Bridge coffer totals $58m, Edge Matrix Chain raises $20m

Venture capitalists are putting more money into fewer deals.

That’s according to the latest VC report from London-based analytics firm GlobalData. The trend is particularly pronounced in the US, where total VC funding raised by startups from January to July increased by 2.4% year-on-year. However, there was a 41% decrease in VC deal volume.

Still, the US “continues to lead the global VC landscape by a significant margin” compared to its competitors (i.e. China and Europe) in both deal count and funding value, with an increase in deals exceeding $100 million.

Venture rounds in the crypto space rarely reach this level. This year’s exceptions include bear-themed blockchain platform Berachain, which raised $100 million in funding, and decentralized social protocol Farcaster, which raised $150 million in a Series A round.

Still, crypto startups continue to attract investor love, and last week was no different. More than $141 million was raised between Aug. 25 and Aug. 31, according to crypto fundraising tracker Crypto Fundraising.

Below, we look at a few of the highlights, excluding funding rounds whose amounts were not disclosed.

Bridge, $58 million Bridge, a global stablecoin payments network, has raised $58 million in funding so far, including $40 million in new capital. According to Fortune , which reported the news, Sequoia, Ribbit, and Index are among its backers. The startup, founded by former Square and Coinbase executives Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, now counts Coinbase among its customers; SpaceX is another. Edge Matrix Chain, $20 million Edge Matrix Chain, which specializes in multi-chain AI infrastructure, has raised $20 million in a round led by Amber Group and Polygon Venture. One Comma, Kapley Judge and Associated Corporations, Cyberrock Venture Fund, Candaq Fintech Group, and Hameem Raees Chowdhury also joined the effort. Edge Matrix hopes to invest the funds in a Layer 1 blockchain and eventually introduce a new DeFi asset class powered by tokenized real-world GPU resources. Space and Time has raised $20 million in a Series A round that also included Space and Time, or SxT, Cypher Capital, Framework Ventures, Lightspeed Faction, Arrington Capital, and Hivemind Capital. The startup, which provides index data for the Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Polygon (MATIC) ecosystems, has raised a total of $50 million. Other backers include Microsoft’s M12 Ventures, DCG, F-Prime Capital, OKX Ventures, Circle Ventures, and Alumni Ventures, Fortune reported. Solayer raised $12 million. Solayer Labs raised $12 million in seed funding. Polychain Capital led the round; Big Brain Holdings, Hack VC, Nomad Capital, Race Capital, ABCDE, and Maelstrom also participated. The startup is developing the Solana (SOL) resttake protocol. Gameplay Galaxy, $11.17M Web3 video game studio Gameplay Galaxy has raised $11.17M as part of a seed round. Blockchain Capital and Merit Circle co-led the round; several anonymous investors also participated. Myco io, $10M UAE-based Web3 streaming platform Myco has completed the first close of a $10M Series A funding round. Daman Investments, Aptos Labs, B Digital, Mocha Ventures, Art3 Foundation, Ghaf Capital Partners, Mix Media Network, Factor6 Capital Partners, and Enjinstarter joined the campaign along with 88 accredited investors via Republic. Double Jump Tokyo, $10M SBI Investment led a $10M Series D funding round for Japanese web3 game maker Double Jump.Tokyo, a developer of blockchain games and infrastructure. Sony Group, Taisu Ventures, Gate Ventures, TM Capital, and Bing Ventures also participated. Additional funding rounds Quai Network, $5 million OneBalance, $5 million Chainbound, $4.6 million SnakeLite, $4 million Nectar AI, $3.9 million Level Protocol, $3.6 million Echelon Market, $3.5 million Time Fun, $3 million Verofax, $3 million Kredete, $2.25 million Legion, $2 million Origami Finance, $1.5 million

For our “Crypto VC recap” from last week, click here.