💲💲Crypto VCs Upbeat as Markets Bounce Back

April has picked up from where the first quarter of 2025 left off, with more funds flowing into the crypto market.

Upexi and Sol Strategies were the major stories of the week, with their major bets on Solana. The Canadian Exchange-listed DeFi development corporation secured a $500 million convertible note to buy more Solana.

Just two days earlier, Upexi, a Nasdaq-listed company raised $100 million in a private equity investment round led by GSR, also to invest in Solana, while Mantle launched a $400 million real-world asset tokenisation fund through the BlackRock-backed Securitize.

Later in the week, RockawayX, a crypto VC investing primarily in Solana-based projects closed its second fund at $125 million, having initially targeted $120 million.

All these investments are being announced at a time when crypto markets are bouncing back after a few months of volatile movements.

Bitcoin is flirting with $100,000 again, after recently crossing $95,000, while Ether is hovering above and below the $1,800 mark.

SOL, which has seen plenty of activity recently, has been one of the biggest gainers among the major cryptocurrencies rising about $95 to trade above $154.

Such is the optimism in the market that ARK Invest’s latest Bitcoin price target for 2030 is $2.4 million.

Other notable VC activity this week saw Paradigm anchor a $50 million Series A for Nous Research, while Pantera Capital and Coinbase Ventures co-led crypto restaking platform Symbiotic’s $29 million Series A.

BlackRock’s Securitize Debut’s Crypto Index Fund with $400M Backing from Mantle

• The MI4 offers exposure to major crypto assets with additional earnings from decentralised finance staking strategies.

• Mantle is anchoring the fund with a commitment to invest $400 million.

• The fund plans to boost returns by integrating staking strategies from Mantle’s mETH, Bybit’s bbSOL and others.

Commenting on the announcement, Mantle’s Global Head of Strategy Timothy Chen said in a statement: “[The Mantle Index Four (MI4)] aims to capture all capital on-chain looking for smart beta with income and is a set-it-and-forget-it solution for institutions without the complexities of direct custody.”

Carlos Domingo, Co-Founder and CEO of Securitize, commented: “Through Securitize’s platform, investors will gain access to available real-time liquidity, the ability to use fund shares as on-chain collateral, as well as seamless interoperability with DeFi. That level of flexibility, combined with the attractive yields and institutional-grade structure, creates a product that mirrors the best of traditional finance while delivering the full potential of tokenized securities.”

Crypto VC RockawayX Closes $125M Second Fund Focused on Solana-Based Projects

• Up to 75%, nearly $94 million of the fund will be invested in Solana-based projects, according to RockawayX’s Samantha Bohbot.

• The new fund is backed by Rockaway Capital, which anchored the firm’s first fund, alongside a mix of family offices, private equity firms, high-net-worth individuals and crypto founders.

• Roughly 20% of the new fund has already been invested into projects including DoubleZero, Exponent, Hyperlend, Silhouette, Fragmetric and OnRe.

“We’ve been focused on the Solana ecosystem since meeting Anatoly and Raj [Solana co-founders] at the 500 Startups incubator in San Francisco in early 2018,” said Viktor Fischer, founder and CEO of RockawayX. “Rather than investing in more L1s, we focused on building applications on Solana and being the first user for our founders: from providing liquidity, to running solvers and operating hardware services.”

GSR Leads $100M Investment in Nasdaq-Listed Upexi to Buy SOL Tokens

• Upexi plans to use about $5.3 million from the private placement for working capital and debt management with the remainder going towards purchasing Solana tokens.

• The company said it will establish a Solana treasury strategy that includes the accumulation and staking of Solana.

Brian Rudick, Head of Research at GSR said: “Solana’s speed, scalability, and vibrant developer ecosystem make it an ideal foundation for long-term growth and we are honoured to help accelerate the integration of digital assets into institutional portfolios.”

Lily Liu, President, Solana Foundation commented: “It’s encouraging to see institutions exploring blockchain infrastructure in meaningful ways. GSR and Upexi’s announcement highlights growing interest in using Solana for real-world financial applications, and it’s another signal of how traditional finance and DeFi are starting to intersect.”

💵More Crypto Fundraising News

Paradigm Anchors $50M Series A for Decentralised AI Startup Nous Research

• The round was funded almost entirely by Paradigm, according to Fortune at a reported token valuation of $1 billion.

• Nous Research is using the Solana blockchain to train its open-source AI models.

• A big percentage of the new funding will go towards compute power and expanding its research capabilities.

Pantera and Coinbase Ventures Co-Lead $29M Series A for Crypto Restaking Protocol Symbiotic

• The company plans to use the fresh capital to expand its crypto staking service into a “broader staking” platform.

• The fundraising also attracted participation from multiple angels from leading blockchain companies including Aave, Polygon and StarkWare.

• The new platform will help networks to secure themselves using any asset without rebuilding from scratch.

Crypto Trading Platform Theo Closes $15.5M Round Co-led By Hack VC and Anthos Capital

• The fundraising brings the total raised to $20 million after previously raising $4.5 million last year.

• The latest round also attracted participation from Manifold Trading, Mirana Ventures, Metalayer Ventures, Flowdesk, SCB, MEXC, Amber Group and Selini Capital.

• The company operates a low-latency validator set that ensures safe custody for users and rule-based access for institutional clients.

• Theo plans to use the fresh capital to bolster its validator structure, facilitate more integrations and grow its user base.

“Today’s crypto markets are fragmented and inefficient, preventing institutions and everyday users alike from accessing the full promise of global, permissionless finance,” Abhi Pingle, co-founder of Theo, said in a press release. “Theo solves this by delivering robust, scalable infrastructure that seamlessly connects large traditional players and retail participants on-chain—unlocking new levels of capital efficiency.”

DAO Infrastructure Provider Tally Bags $8M Series A Led by Appworks and Blockchain Capital

• The company plans to use the capital to scale its governance technology to more crypto-native DAOs.

• Tally Protocol’s infrastructure is used by blockchain projects to conduct on-chain governance for their DAOs

• Some of the popular projects using Tally include Arbitrum, Uniswap DAO, ZKsync, Wormhole, Eigenlayer, Obol and Hyperlane.

Dennison Bertram, CEO and co-founder of Tally Protocol: “We’ve built this complete stack of software for operating these on-chain organizations. We can take you from your idea to launching your token, to distributing your membership or ownership, all the way to the value accrual for your protocol.”

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Tether Doubles Down on Sports as It Increases Stake in Juventus FC to Over 10%

• The crypto company increased its stake in Juventus Football Club from 8.2% to 10.12%, representing 6.18% of voting rights.

• The partnership is aimed at creating synergies between the worlds of sport and technology.

• Tether is also open to further equity investments to help strengthen Juventus’s financial foundation and avoid dilution of its position.

Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino in a statement said: “This investment is not just financial—it’s a commitment to innovation and long-term collaboration. We believe Juventus is uniquely positioned to lead both on the field and in embracing technology that can elevate fan engagement, digital experiences, and financial resilience. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead.”

Anonymous Labs Taps Banijay Rights to Bring the Peaky Blinders TV Show to Web3 Gaming

• The award-winning TV series will be adapted into a blockchain-based game and the wider Web3 ecosystem.

• The game features a decentralised playground of the streets of 1920s London, where fans can engage in various activities, including completing missions.

• It is being built as a AAA gaming title, with an emphasis on quality.

• It also features digital collectables and community engagement, common features of blockchain games.

Wojciech Gruszka, head of Development at Peaky Blinders Web3 Game, said in a statement: “Peaky Blinders is arguably the biggest IP to date to embark on building a blockchain-based project, and I see this as a defining moment for the entire Web3 industry.”

Aethir, 0G Labs, OORT and Others Form Alliances to Advance Web3 AI Development

• Dubbed “AI Unbundled”, the initiative seeks to support AI startups through joint-venture funding, subsidised access to decentralised GPU and grants, among others.

• Other Web3 AI and investment companies in alliance include Biconomy, Polyhedra, Oasis Protocol Foundation, ChainGPT, IoTeX, iExec, GEODNET, Flock.io, Alpha Neural AI, and DeAgent AI.

• Funding for AI startups is budgeted to be in the range of $10,000 and $100,000.

• Other support services include co-branded industry events, workshops, and dedicated hackathons to spotlight emerging projects.

Daniel Wang, CEO of Aethir, said: “AI Unbundled is our commitment to making decentralized AI development viable by providing builders with open, scalable, and composable infrastructure while supporting projects that drive positive impacts and innovations.”

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