Seattle-based game studio Neon Machine, GPU-collateralized stablecoin protocol USD. AI, HoneyCoin, a Kenyan Web3 payment platform.
In addition, Web3 payment infrastructure company Transak announced the completion of a new $16 million funding round, co-led by IDG Capital and Tether, with participation from Primal Capital, 1 kx, Protein Capital and Fuel Ventures.
(List of projects that raised more than $5 million in financing last week, data source: Rootdata)
1. Infrastructure
DeFi intelligent broker platform Almanak completed $8.45 million in financing, with participation from Delphi Labs and others
DeFi intelligent brokerage platform Almanak completed $8.45 million in financing, with participation from Delphi Labs, HashKey Capital, BanklessVC, NEAR Foundation, RockawayX, Matrix Partners, AppWorks, Sparkle VC, Shima Capital, and others.
Almanak aims to create and deploy automated financial strategies through financial agents. Unlike traditional DeFi automation, which follows static rules, Almanak is building a framework to analyze market patterns and manage risks through AI-assisted decision-making.
Decentralized AI development protocol RICE AI completed Series A financing, led by FLOKI
RICE AI, a decentralized AI development protocol, completed Series A financing, led by FLOKI, with participation from DWF Labs, TokenFi (community presale), Vibe Labs, and others.
RICE AI focuses on the development of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) robots, powered by the RICE token. It aims to address the bottleneck of scarcity of robotic AI data by collecting and training robotic foundation models (RFMs) at scale through crowdsourcing mechanisms.
DeAgentAI received strategic financing from Momentum
DeAgentAI, a decentralized AI infrastructure project, announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing, invested by Sui ecosystem leader DEX Momentum.
The two parties will carry out in-depth cooperation on AI Infra construction, ecological collaboration and scenario implementation, and continue to promote the large-scale application of AI Agent in the Sui ecosystem.
It is reported that DeAgentAI is the largest AI Infra project on Sui, committed to building a smarter and more trustworthy on-chain AI network.
Crypto payment company Mesh has completed a new round of financing, with participation from PayPal Ventures and others
According to The Block, crypto payment infrastructure company Mesh has completed a new round of financing, the scale of which has not yet been disclosed, with participation from PayPal Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Uphold, ByBit, SBI Japan, Overlook Ventures, Kingsway Capital, Moderne Ventures, and CE-Ventures. Bringing its total financing to more than $130 million.
Five months ago, Mesh raised $82 million in a Series B funding round led by Paradigm.
Offchain Labs acquires smart account development team ZeroDev
According to Offchain Labs, the company has acquired ZeroDev, a smart account development team. ZeroDev currently supports over 5 million smart accounts, covering more than 30 chains, and provides tools for multiple crypto projects, including ApeCoin, Conduit, Crossmint, and more. The acquisition aims to meet the growing demand for on-chain infrastructure, drive on-chain applications for large institutions and consumers, and synergize with the previously launched Universal Intent Engine to achieve fast cross-chain transactions and seamless user experience.
AI training data platform PublicAI has raised $2 million through a CoinList public offering, with a total funding of $12 million
It is reported that Public AI, an AI training data platform, has completed a CoinList public offering, raising $2 million, exceeding the expected goal.
Previously, the company had secured $10 million in institutional funding, backed by Stanford Blockchain Accelerator, Solana Foundation, and NEAR Foundation, for a total of $12 million. The public offering adopts a "underfill" model, with priority allocated to small participants, and those who do not win will receive a refund. PublicAI's Token Generation Event (TGE) will launch on the Binance Alpha platform on August 15, with plans to go live on major exchanges later.
2. Games
Crypto shooter Shrapnel developer completes $19.5 million in financing, led by Gala Games
Seattle game studio Neon Machine has announced the completion of a $19.5 million funding round, the latest round led by Gala Games, with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners and Polychain Capital. Funds will support the global launch of its award-winning FPS game Shrapnel and its Chinese market plans, with closed beta in China set to open in early 2025 and early 2026.
3. DeFi
Hyperbeat, the native income layer of the Hyperliquid ecosystem, has completed a $5.2 million seed round of financing, co-led by ether.fi Ventures and Electric Capital
According to CoinDesk, Hyperbeat, the native income layer of the Hyperliquid ecosystem, has completed a $5.2 million oversubscribed seed round of financing, co-led by ether.fi Ventures and Electric Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Chapter One, Selini, Maelstrom, Anchorage Digital, and others HyperCollective community supporters and others participated.
According to reports, Hyperbeat aims to build a permissionless financial infrastructure that allows anyone to earn, stake, and spend directly from their on-chain portfolio.
Stablecoin protocol USD. AI completes $13 million Series A funding, led by Framework Ventures
According to CoinDesk, the GPU-collateralized stablecoin protocol developed by Permian Labs USD. AI completed a $13 million Series A financing, led by Framework Ventures, with participation from Bullish, Dragonfly, Arbitrum, and others.
The agreement provides loans to emerging AI companies by using graphics processing unit (GPU) hardware as collateral, reducing approval times by over 90% compared to traditional lenders. The system contains USDai, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, and sUSDai, a yield-bearing token backed by computational asset yields.
4. CeFi
Stats: Bullish raised $1.1 billion in IPO
According to Bloomberg, digital asset trading platform Bullish raised $1.1 billion in an initial public offering at an issue price of $37 per share, up from the previous range of $32 to $33. The IPO was oversubscribed by more than 20 times, with a market capitalization of $5.4 billion.
BlackRock and ARK Investment Management intend to subscribe for a total of $200 million in shares. Bullish is led by former NYSE President Tom Farley as CEO, serving institutional clients and with Block.one CEO Brendan Blumer (30.1%) as its largest shareholder. The company will be listed on the NYSE under the symbol BLSH.
H100 Group, a publicly traded Swedish company, has once again raised approximately $6.84 million for its Bitcoin treasury strategy
Swedish-listed H100 Group completed a private placement, raising approximately SEK 65.3 million (US$6.84 million). The issue price is SEK 7.94 per share. Since launching the Bitcoin treasury strategy, the company has raised a total of approximately SEK 1.181 billion (US$124 million).
HoneyCoin, a Kenyan Web3 payment platform, has completed a $4.9 million funding round, led by Flourish Ventures
Kenyan Web3 payment platform HoneyCoin announced the completion of a $4.9 million funding round led by Flourish Ventures, which will be used to scale operations, enrich product lines, and bring in executives, BitKE reports. HoneyCoin founder David Nandwa founded the company in 2020 at the age of 19, and the platform currently has a monthly transaction volume of more than $150 million, serving 350 enterprise customers and hundreds of thousands of users.
HoneyCoin enables instant or same-day settlement through a stablecoin-compatible platform, supports businesses in 45 countries, and has established cooperation with MoneyGram, UBA Bank, Stripe, and more. This financing will help it further expand its team and compliance layout.
Web3 payment infrastructure company Transak has completed a $16 million round of financing, co-led by IDG Capital and Tether
According to CoinDesk, Web3 payment infrastructure company Transak announced the completion of a new $16 million funding round, co-led by IDG Capital and Tether, with participation from Primal Capital, 1 kx, Protein Capital and Fuel Ventures.
Transak plans to use the funds to expand its stablecoin payment stack and enter new markets.
Peter Thiel Investment Group acquires a 7.5% stake in ETHZilla, an Ethereum treasury company
Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and co-founder of PayPal and Palantir, disclosed that he holds a 7.5% stake in biotech company ETHZilla (formerly 180 Life Sciences), which recently completed a $425 million private placement and a $156 million convertible bond offering, which will be used to increase his holdings of Ethereum.
This is the second Ethereum treasury company that Thiel has laid out after investing in BitMine (holding 9.1% of the shares) in July. Affected by the news, ATNF's stock price rose more than 11% in a single day and soared 57% after hours.
5. Others
Thumzup Media Corporation plans to raise $46.5 million to purchase cryptocurrencies and mining equipment
According to PR Newswire, Thumzup Media Corporation, a Nasdaq-listed company in which Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr. invests in cryptocurrency reserves, announced the issuance of pre-funded warrants in lieu of common shares to certain investors at a public offering price of $10 per share, with an expected total of $46.5 million, and the transaction will close on or about August 12, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for the purchase of cryptocurrencies and mining equipment, working capital and general corporate purposes.
Blockchain payments company Riva has completed a $3 million seed round of financing, led by Project A
Riva Money, a global payments company, announced the completion of a $3 million seed round led by Project A, with participation from individual investors from Revolut, Monzo and J.P. Morgan.
Riva optimizes cross-border payment processes with blockchain technology and stablecoins, aiming to reduce costs, speed up settlements, and offer more favorable exchange rates. Founded by former Revolut and Wise executives Niklas Hoejman and Mahendra Katoch, the company is applying for UK and EU payment institution authorizations, as well as MICA and VASP licenses, to advance its global compliance layout.
Publicly traded company Heritage Distilling has completed a $220 million financing round and plans to establish an IP token reserve
Nasdaq-listed Heritage Distilling announced that it has closed a $220 million round of financing, a16z crypto, Amber Group, Arrington Capital, dao 5, Hashed, Mirana Ventures, Neoclassic Capital, Open World, Polychain Capital, according to businesswire , Selini Capital, Stix, Syncracy Capital and others participated in the investment.
The company will set aside $82 million to purchase IP tokens to build an IP token reserve.