Costanoa Ventures leads Formation, Seed, and Series A stage investments in companies that change the way the world does business.

Costanoa Ventures

Arrington XRP Capital is a digital asset management firm in blockchain-based capital markets. The company was founded in 2017.

Arrington XRP Capital

We are ParaFi, an alternative asset management and technology firm that operates liquid and venture strategies focused on the digital asset ecosystem. Founded in 2018, ParaFi was among the earliest institutional investors in the blockchain industry and has evolved into a trusted partner by leading institutions globally.

ParaFi Capital

Based in Palo Alto, California, Athena Technology Ventures makes investments in early stage companies in the global communications industry. Athena's portfolio includes companies focusing on semiconductors, network systems, telecom services, Internet infrastructure and infraservices, and e-commerce. The principals and support staff bring a broad array of technical, financial, and operational experience to making each investment decision, and supporting each portfolio company.  Their main investors are corporate partners from Asia, and market leaders in semiconductor manufacturing, network systems, consumer electronics, telecom, and Internet. Athena often leverages its contacts in Asia to help portfolio companies develop manufacturing or distribution partnerships.  Athena's sister fund in Korea invests in Asian-based start-ups, and transpacific technology companies, subsidiaries, and joint ventures.

Athena Technology Ventures

Arlington Capital Partners is a private equity firm, whose investment funds of committed capital, focused on middle market investment opportunities in growth industries including healthcare services, aerospace/defense, government services, and outsourced business services and software

Arlington Capital Partners

Founded in 2017, Krypital Group is a leading global venture capital firm and blockchain incubator. Vested in a complete blockchain ecosystem, the company has specific investment funds for both primary and secondary markets, as well as providing end-to-end services such as project incubation, brand management and technical advisory. To date, Krypital Group has active arms in North American, Asia and Latin American.

Krypital Group

Divergence Ventures is a crypto operator fund.

Divergence Ventures

Rarestone Capital is a venture capital firm.

Rarestone Capital

At Double Peak Group, our guiding philosophy embraces a unique blend of value investing, focused on the pioneering domain of digital assets.  Managed by Nyx Holdings, the family office of Galen Law-Kun, our strategy is grounded in making meaningful investments during early funding rounds and secondary markets in the digital asset ecosystem. We pinpoint undervalued opportunities that hold the promise of substantial growth over an extended time horizon. Our investments cast a wide net across various facets of the digital asset ecosystem, reflecting our comprehensive and dynamic approach. From Asset Management, Banking & Payments, and Cross-Chain Bridges, to DeFi Primitives, Infrastructure Protocols, Investment Funds, Gaming/Metaverse, NFTs, Privacy/Security, and Web+ Social Protocols – our footprint is extensive and growing.

Double Peak Group

Cipholio Ventures is a research-driven investment firm specializing in cryptocurrencies, tokens, and blockchain projects that have the potential to reshape the trillion-dollar markets.  The company serve as a bridge to connect people, technology, and capital in the decentralized world. The company aim to seek opportunities in Web 3.0, DeFi, GameFi, Metaverse, and Layer 2 based on our deep understanding of the industry and data-driven decisions.

Cipholio Ventures

Primeblock ventures is a diversified investment firm dedicated to the digital asset, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology industry.

Primeblock Ventures

Metaline Ventures

Stakely.vc

Blockchain Founders Fund (BFF) is a Singapore based early-stage Venture Capital Fund which invests in top-tier Blockchain startups globally. Their industry leading go-to-market focused Venture Program aids seasoned and first-time entrepreneurs across key business functions to fast-track growth. BFF has scaled many of the leading Blockchain startups and is always looking to connect with exceptional founders across the industry including Web3, metaverse, gamefi, DeFi, and NFT.

Blockchain Founders Fund

Skyland Ventures (SV) is a venture capital (VC) fund focusing on seed startup investments. With a mission of “The Seed Maker. & Unlearning.”, we make equity and token investments that provide seed money to startups that will have a significant impact on the technology industry. To date, we have invested in over 120 startups, mainly in Japan. From 2022 onwards, the company is focusing on investing in Web3 (Crypto, NFT, Blockchain) startups.

Skyland Ventures

Alchemy is a web3 developer platform that helps companies to build reliable decentralized applications. Its mission is to provide developers with the fundamental building blocks they need to create the future of technology without the hassle of managing blockchain infrastructure in-house.

Alchemy

SNZ Holding was founded by a group of engineers, blockchain evangelists.

SNZ Holding

CatcherVC is an investment fund dedicated to blockchain.

CatcherVC

ViaBTC Capital is capital, resource, and post-investment services investment platform, They believe that leveraging ViaBTC's extensive industry resources and combining innovations, talents, projects, and cash from adjacent businesses throughout the world can help the crypto industry's ecosystem develop more quickly.

ViaBTC Capital

A blockchain venture capital with its headquarters in Singapore is called Stratified Capital. The fund seeks to offer early-stage blockchain-related enterprises seed financing and incubation in order to increase alpha and introduce new vehicles to investors into a diversified & institutional-quality portfolio of digital assets.

Stratified Capital

Tide Capital is a research-driven digital asset investment and trading firm, which conducts macroeconomic and fundamental analyses to capture both beta and alpha opportunities spanning from crypto waves to financial tides. Driven by value, Tide Capital directs its investments toward early-stage projects with significant growth potential. Simultaneously, the firm evaluates market cycles to inform investment decisions, actively engaging in public market trading to secure returns.

Tide Capital

Aperture Finance

Aperture Finance provides a decentralized finance platform to streamline complex DeFi operations. The company aims to bring its automation tools to TradFi native and hybrid funds with large capital to deploy in DeFi but minimal experience with on-chain dev and smart contract work. Building on the infra layer of EVMs, Aperture offers ''Composable Automation'', a ''no code'' approach to on-chain liquidity management.

Aperture Finance offers an application programming interface named “Intent API,” which enables users to automate their interactions with DeFi protocols using generative AI. Users can write out DeFi workflows such as liquidity rebalancing using natural language and generate efficient transaction flows, which can be automatically executed when specific conditions are met. The solution leverages Uniswap V3, a decentralized exchange, as well as a decentralized network of solvers to tap into liquidity as well as simulate and rank transaction flows based on transaction fees and capital efficiency.&nbsp;

Disrupting the traditional financial system using blockchain

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Aperture Finance Snags $6.7M Series A

Aperture Finance offers an application programming interface named “Intent API,” which enables users to automate their interactions with DeFi protocols using generative AI. Users can write out DeFi workflows such as liquidity rebalancing using natural language and generate efficient transaction flows, which can be automatically executed when specific conditions are met. The solution leverages Uniswap V3, a decentralized exchange, as well as a decentralized network of solvers to tap into liquidity as well as simulate and rank transaction flows based on transaction fees and capital efficiency.&nbsp;Although Aperture initially launched with a centralized solver, the network has expanded to third-party solvers such as Propeller Heads and Enso Finance, with plans to include other solvers like Tokka Labs in Q3 2024.&nbsp;Moreover, in May 2024, Aperture announced plans to further develop its large language model (LLM) interface to enable users to convert their natural language prompts into a domain-specific language (DSL) that can be codified on-chain. During the same period, the platform served over 300,000 users across nine Ethereum virtual machine (EVM)-compatible chains.&nbsp;&nbsp;Funding and financials&nbsp;In May 2024, Aperture Finance <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29812">raised USD 12 million</a> in Series A funding led by Skyland Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund, and Krypital Group at a valuation of USD 250 million. The company planned to use the funding to further develop its intents infrastructure, expand its solver network, and support the launch of its LLM integration.

MakerDAO is a DAO (governed through the MKR token) that manages the Sky protocol (formerly known as Maker).&nbsp;Developed on the Ethereum blockchain, the protocol allows users to place their funds (through cryptocurrency) as collateral in exchange for its stablecoin DAI, which is pegged to the USD. DAI can be used like any other cryptocurrency and even as savings since holders of DAI are entitled to a return based on the DAI Savings Rate (DSR). The DSR is determined by members of the DAO using a mix of public and proprietary market data.Sky offers access to investing and borrowing DAI through the Oasis app which was developed by some of the creators of protocol. In addition, the protocol is available for developers of DeFi apps who can build apps to facilitate earning, investing, and borrowing DAI. As of May 2024, Sky had integrated with over 400 applications ranging from payment systems to gaming platforms. It generates revenue through stability fees (akin to interest payment on borrowed DAI) and liquidation fees which is an additional charge that occurs when the value of the submitted collateral falls below a set liquidation amount.&nbsp;In April 2022, the protocol announced that it was bridging to StarkNet, a reportedly cheaper and faster zero-knowledge (ZK) overlay chain built by StarkWare. Along with its expansion on Ethereum, the DAO had planned to move toward a multi-chain offering with this rebuild. It planned to roll out this offering in four phases, beginning with a simple bridge between the main blockchain and StarkNet’s Layer 2.&nbsp;In February 2023, the company <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16269?industryIds=64">launched a new lending platform</a> named Spark Protocol, to enable users to borrow, lend, and stake DAI, the protocol’s stablecoin. The platform, which is a fork of Aave's version 3 (v3), will be built by Phoenix Labs, a research and development company formed by the DAO. Additionally, the company also announced the deployment of etherDAI, a liquid staking derivative for Ethereum that will be pegged to the value of ETH. Furthermore, in March, the protocol went on to<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17322"> approve several new proposals </a>that make changes to both its governance structure and the investment of its treasury. These changes divide the DAO’s current structure into smaller self-governed and self-sustained units named SubDAOs, which will also have their own tokens in the MakerDAO ecosystem. Moreover, the proposal also planned to increase the protocol’s revenues by investing a part of its reserves (worth USD 7 billion) into real-world assets and money-market funds.&nbsp;The platform outlined its plans for a major update (named Endgame) in May 2023. The launch was proposed to take place in five phases and will ultimately lead to the creation of a new blockchain. The road map is as follows: 1) launching new branding and website as well as upgraded versions of Dai and MKR tokens; 2) launching six Maker SubDAOs, specializing in user acquisition, decentralized frontends, and collateral allocation; 3) introducing new AI tools to assist governance, including tools for summarizing, interpreting, and generating governance proposals; 4) enabling rewards for governance participation; and 5) deploying a new blockchain to house backend logic for SubDAO tokenomics and governance security. The first phase of the update is expected to be rolled out in the summer of 2024.&nbsp;In August 2024, the protocol followed through with the first phase of its plans by <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32993">rebranding itself under the new name "Sky"</a>, and launching new versions of DAI and MKR tokens named the USDS and SKY.&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsIn September 2024, Sky<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/33252"> partnered with Aave Labs</a>, to launch the “Sky Aave Force” initiative. The initiative featured key proposals such as integrating the newly launched USDS and sUSDS stablecoins on Aave’s V3 protocol, introducing an incentive program for sUSDS suppliers and deploying a direct deposit module for USDS into the Aave Lido Market. Additionally, the partnership will enable the companies to distribute SPK tokens, the native token of Sky’s lending protocol Spark, to create a market for sUSDS on Aave. Collectively, these initiatives enable users to earn yields on their sUSDS deposits from the revenues generated by Sky’s protocol and mint USDS directly on Aave without meeting the usual collateral requirements.

MakerDAO

Founded by former executives of Qualcomm, Solana Labs is the developer of the Solana blockchain, which uses the native cryptocurrency SOL. The company enables developers to create decentralized applications in its blockchain and is capable of carrying out 50,000 transactions per second (TPS) with a theoretical upper limit of 710,000 TPS for the architecture. As of May 2024, the blockchain averaged around 2,400 TPS. This is in contrast to Ethereum’s average of between 13 to 15 TPS. In addition to transaction speed, Solana also has other advantages such as lower transaction fees and improved scalability, given its proof-of-stake consensus mechanism and underlying architecture. The mechanism also enables users to stake their SOL and earn yields for validating the network. Solana provides the ability to create specialized tooling and programming functionality to tokens through <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/25910">Token Extensions</a>. This allows developers and businesses to establish rules for tokens, such as dictating their functionality and determining their holders, as well as embed features like whitelisting, automatic transfer fees, and confidentiality provisions for transfers.Solana also provides guides and a content aggregator website for developers to discover tools to create dApps on its blockchain. As of May 2024, more than 440 dApps were created on Solana, ranging across use cases such as DeFi, NFTs, and gaming. It also <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/18094">launched a ChatGPT </a>(a chatbot built on OpenAI's GPT model) plugin to allow developers and users to query the blockchain for on-chain data. The plugin works through the ChatGPT interface and allows users to perform various tasks such as checking wallet balances, transferring tokens, and purchasing NFTs.Key customers and partnershipsWeb browser developer Opera partnered with Solana in December 2021 to integrate the blockchain and create a built-in crypto wallet onto the Opera browser to improve accessibility to dApps hosted on the blockchain.As of May 2024, the company served several enterprise clients such as Shopify, Asics, Helio, and Tiplink.Funding and financialsThe total value locked (TVL) in DeFi projects across the Solana blockchain amounted to USD 4 billion as of May 2024. The company raised USD 314 million through an initial coin offering (ICO) of SOL. The ICO was co-led by Polychain Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. The funding was to be used to create a venture investing arm, a trading desk, and support the development of new applications in its blockchain.

Solana

Swiss-based Eidoo is a developer of a wallet that supports cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with tokens such as DAI, MKR, AAVE, and UNI, among others. In addition, Eidoo provides a DeFi marketplace that integrates with its wallet, allowing users to trade any tokens that they hold. Eidoo also offers a debit card that allows the conversion of digital assets into fiat currencies, such as the GBP and EURO, and spending or even withdrawing cash from ATMs.Eidoo began with the proprietary token EDO, which it also used to raise USD 27.9 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) in 2017. The token was then upgraded following its merger with blockchain oracle provider Provable Things to establish pNetwork, the infrastructure that facilitates cross-chain interactions between multiple decentralized apps, governed by the token PNT. To obtain an Eidoo debit card, users are required to stake PNT ranging from 20 to 200,000 for various service tiers.Eidoo had several applications such as virtual account numbers to deposit money and obtain a tokenized representation of their deposit as well as features to buy, hold, and trade NFTs in the roadmap as of December 2021.

Eidoo

Synthetix is a DAO (governed by holders of its native token SNX) that offers a platform on which users can trade and vote on the creation of on-chain synthetic assets, which are derivatives based on real-world assets. These synthetic assets enable traders to capture the price movements of assets such as cryptocurrencies, fiat currencies, stocks, and commodities, among others, with zero slippage. The protocol allows users to stake SNX as collateral for the debt pool and earn weekly rewards. As of April 2022, Synthetix had USD 642 million in total value locked (TVL).Additionally, Synthetix also offers the opportunity for developers to build on top of the platform to tap into its liquidity as well as develop decentralized perpetual futures, options markets, deal coordination markets, and more. As of December 2021, the protocol served large DeFi platforms including 1inch, Curve Finance, Yearn Finance, and Paraswap.In February 2023, Synthetix <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16609?industryIds=64">deployed version 3 (v3) of its platform </a>on the Ethereum mainnet. V3 reportedly offers more efficient architecture that enables developers to create products that offer a liquid market for any financial derivative, as well as more complex decentralized applications. Additionally, the solution also offers staking and differentiated debt pools, to enable stakers to earn fees from supplying collateral to specific asset pools. The company went on to deploy its protocol on Base, an Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain developed by Coinbase, in April 2024. Moreover, the company announced plans to launch a new perpetual futures exchange named Infinex in the following months.Funding and financialsIn March 2023, Synthetix <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/17267">received an investment of USD 20 million </a>from DWF Labs, a Web3 venture capital company. Synthetix plans to use this investment to drive volume for its protocol across both centralized and decentralized exchanges and invest in product development.

Synthetix

Compound is an open-source lending protocol built on Ethereum that allows developers to build DeFi applications for functions such as deposits and lending. Compound offers adjusted money market interest rates based on asset-specific supply and demand and supports a number of Ethereum-based assets for users to take collateralized loans and lock-up assets without borrowing. Locked assets are automatically liquidated if an independent oracle determines that the price has dropped too low. Additionally, since assets are stored in a shared pool, even users with liquidated collateral can claim tokens if they are able to repay the general pool. Compound also <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13038">offers borrowing services</a> for institutional clients that allow them to borrow USD or USDC at a fixed annual percentage rate of 6% using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ether as collateral, with a loan-to-value of 90%.As of April 2024, Compound had a total value locked (TVL) of USD 2.3 billion. The protocol is governed by its native-token COMP, which along with a variety of other digital assets that are a part of the Compound ecosystem, are supported by Coinbase Custody, a crypto asset custodian. In August 2022, Compound launched a version of its protocol named “Compound III” which features a single borrowable asset. Users can supply collateral that can never be withdrawn by other users (except during liquidation) and borrow USDC.In May 2022, Compound<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10267"> received a B- credit rating from S&amp;P Global Ratings</a> on its enterprise credit facility which offers 4% annually on deposits of the stablecoin USDC. Notably, Compound claims that this is the first time an "institutional DeFi" product has been scored by a major credit rating agency.Funding and financialsCompound’s last funding round was in November 2019 where it raised USD 25 million in a Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto fund to help the company further decentralize the protocol by enabling crypto exchanges and custodians such as Coinbase to maintain the protocol going forward.

Compound

Organizations and protocols that allow individuals to lend their crypto assets and take out collateralized or uncollateralized loans from to/from these projects

Organizations that allow individuals to invest in tokenized financial and real assets

Organizations that provide fully decentralized insurance products

Organizations that apply NFTs across areas of finance such as documentation and non-fractionalized ownership records for assets

Decentralized exchanges that help connect buyers and sellers of DeFi tokens without the need to rely on an intermediary

Organizations that provide digital wallets for users to take custody of DeFi tokens

Blockchains and related protocols that allow developers to build DeFi apps

All companies within this industry are either blockchain-based platforms or offer blockchain-centric services

Promotes financial inclusivity, allowing those that won't traditionally have access to credit to raise funds

Companies with the infrastructure segment offer solutions for users to build decentralized applications

<div>
 
 Aperture Finance, a platform specialising in automated DeFi operations, has successfully raised $12 million in a Series A funding round. The investment was led by Skyland Ventures, Blockchain Founders Fund, and Krypital Group, with additional contributions from Alchemy, SNZ, Tide, and Stratified Capital, among other participants. This round takes the company's total funding haul to $16.6 million and gives it a market valuation of $250 million.
 Following the funding, Aperture Finance plans to allocate the funds towards the further development of its intents infrastructure, an extensive expansion of its solver network, and the support required for the successful launch of its LLM integration.
 "Intent API" is an application programming interface designed by Aperture Finance to empower users to automate their interactions with DeFi protocols using GenAI. This technology allows users to write out DeFi workflows like liquidity rebalancing using natural language, which will then trigger the solution to generate the most efficient transaction flows. Such flows can then be automatically executed upon the fulfillment of specific conditions. To maximize its effectiveness and reach, the solution makes use of Uniswap V3, a decentralised exchange, alongside a decentralised network of solvers to delve into liquidity. It then simulates and ranks transaction flows based on various factors such as transaction fees and capital efficiency.
 
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Aperture Finance

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