Cryptocurrency Industry Attracts Big Institutional Investments: Helsing Raises €209 Million, While Imbue Secures $200 Million
Date: 2023-09-17 Author: Dima Zakharov Categories: BLOCKCHAIN, CRYPTO PAYMENTS
Helsing, an AI Startup, Secures €209 Million for "Democracy Defense"
Helsing, an AI development startup with a focus on defense, has successfully closed a Series B funding round, raising €209 million. The venture firm General Catalyst led this funding round, with strategic backing from the Swedish group Saab.
Founded in 2021, Helsing specializes in creating AI-powered military solutions and components, including those for the upcoming NATO Eurofighter aircraft modernization and the Future Combat Air System program. The project's primary objective is to develop cutting-edge technologies "to protect democratic nations." The funds raised will be channeled into expanding business operations in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
Imbue, an AI Startup, Raises $200 Million at a Valuation of $1 Billion
Imbue, an AI-focused startup, has successfully concluded a Series B funding round, securing $200 million. The nonprofit organization Astera Institute, founded by former Ripple CTO Jed McCaleb, led this round. Notable investors include Nvidia, Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt, Notion co-founder Simon Last, and others. They collectively valued Imbue at over $1 billion.
The startup's representatives also announced a rebranding, shedding their former name, General Intelligent.
Story Protocol Raises $54 Million for Streamlining Intellectual Property Verification
Story Protocol, an open-source platform for verifying intellectual property rights, has closed a funding round amounting to $54 million. a16z crypto led this round, with contributions from Hashed, Endeavor, Samsung Next, Dapper Labs founder Roham Garegozlou, and several business angels. The funding will be used to "democratize intellectual property verification through a global and expandable repository."
The team plans to provide an optimized structure on the platform to manage the entire life cycle of intellectual property, including origin tracking, licensing, and revenue distribution.
Pantera Capital Leads $16.5 Million Investment in DEX Brine Finance
Decentralized exchange Brine Finance, based on the order book, has successfully concluded a funding round of $16.5 million, valuing it at $100 million. Pantera Capital led the round, with participation from Elevation Capital, Starware Ltd, Spartan Group, Goodwater Capital, Up sparks Ventures, and Deepthrough Ventures. Brine Finance operates on the StarkEx within the StarkNet L2 network, utilizing the cryptographic mechanism ZK-STARK to ensure the confidentiality of trading positions.
Peter Thiel's Firm Supports Layer N with a $5 Million Investment
Blockchain startup Layer N has raised $5 million in a seed round led by venture company Founders Fund, backed by Peter Thiel, and the decentralized investment group dao5. Other participants include Kraken Ventures, Amber Group, SALT, and several private investors.
For Founders Fund, Layer N represents the second investment in the industry since hiring Joey Krug, a former co-director of investments at Pantera Capital, as a new partner in April.
Peter Thiel's firm contributed $1.8 million of the total investment. Krug also participated as a business angel.
Layer N is developing a second-layer blockchain on the Ethereum platform aimed at scaling decentralized financial applications. Krug stated that Layer N's long-term goal is to enable centralized exchanges like Binance and Coinbase to create non-custodial offerings within the L2 network.
