6 Interesting Crypto Projects Recently Raised Funding

To stay updated with cryptocurrency, it can be helpful to monitor venture capital funding and investment rounds. Despite the current bear market and high-interest rates, there is still a steady flow of capital towards the industry.

While the rate of investment may be slower than in previous years, some teams are still able to pursue their projects without significant concern for the state of the market.

1. Alongside

The name of Alongside caught my attention because it sounded similar to Otherside, the BAYC metaverse project. However, it turns out that they are not related, but both are backed by A16Z. While Otherside is a metaverse protocol, Alongside is a crypto financial service.

It allows investors to invest in crypto through indexes, similar to how you would invest in the S&P 500 or Nasdaq in traditional finance. Instead of buying individual crypto-assets, you can purchase an index token that tracks the performance of the index, similar to buying ETH to track the S&P 500.

Although there have been previous attempts to create a crypto market index, they were not successful due to the unpredictability of the market. However, now that Alameda’s involvement in past market instability has been revealed, creating an index has become a more viable option.

2. Renegade

The Renegade project immediately caught my attention due to its backers who are considered thought leaders in the crypto space. It’s reasonable to assume that they wouldn’t support just any crypto project, so it must be something special.

The whitepaper states that Renegade offers complete anonymity throughout the entire trading process, which is timely given recent events such as the lack of trust in centralized finance (CeFi) caused by FTX, increased government hostility towards crypto (with Coinbase and UniSwap being likened to the Federal Reserve), and the risk of malicious MEV attacks on trades.

Renegade is an anonymous exchange that offers advanced security, privacy, and MEV protection. However, like many new projects, their website currently only provides limited information and a waiting list.

3. Superplastic:

In an effort to step out of my comfort zone and explore projects beyond my usual preferences, I came across Superplastic. The name caught my attention, and I also noticed that they have notable investors such as Amazon and Google Ventures, as well as Sony Japan and Animoca according to Decrypt.

Superplastic is an NFT project that offers NFT-ed characters that could potentially become TV show stars. Amazon has reportedly expressed interest in the usage rights of these characters. While my understanding of the NFT world is limited, Superplastic’s concept seems unique and different from the typical NFT projects I have encountered.

4. Monad

Yet another day and yet another new layer 1 blockchain that is EVM-compatible. Monad caught my attention due to the interesting list of angel investors, as seen in the provided screenshot. One particular investor is known for being an Ethereum-only supporter, which makes their investment in a new layer 1 blockchain quite scandalous.

According to their Twitter page, Monad is a “fundamentally optimized EVM blockchain” and boasts of being the fastest, cheapest, and most censorship-resistant EVM L1, with a capacity of 10,000 TPS. However, the description seems rather generic.

Further investigation of their website reveals that their solution for improving performance is related to “asynchronous, parallel execution”, which is similar to what Fantom offers.

While I am not overly impressed with the technology they offer, the fact that they have serious investors backing them means that there is potential for exciting developments, such as airdrops and wild price rallies.

5. Phi

Is the trend of crypto gaming still alive? Apparently so, as demonstrated by the eagerness of venture capital investors to fund them.

Phi, a web3 social gaming project, recently raised a “modest” seed round of $2 million. The project’s announcement highlights the involvement of familiar crypto industry names, as well as VCs like Delphi Digital and Polygon Ventures.

Upon further investigation, I find myself intrigued by the project. The platform appears to be fun and inviting, and it seems like an excellent way to introduce web3 and DeFi to a new audience.

Phi invites users on a “crypto adventure,” allowing them to claim NFTs, swap tokens, or purchase NFTs. Quests, rewards, and competitions are all part of the experience.

This project is well-suited for crypto and DeFi beginners. It’s interactive, with quests available on several chains, including Ethereum and Polygon. Users earn points for completing quests, and it’s more about learning through playing and earning rather than playing to earn.

6. Space ID

There are numerous name services available in the crypto world, making it difficult to choose one. However, the future of crypto projects is believed to focus on services that simplify our web3 lives, and Space ID is one of them.

Their website is self-explanatory, allowing users to register web 3 domains in one place. Currently, they support three blockchains, including Ethereum, BSC, and Arbitrum, with the hope that more will be added soon.

The most exciting feature that they will offer is the universal domain, which will provide one identity that can be used across the ecosystem, regardless of which blockchain it is on. Due to the increasing cost of capital, VCs and investors are more careful before funding projects, which encourages founders to create projects that are genuinely worthy of their money.

As a result, the quality of projects is increasing, and the tendency to overvalue is decreasing, resulting in more interesting raises. Although there are still nonsensical projects around, the overall quality is improving across various sub-sectors of crypto.

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