This Week's Crypto Funding Highlights Include Investments in Web3 Gaming, Ethereum Scaling, Bitcoin Infrastructure and Decentralized AI

This week’s crypto funding highlights include an NFT project parent company raising funds for a new Ethereum scaling network, a Bitcoin Layer-2 startup securing series A funding, and a web3 gaming infrastructure platform getting a new round of VC funding.

Our funding roundup starts with a takeover. On July 24, Bitcoin (BTC) mining firm Riot Platforms announced the acquisition of Block Mining, a Kentucky-based Bitcoin miner, in a $92.5 million deal.

According to Riot, the acquisition could potentially increase its operational capacity by 60 megawatts, with plans to expand to 110 MW by the end of 2024.

Riot paid $18.5 million in cash and $74 million in common stock for the acquisition.

Web3 gaming infrastructure startup NPC Labs, founded by three former Coinbase employees, announced on July 25 that it had raised $18 million in a seed funding round.

This small team of NPCs is immensely grateful to our VCs and 100+ angels for believing in our onchain gaming vision to bring economic freedom to gamers and game developers.

thanks @VentureBeat and @deantak 🎮https://t.co/L5e40hhDGY

Pantera Capital led the round, with participation from Mantle EcoFund, Makers Fund, Bitscale Capital, Hashed, Mirana Ventures, and Collab+Currency.

It brings the total amount of money raised by the project to $21 million after it raked in $3 million in a recent pre-seed round.

NPC Labs said it will use the funding to bring new members to the team, especially engineers. It is also angling to increase the adoption of on-chain gaming through its gaming scaling ecosystem, B3.fun, which is built on Base.

Caldera, a web3 infrastructure platform, also benefited from this week’s VC activity, raising $15 million in a series A funding round.

Founders Fund led the round, which also included participation from Lattice, Dragonfly, Arkstream Capital, and Sequoia Capital. It brings Caldera’s total funding to $25 million, with the project having raised $10 million in 2023.

The U.S.-based startup aims to help developers launch Ethereum rollups or scaling networks “with a single click.” It has a long list of clients, including Injective, RARI Chain, and ApeChain, which altogether have a total value locked of more than $800 million.

NFT project Pudgy Penguins’ parent company Igloo, Inc. also got in on the action on July 25, raising $11 million to develop Abstract, a new layer-2 scaling network on Ethereum (ETH).

Founders Fund led Igloo’s funding round, which included investments from Selini Capital, Everest Ventures, 1kx and Fenbushi Capital.

Igloo reportedly plans to use the money raised to establish a new entity, Cube Labs, to oversee the development of Abstract.

In June, Igloo acquired another Layer-2 network, Frame, which majorly supports NFTs. Igloo has said that it will use the team from Frame to help build the Abstract project.

Bitlayer, a Bitcoin Layer-2 startup, successfully raised $11 million in its series A funding round on July 26. The round, led by Franklin Templeton, ABCDE, and Framework Ventures, brings Bitlayer’s total investment to $16 million.

1/ Bitlayer has successfully raised $11M in our Series A funding round, led by Franklin Templeton (@FTI_DA) and ABCDE (@ABCDELabs). This brings our total investment to $16M.

Franklin Templeton's participation marks the first strategic investment from an ETF-licensed institution in a Bitcoin Layer… pic.twitter.com/4PoF3ft4Zj

Notably, Franklin Templeton’s participation marks the first strategic investment from an ETF-licensed institution in a Bitcoin Layer-2 project.

Other notable crypto VC fundraising

While the above-mentioned projects brought in the largest investments this week, several other notable rounds helped push the week’s VC funding total, including the Riot Platforms deal, to more than $210 million. Below are some of them, according to data from Crypto Fundraising: