VC roundup: Avail leads with $43m, M^0 secures $35m, The Sandbox raises $20m

The week of June 2 to June 8 saw an influx of funds into the blockchain space, with 21 startups raising a total of $399.7 million from venture capital firms and angel investors.

Data from Crypto Fundraising shows that five startups raised more than $108 million between them from series A rounds, with another seven startups raking in a combined $52.6 million from unknown rounds.

Additionally, three startups made $19 million from seed rounds, and one startup raised $10 million in a private round. Here’s a breakdown of the most notable funding rounds:

Avail raises $43 million in series A funding

Avail, known for its data availability network, secured $43 million in a series A round led by the Founders Fund, Dragonfly, and Cyber Fund. Other contributors in the round included SevenX, Figment, Nomad Capital, LocalGlobe, Altos Ventures, and Chapter One.

The latest funding round follows Avail’s $5 million pre-seed and $27 million seed rounds in March 2023, after it spun out of Polygon. 

Avail reportedly plans to use the funds to develop its unification layer and fusion security layer, which are aimed at enhancing modular blockchain scaling and security.

M^0 secures $35 million in series A round

Another big series A winner was the decentralized stablecoin minting protocol M^0.

The startup, which pronounces its name “M Zero,” raised $35 million in a round led by Bain Capital Crypto, a subsidiary of private equity firm Bain Capital.

The fundraising also included contributions from Galaxy Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, GSR, Caladan, and SCB 10X. 

The funding, structured as equity plus tokens, will support M^0’s continued development of its stablecoin ecosystem. So far, M^0’s total funding amounts to $57.5 million.

The company raised $22.5 million in seed money from Pantera Capital in April 2023.

The Sandbox raises $20 million

Metaverse and web3 gaming company The Sandbox secured $20 million from Kingsway Capital and Animoca Brands, boosting its valuation to $1 billion.

According to The Sandbox, the funding will enhance its creator economy, expand its decentralized mobile metaverse platform, and improve social features, avatar skills, and 3D editing tools on the platform.

Tether invests $18.75 million in XREX Group

Not to be left out of the VC funding race, stablecoin issuer Tether announced a $18.75 million investment in XREX Group, a regulated blockchain financial institution. 

According to a press release provided by XREX, this move aims to facilitate USDT-based cross-border payments in emerging markets.

It will also launch XAU1, a stablecoin pegged to Tether Gold (XAUt). Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino described the partnership as enhancing financial inclusion in emerging markets.

Glacier Labs, Mint Blockchain secure a combined $13 million

Glacier Labs, a layer-2 rollup network, and Mint Blockchain, an Ethereum L2 network for the NFT industry, collectively raised $13 million. Glacier Labs secured $8 million in seed funding from Foresight X, UOB Venture Management, Laser Digital, KuCoin Ventures, and others. 

Mint Blockchain, on the other hand, raised $5 million from Jsquare, SNZ Capital, Antalpha Ventures, and more. 

The funds will support Glacier Network’s decentralized application (dapp) infrastructure and Mint’s network expansion, which already supports over 80 applications and has 400,000 active users.

Everclear raises $5 million from Pantera Capital

Another beneficiary of the week’s VC action was Everclear.

The San Francisco-based company, previously known as Connext, raised $5 million through an over-the-counter (OTC) deal with Pantera Capital.

According to the company, the funds will develop Everclear’s “clearing layer,” aimed at solving liquidity fragmentation for modular blockchains.

Stashh Labs, Halo Wallet raise $6.3 million

Closing up our roundup of crypto fundraising activities for the first week of June are Stashh Labs and Halo Wallet, which collectively raised $6.3 million. 

Stashh Labs secured over $3.3 million from investors like Animoca, 6th Man Ventures, Shima Capital, and Hashkey Capital to support the launch of Stashh 2.0. 

On its part, Halo Wallet raised $3 million from Cyberport, HashKey Capital, IDG Capital, and KuCoin Ventures to accelerate its social monetization mission. 

Both companies aim to improve their platforms with new features and expanded support for multiple blockchain ecosystems.