VC Roundup: November wraps with 99 deals across blockchain startups

In November, crypto startups engaged in 99 deals across venture capital funding as well as mergers and acquisitions transactions, with the total value exceeding $350 million, according to figures from RootData.

Highlights for the month include Zero Gravity Labs’ $290 million capital financing to build a decentralized artificial intelligence operating system (dAIOS), alongside Superscrypt’s plans for a $100 million new investment fund for blockchain-based startups. In addition, the crypto ecosystem has welcomed a new crowdfunding platform focused on Bitcoin projects. 

Investor sentiment toward the industry was likely influenced by the prospect of a more favorable regulatory approach in the United States following Donald Trump’s reelection earlier in the month, which could lead to increased capital investment in crypto businesses under new regulatory conditions moving forward.

Under a more positive environment, founders are also looking at alternative funding paths. According to Fabrizio Giabardo, co-founder of Legion, crypto projects are fundamentally rethinking how they fundraise and engage their communities. “There’s this energy of building for the people again, creating ecosystems where communities feel like true stakeholders,” he told Cointelegraph. “It’s a return to crypto’s ICO roots.” 

This edition of Cointelegraph’s VC Roundup highlights some of the projects that attracted capital in late November. 

Talus Network raises $6M for decentralized AI agents

Talus Network, a blockchain protocol for artificial intelligence agents, has secured $6 million in a recent funding round led by Polychain Capital, with contributions from Foresight Ventures, Animoca, Geek Cartel, Echo, and angel investors from organizations including Polygon, Sentient, Allora, and 0G Labs. The round takes Talus Network’s total funding to $9 million and its valuation to $150 million. The funding will support the development of Talus’ infrastructure solution, Protochain, and the Nexus framework. The framework provides tools for developers to create autonomous agents capable of managing smart contracts and performing tasks in areas such as decentralized finance, decentralized autonomous organizations, and gaming. According to Talus, these agents are capable of promoting portfolio optimization, treasury management, and automated game testing.

Binance Labs invests in Kernel, Astherus

Binance Labs has disclosed new investments in November. The exchange’s venture capital arm has invested in Kernel, a platform developing restaking infrastructure for the BNB Chain. According to Binance, Kernel’s technology will allow BNB’s security features to be programmable and verifiable, supporting a variety of crypto applications and services. Initial deployment will utilize BNB Liquid Staking Tokens and restaked BNB to enhance DeFi projects on the BNB Chain. Another startup that secured capital from Binance Labs is Astherus, a multi-asset liquidity hub dedicated to maximizing the real yield of crypto assets. The company focuses on maximizing returns of assets through high-yielding strategies across multiple blockchains and protocols. Binance did not disclose how much capital was invested in either deal.

Barter secures $3M seed funding for trading optimization 

Swap startup Barter has closed a $3 million seed funding round led by Maven11 with participation from Lattice, Anagram, Heartcore, DCG, and Daedalus Angels. Founded in 2023, the company has allegedly settled $3.5 billion in onchain volume, competing with major industry players like Wintermute and 0x. The new capital will be used to develop Barter’s AppChain, aiming to address common challenges in the DeFi space, such as maximal extractable value (MEV) exploitation and fragmented liquidity pools. According to Barter, its AppChain seeks to centralize liquidity pools and streamline order flows to enable quicker and more cost-effective transactions. Barter’s co-founder, Nikita Ovchinnik, is a former chief business development officer at 1inch Network. 

Rarimo raises $2.5M for ZK identity verification

Rarimo, a startup focused on zero-knowledge identity verification, has completed a $2.5 million funding round backed by blockchain founders such as Vitalik Buterin of Ethereum, Nick White of Celestia, Daniel Lubarov of Polygon Zero, and Stefan George of Gnosis, among others. The round, restricted to founders, will facilitate the rollout of Rarimo as a zero-knowledge rollup on Ethereum, scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. Starting with passport-based identities, Rarimo allows users to create and store identity proofs on their devices without intermediaries. According to the startup, its system has already been used in several countries for anonymous voting and airdrops. Rarimo plans to expand its technology to support private social networks and reputation-based systems using zero-knowledge proofs.

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