Best 7 crypto venture capital investment deals: A guide for 2024

In February 2024, Ethena Labs, a startup specializing in synthetic dollar technology, disclosed a $14 million seed extension funding round led by DragonFly Capital. Ethena Labs is the entity behind Ethena, an Ethereum-based protocol facilitating the creation of a synthetic dollar named USDe by authorized market-making counterparts.

USDe, pegged to the US dollar, is supported by staked ETH and Bitcoin (BTC), with its peg sustained through delta hedging derivatives against collateral (staked ETH and BTC). As of April 29, 2024, Ethena's Total Value Locked (TVL) reached $2.345 billion. USDe ranked as the eighth-largest USD stablecoin based on CoinMarketCap data at the time.

In March 2024, Polyhedra Network revealed a successful strategic funding round, securing $20 million and achieving a valuation of $1 billion. Leading the crypto venture capital investment was Polychain Capital, joined by notable participants including Animoca Brands, Hashkey Capital, and UoB Ventures.

Polyhedra Network focuses on pioneering a zero-knowledge (ZK) interoperability protocol named zkBridge. The company reports zkBridge's role in enabling more than 20 million cross-chain transactions across over 25 blockchain networks.

In February 2024, Ether.fi, an Ethereum-based liquid staking solution, announced a significant milestone, securing $27 million in funding. Leading the investment round were Bullish and CoinFund, with notable participation from crypto VC firms such as Amber, OKX Ventures, and Bankless Ventures. Launched in November 2023, Ether.fi provides a platform for users to stake their ETH and automatically restake it on EigenLayer. In return, ETH stakers receive eETH tokens, which accrue Ethereum staking rewards, EigenLayer staking rewards, and loyalty points for holders.

As of April 29, 2024, Ether.fi's Total Value Locked (TVL) reached $3.95 billion, indicating its growing significance within the Ethereum ecosystem.

In February 2024, Avail, a modular blockchain startup associated with Polygon, announced a significant milestone, securing a $27 million seed round. This round was led by Dragonfly Capital and Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. Avail is actively working on multiple fronts, including the development of a data availability layer named Avail DA, an interoperability-focused rollup called Avail Nexus, and a security rollup known as Avail Fusion.

According to Avail, the funds raised in the latest round will accelerate the development of the Avail Unification Layer. This layer will serve as the foundation for the Avail platform, leveraging the aforementioned solutions to support numerous chains, each with its unique security and interoperability requirements.

In March 2024, IO Research, an AI-focused blockchain startup, revealed a significant achievement, securing $30 million in a Series A funding round. Hack VC led the investment round, with participation from several other prominent crypto VC firms, including Multicoin Capital and Delphi Digital.

IO Research's primary project is the development of io.net, a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) built on the Solana blockchain. This network aims to offer permissionless access to graphics processing units (GPU) capacity, catering to diverse computational needs within the blockchain ecosystem.

In January 2024, Freechat, headquartered in Hong Kong, achieved a significant milestone by raising $80 million in a Series A funding round. Although the identities of the investors remain undisclosed, this injection of capital underscores investor confidence in the platform's potential. Freechat distinguishes itself as a blockchain-driven social platform, emphasizing user data autonomy and a censorship-resistant environment. Central to its functionality is Freechat AI, an artificial intelligence algorithm leveraging machine learning for content recommendation and personalized user experiences.

The platform operates with its native token, FCC, which boasted a market capitalization of $9.2 million as of April 29, 2024, as reported by CoinMarketCap. This valuation reflects growing interest and adoption within the Freechat ecosystem.

In April 2024, Berachain, a Cosmos-based Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 (L1) chain, successfully secured $100 million in a Series B funding round, with Brevan Howard Digital and Framework Ventures taking the lead. Notable crypto VC investors such as Polychain Capital and Hashkey Capital also participated. Originally conceived as an NFT project known as Bong Bears in August 2021, Berachain later transitioned to launch its own L1 chain in 2022.

According to Smokey the Bera, one of its pseudonymous co-founders, Berachain L1 will employ a variant of the delegated proof-of-stake (dPoS) consensus mechanism called Proof of Liquidity (PoL). In PoL, the sole method of earning Berachain's staking token, BFT, is by providing liquidity to decentralized exchanges and lending protocols operating on the chain.