Flare (flr) 
Venture capital (VC) investors were active last week, with Centrifuge, Crypto Valley Exchange, and Nebra securing new rounds of funding.
Crypto Valley Exchange
The $7 million funding round included pre-seed and seed rounds, with Fabric Ventures and Kyber Capital Crypto Fund co-leading the effort.
Crypto Valley Exchange also received support from backers like AMDAX, Wave Digital, Funfair Ventures, and the Seier Capital Family Office.
CVEX aims to offer a decentralized exchange (DEX) for crypto enthusiasts, focusing on transparent and cost-effective futures and options trading. Its specialized bid-offer dynamics aim to outperform existing trading platforms.
The upcoming mainnet launch on Arbitrum (ARB) this summer will introduce enhanced trading features compatible with user wallets on Ethereum (ETH), Optimism (OP), and Solana (SOL).
With nearly 160,000 users signed up for early access during the testnet phase, CVEX hopes to disrupt the derivatives market landscape.
Centrifuge
Centrifuge, a leading platform for on-chain finance, announced a $15 million Series A funding round. The oversubscribed round was supported by a diverse group of investors.
The funding will aid Centrifuge’s plans to launch an institutional-grade lending market for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization on the Base layer-2 network, integrating with Coinbase Verification.
This initiative aims to provide swift and secure onboarding for institutions seeking exposure to real-world assets, offering instant liquidity and lending options against asset holdings.
Nebra
Nebra, a blockchain and zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) research platform, secured $4.5 million in investment during its pre-seed and seed rounds, led by Nascent and Bankless Ventures.
The funding included participation from angel investors like Tim Beiko, Kartik Talwar, and Nick White.
Nebra plans to create a “shared settlement layer” for web3, reducing proof settlement costs on major blockchains, including Ethereum.
Nascent co-founder Dan Elitzer compared Nebra’s approach to advancing blockchain ZKP settlements to the disruptive strategies of major technology companies like Google and Uber.
During the first quarter of 2024, global investors injected $2.5 billion into crypto-related startups, according to PitchBook.
