The recent week has seen a flurry of notable activity in the world of venture capital within the cryptocurrency space, showcasing several startups making significant progress. Here is a recap of the top funding news.
Félix Pago Simplifies Remittances
Latin American remittance startup Félix Pago recently secured $15.5 million in a Series A round, with Castle Island Ventures leading the investment, as reported by TechCrunch. The company focuses on facilitating cross-border money transfers for workers through WhatsApp, with plans to expand its operations in Latin America and the U.S. CEO Manuel Godoy highlighted the convenience of WhatsApp as a platform, enabling users to send and receive money via a chatbot. Recipients can receive funds instantly as a bank deposit or in cash at various locations in Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras. By utilizing Circle’s USDC stablecoin, Félix Pago is able to reduce foreign exchange costs, resulting in faster and more cost-effective transactions compared to traditional methods like SWIFT.
Fortunafi Receives Backing from Jordan Fish
Fortunafi, a platform for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, secured $9.51 million in funding from Shima Capital and Manifold. Notable investors include Jordan Fish, also known as Cobie, host of the “Up Only” podcast, and Ari Litan from LayerZero Labs. The funding will be used to further develop Fortunafi’s platform and expand its presence in the crypto market. Additionally, Fortunafi introduced its new stablecoin protocol called Reservoir, with the funding round structured as equity with token warrants, bringing the company’s valuation to $48.165 million.
SwitchBoard Raises $7.5 million
On-chain oracle startup SwitchBoard raised $7.5 million in a Series A round co-led by Tribe Capital and RockawayX. Supported by the Solana Foundation, Aptos, and StarkWare, the company plans to expand its oracle tools and use cases for web3 developers. SwitchBoard’s permissionless oracle network connects decentralized applications with real-world data, providing a secure and cost-effective solution. The platform currently holds over $1.78 billion in total value, according to DeFiLlama.
Other Funding News:
– SCRYPT, a Swiss crypto asset services provider, secured $5 million in funding from Braza Bank, Funfair Ventures, Cabrit Capital, and Atlantic Labs, doubling its client base and increasing trading volume significantly.
– STON.fi, a UK-based decentralized exchange, received $3.6 million in funding from CoinFund to enhance operations and expand financial services for Telegram users.
– Coinflow and Plural each raised $2.3 million from various investors to support their respective platforms for instant settlement payments and on-chain investment solutions for renewable energy developers.
In conclusion, the past week has been filled with notable venture capital activities in the crypto space, showcasing the growing interest and investment in innovative startups within this sector.