Crypto startups raised $107.6 million between July 28 and Aug. 3, led by Morpho’s $50 million strategic round and key investments in DuelNow and Daylight. In another eventful week for blockchain startups, 19 companies collectively secured $107.6 million in funding.

Morpho, $50 Million

Leading the pack, decentralized crypto lender Morpho raised $50 million in a strategic round led by Ribbit Capital, with significant contributions from a16z and Coinbase Ventures. The funding will enhance Morpho’s decentralization and support its mission to make financial infrastructure a public good.

The company, initially an optimization layer for Aave and Compound, has evolved into Morpho Blue, a comprehensive lending protocol with built-in risk management features. CEO Paul Frambot emphasized the new funding would improve Morpho’s decentralization and support its global growth.

DuelNow, $11 Million

Decentralized sports betting platform DuelNow secured $11 million in fresh capital, with $10 million from GEM Digital Limited and $1 million from prominent angel investors, including Litecoin creator Charlie Lee and Dogecoin co-founder Billy Markus. DuelNow aims to redefine the sports betting industry by using blockchain technology on the Arbitrum network, promising a transparent and peer-to-peer betting experience.

Daylight, $9 Million

Daylight, specializing in decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) for energy distribution, raised $9 million in a series A round led by a16z Crypto, joined by Framework Ventures and others. Daylight aims to optimize energy consumption and distribution by connecting various energy devices, such as solar panels and electric vehicle chargers, to a decentralized network.

The initiative seeks to provide more efficient energy solutions, potentially transforming the energy sector by leveraging distributed technologies.

Hyperbolic Labs, $7 Million

AI infrastructure startup Hyperbolic Labs Inc. closed a $7 million seed funding round led by Polychain Capital and Lightspeed Faction. The company plans to develop a platform that aggregates idle GPU resources globally to provide affordable AI compute power. Hyperbolic Labs aims to democratize access to AI technology, offering significant cost reductions for businesses and researchers needing high-performance computing.

Other Noteworthy Investments

Pichi Finance, a protocol focused on trustless points trading, raised $2.5 million in a seed round led by UOB Venture Management, Signum Capital, and Mantle Network. Raad Labs, a blockchain climate tech company, collected $2.25 million to enhance climate data measurement through a distributed sensor network. Other companies in pre-seed rounds and unknown rounds collectively raised $11.1 million.

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