Financing Weekly Report | 15 public financing events, the stablecoin protocol USD.AI completed $13 million Series A financing, led by Framework Ventures.

Highlights of this issue

According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 15 investment and financing events in the global blockchain last week (August 11 - August 17); the total amount of funds exceeded 156 million USD; in addition, the total amount of financing for listed companies’ cryptocurrency asset reserves exceeded 1.055 billion USD, as outlined below:

• DeFi announced 4 funding events, among which the stablecoin protocol USD.AI announced the completion of a $13 million Series A financing, with Framework Ventures leading the round;
• Web3 Games & NFT sector announced 1 financing event, with Shrapnel developers completing a $19.5 million funding round led by Gala Games;
• Web3+AI sector announced 3 financing events, among which the AI Agent service platform HolmesAI completed a “seed+round” financing, with participation from Waterdrop Capital and others;
• Infrastructure & Tools sector announced 3 financing events, among which the blockchain-based identity verification platform 1 Kosmos completed a $57 million Series B funding round, led by Forgepoint Capital and others;
• Decentralized Finance announced 3 financing events, including Web3 payment infrastructure company Transak completing a $16 million strategic financing round led jointly by IDG Capital and Tether.
• Other aspects have 4 listed companies completing financing to establish a cryptocurrency treasury, among which 180 Life Sciences completed a $425 million private placement financing to implement its Ethereum treasury strategy.

DeFi

Stablecoin protocol USD.AI completes $13 million Series A funding, led by Framework Ventures

The stablecoin protocol USD.AI announced the completion of a $13 million Series A financing, led by Framework Ventures, with participation from Bullish, Dragonfly, and Arbitrum. USD.AI, developed by Permian Labs, provides loans collateralized by GPU hardware specifically for AI enterprises, improving approval efficiency by over 90%. The project has secured $50 million in deposits and plans to conduct an ICO with a gamified distribution model.

DeFi smart agent platform Almanak completes $8.45 million in funding, with participation from Delphi Labs and others

The DeFi smart agent platform Almanak has completed a financing round of $8.45 million, with participation from Delphi Labs, HashKey Capital, BanklessVC, the NEAR Foundation, RockawayX, Matrix Partners, AppWorks, Sparkle VC, and Shima Capital.

Hyperbeat secures $5.2 million investment from ether.Fi and Electric Capital

Hyperbeat announced that it has secured a total of $5.2 million in funding from ether.Fi and Electric Capital. The funds will be used to build yield infrastructure for the Hyperliquid ecosystem, servicing traders, protocols, and institutional users.

Main Street completes $400,000 financing, Sonic as the investor

The DeFi project Main Street completed a round of undisclosed stage financing on August 15, raising $400,000, with Sonic as the investor. The specific financing round and more investment details have not been disclosed.

Web3 games

Shrapnel developer completes $19.5 million funding, Gala Games leads the round

Seattle game studio Neon Machine announced the completion of $19.5 million in financing, with the latest round led by Gala Games and participated by Griffin Gaming Partners and Polychain Capital. The funds will be used to support the global release of its award-winning FPS game Shrapnel and plans for the Chinese market, where closed testing will begin in 2025 and open testing will start in early 2026.

According to previous reports, the developer of the crypto shooting game “Shrapnel,” Neon Machine, has been exposed to be in financial crisis.

AI

AI Agent service platform HolmesAI completes “Seed+Round” financing

HolmesAI announces the completion of its “Seed + Round” financing, with investors including well-known institutions such as Bitrise Capital, Waterdrop Capital, and CGV Fund. So far, HolmesAI has raised a total of $3 million, with HashKey Group and leading companies in the cloud computing industry participating in the early incubation. HolmesAI is an AI Agent service platform based on Persona, which is a personalized knowledge base that enables agents in various industries to achieve a high degree of humanization, completely unleashing human creativity.

DeAgentAI Secures Strategic Financing from Momentum

The decentralized AI infrastructure project DeAgentAI announced the completion of a new round of strategic financing, invested by the leading DEX Momentum of the Sui ecosystem. The two parties will engage in deep cooperation around AI Infra construction, ecological synergy, and scene implementation, continuously promoting the large-scale application of AI Agents in the Sui ecosystem. DeAgentAI is the largest AI Infra project on Sui, dedicated to creating a smarter and more trustworthy on-chain AI network.

Decentralized AI Development Protocol RICE AI Completes Series A Financing, FLOKI Leads

The decentralized AI development protocol RICE AI has completed its Series A funding, led by FLOKI, with participation from DWF Labs, TokenFi (community presale), Vibe Labs, and others. RICE AI focuses on the development of AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) robots, driven by the RICE token. It aims to address the bottleneck of data scarcity for robotic AI by massively collecting and training robotic foundational models (RFM) through a crowdsourcing mechanism.

Galaxy announces completion of $1.4 billion project financing to accelerate the expansion of Helios AI data center

Galaxy Digital announced that it has completed a $1.4 billion project financing to support the expansion of its Helios data center campus in Texas. The financing will be used for the transformation and expansion of AI and high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure in the first phase, with Galaxy providing $350 million in equity and the remainder covered by debt financing. CoreWeave has signed a second phase lease agreement, committing to use the entire 800MW of approved power capacity of Helios, expecting an average annual revenue of over $1 billion for the next 15 years. Galaxy plans to make Helios one of the largest AI data centers in the world.

**(**Not included in this financing weekly report statistics)

Infrastructure & Tools

1Kosmos completes $57 million Series B funding to advance biometric identity security

1 Kosmos, a blockchain-based identity verification platform, announced the completion of a $57 million Series B funding round, led by Forgepoint Capital and Oquirrh Ventures under Origami, with participation from Craig Abod, founder and president of Carahsoft, NextEra Energy Ventures, Gula Tech Adventures, and the 1 Kosmos management team. 1 Kosmos uses a private, permissioned blockchain to encrypt and store personal identifiable information (PII), helping enterprises transform identity verification into a business driver and advance the future of identity verification and passwordless authentication.

Zoth secures $15 million strategic investment from Bolts Capital, advancing RWA on-chain

The blockchain protocol Zoth has announced a strategic funding commitment of $15 million from Bolts Capital to accelerate the on-chain ecosystem construction of its “Real World Assets” (RWA) through token purchases. Zoth will focus on compliance and innovation, emphasizing the development of the RWAFi protocol, with an initial focus on the tokenization of government bond products, and plans to expand into emerging markets and alternative assets. Previously, Zoth faced a security incident involving ZeUSD, and the official statement indicated that they have prioritized strengthening security and trust-building. Currently, Zoth is preparing for a token generation event (TGE), and will later announce the tokenomics, ecosystem incentives, and project roadmap.

Mesh has completed over $130 million in financing, with the new round raising $9.5 million, with participation from PayPal Ventures and Coinbase Ventures

Mesh announced that it has secured a new round of investments from PayPal Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Uphold, ByBit, SBI Japan, among others, bringing the total funding amount to over $130 million. A portion of the new funds is settled in PayPal USD (PYUSD) stablecoin, and Mesh’s technology supports instant transfers. Mesh provides cryptocurrency payment infrastructure for businesses, allowing users to pay with over a hundred cryptocurrencies, and merchants can settle instantly in stablecoins or fiat currency. The company plans to use the new funds to expand its products and APIs to serve more payment platforms. According to Cryptorank data, this round of financing amounts to $9.5 million.

Other

Education:

HackQuest announces the completion of a $4.1 million Pre-A funding round, led jointly by Animoca Brands and Open Campus

The Web3 developer education platform HackQuest announced the completion of a $4.1 million Pre-A round of financing, led jointly by Animoca Brands and Open Campus, with participation from Gate Ventures, Hash Global, HashKey Capital, Bytetrade Labs, StepN, Outlier Ventures, and several angel investors including Scott Moore, founder of Public Works, YY, partner at Signum Capital, Riccardo, head of ecosystem at Outlier Ventures, and James, co-founder of Jambo.

HackQuest stated that this round of financing will be used to accelerate the development of the developer platform and further expand its influence in the global developer community by acquiring high-quality platforms in the same track. Currently, HackQuest has established official developer ecosystem collaborations with 30 public chains including Solana, Mantle, Xion, Arbitrum, Consensys, Injective, Soniclabs, 0G, Flow, Moca Network, and has also reached official Web3 education collaborations with universities such as Nanyang Technological University, Universiti Malaya, and University of the Philippines.

Cryptocurrency Asset Reserves: (Not included in this financing weekly report statistics)

180 Life Sciences completes $425 million private placement financing to launch ETH treasury strategy

According to a report by stocktitan, 180 Life Sciences (NASDAQ: ATNF) has successfully completed a $425 million private placement financing to implement its Ethereum finance strategy. The PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) deal was priced at $2.65 per share, with Electric Capital and Harbour Island leading the round, and well-known cryptocurrency investment institutions such as Borderless Capital and Polychain Capital participating.

The company plans to use the raised funds primarily to purchase Ethereum (ETH) and to launch a yield generation program managed by Electric Capital. This program aims to achieve returns that exceed traditional ETH staking through a combination of strategies such as staking, lending, and providing liquidity. Additionally, the company announced significant governance structure adjustments, including the appointment of McAndrew Rudisill as chairman of the board and the addition of several independent directors. After completing this PIPE financing, the company may also raise up to $150 million further through the issuance of fixed-income securities.

U.S. stock SharpLink announces new financing of $400 million to continue increasing its holdings of ETH

According to official news, SharpLink Gaming, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBET) announced that it has signed a securities purchase agreement with five top global institutional investors, successfully raising $400 million through a direct registered offering. As of August 10, 2025, the company holds approximately 598,800 Ethereum (ETH), along with about $200 million in unallocated ATM financing, with the total value of its ETH holdings expected to exceed $3 billion.

U.S. publicly traded company Heritage Distilling completes $220 million private placement financing to launch IP treasury strategy

According to a report by Businesswire, Heritage Distilling Holding Company (NASDAQ: CASK) announced the completion of a $220 million private placement financing (including $100 million in cash and $120 million in IP tokens). This round of financing was participated by the Story Foundation, a16z crypto, Amber Group, and other institutions, aimed at launching the world’s first IP token digital asset financial strategy.

This transaction adopts a “equity + token” hybrid PIPE structure, where Heritage will raise $100 million in cash by issuing common stock and warrants, while receiving IP tokens from institutions such as the Story Foundation at a fixed price of $3.4 per share. Upon completion of the transaction, the company’s treasury will hold approximately 52.5 million IPs (valued at $361 million based on the closing price of $6.8785 on August 10, 2025).

WISELINK leads a $10 million funding round, becoming the first publicly listed company in Taiwan to invest in a Bitcoin treasury.

Top Win International, a Nasdaq-listed company, announced that it has completed a $10 million financing, led by the Taiwanese listed company WISELINK CO., LTD. (TW: 8932), becoming the first Taiwanese listed company to invest in a Bitcoin treasury.

WiseLink completed its investment through a three-year convertible bond and established a strategic partnership with Top Win to promote the “Bitcoin + Cross-Border Finance” framework. Top Win plans to primarily use the funds to purchase Bitcoin and may invest in publicly listed companies adopting Bitcoin treasury strategies, while also using it for working capital. This financing has also attracted other private investors, including Chad Koehn, the founder of United Capital Management, and four other investors.

According to news on May 16, Top Win has been renamed AsiaStrategy and is collaborating with Sora Ventures to advance the Asian Bitcoin Vault strategy.

Centralized Finance

Transak completes $16 million strategic financing, led by IDG Capital and Tether

Web3 payment infrastructure company Transak announced the completion of a $16 million strategic financing round, led by IDG Capital and Tether, with participation from Primal Capital, 1kx, Protein Capital, and Fuel Ventures. Transak plans to use the funds to expand its stablecoin payment network and enter new markets. The company stated that approximately 30% of the $2 billion transaction volume comes from stablecoin liquidity, and it has obtained compliance licenses in multiple regions including the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, Australia, and India. Tether currently holds over 60% market share in the stablecoin market.

Kenya’s Web3 payment platform HoneyCoin completes $4.9 million financing, led by Flourish Ventures

Kenya’s Web3 payment platform HoneyCoin has announced the completion of a $4.9 million financing round led by Flourish Ventures. The funds will be used to expand operations, enrich the product line, and introduce executives. HoneyCoin founder David Nandwa started the company at the age of 19 in 2020, and the platform’s monthly transaction volume has now exceeded $150 million, serving 350 enterprise clients and hundreds of thousands of users. HoneyCoin achieves instant or same-day settlement through a stablecoin-compatible platform, supports business in 45 countries, and has established partnerships with institutions such as MoneyGram, UBA Bank, and Stripe. This financing will help further expand its team and compliance layout.

Blockchain payment company Riva completes $3 million seed round financing, led by Project A, with participation from J.P. Morgan and others

Global payment company Riva Money announced the completion of a $3 million seed round led by Project A, with individual investors from Revolut, Monzo, and J.P. Morgan participating in the investment. Riva leverages blockchain technology and stablecoins to optimize cross-border payment processes, addressing pain points such as high costs and slow settlement in existing systems, while also offering more favorable exchange rate options. The company was co-founded by former Revolut and Wise executives Niklas Hoejman and Mahendra Katoch, and is applying for UK and EU payment institution licenses as well as MICA and VASP licenses to promote global regulatory expansion.