Participated · Seed · Dec 2023

Hivello is an Amsterdam-based DePIN aggregator focused on making DePINs more accessible. Its platform allows users to contribute computing resources and earn through various Web3 protocols. The company aims to remove technical complexity from decentralized networks so non-technical users can participate in Web3 projects. Hivello plans to use recent funding to further innovate and simplify DePIN nodes and make them more user-friendly. The report describes the transaction as a strategic investment but does not disclose financial terms. Hivello is a Toronto-based blockchain payment solution provider dedicated to transforming accessibility of decentralized services globally. It operates in the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePIN) sector and aims to democratize access to decentralized infrastructure. The company provides a blockchain payment solution to facilitate access to decentralized services. Recently Hivello raised an additional USD $1.5M, bringing the total amount raised during the last month to USD $2.5M. The company intends to expand its technological capabilities, expedite product development, and strengthen its market position as a leader in DePIN services. Hivello is led by Chairman Domenic Carosa, and investors include Blockchange, Cypher Capital, MH Ventures, Primal Capital, Contango Digital Assets, Candaq, NGC, Blockchain Founders Fund, and IDG. Hivello advances decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) to transform accessibility of decentralized services globally. The company is led by Domenic Carosa and Andrew Smith and is based in Amsterdam and London. Hivello plans to launch its technology this Christmas and expects to integrate up to 100 DePINs over the next 12 months. It raised USD $1M in a Pre-Seed funding round to support those efforts. The capital will be used to expand operations and development work. The company’s core product centers on leveraging DePIN to broaden availability of decentralized services worldwide.

Participated · Seed · Sep 2021

Waggle Network is a cross-chain protocol focused on unlocking liquidity for post-IDO and vested tokens by enabling projects to raise funds through their communities. The founding team has deep DeFi experience and built the product to address illiquid OTC deals and unfavourable sales terms for projects after IDOs. The company raised a $3 million seed round to accelerate development and go-to-market activities. Waggle has announced strategic partners including Solanium, Occam, and Poolz.finance and media partners such as Minted Labs and ODaily to support its multichain approach. The company plans upcoming challenges, airdrops, IDOs, and liquidity-mining programs as part of its launch strategy. The announcement lists Singapore as the company location and highlights access to investor portfolios and industry expertise through its backers.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2021

BENQI is a liquidity market protocol on Avalanche that combines elements of DeFi and traditional finance to put idle assets to work. Users can lock assets into the BENQI protocol to earn interest or obtain over‑collateralized loans, and locked assets can be tokenized into yield‑bearing tokens or re‑deployed into other DeFi protocols to generate additional yield. Governance of the protocol is managed by holders of the native QI token, with 50% of QI allocated to liquidity mining to reward participants. The BENQI mainnet launch was scheduled for Q2 2021 and a public sale of the QI token was planned on the Pangolin exchange. The team intends for BENQI to evolve into a cross‑chain DeFi hub that will bridge Ethereum, Polkadot, and Binance Smart Chain via Avalanche subnets.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2021

Konomi Network builds a decentralized money market and full‑suite asset management platform using Substrate to support cross‑chain crypto assets within the Polkadot ecosystem. Users can manage holdings, trade assets, and earn interest through decentralized lending and money‑market products, and the protocol issues a native token for liquidity and governance. The team plans to add Ethereum Virtual Machine support and enable smart contract deployment, introduce decentralized liquidity swap functionality, and launch a standalone Konomi parachain. Konomi is preparing a public testnet and has slated token generation and listing for mid‑March. Financially, the project closed a $5M raise in three investment rounds from crypto funds to advance its roadmap. In the short term Konomi is pursuing strategic collaborations with leading DeFi projects across Ethereum and Polkadot communities and will conduct a community sale via an IDO on Polkastarter.

Participated · Seed · Dec 2020

Tidal Finance is a New York–based startup building a DeFi insurance application on the Polkadot blockchain that pools liquidity to insure multiple decentralized finance applications against smart-contract failures or breaches. Its core product backs multiple applications from a single liquidity pool to improve capital efficiency, and it plans three risk-tiered pools (low, moderate, high) with as many as 20 applications in lower-risk pools at launch. The team chose Polkadot for lower gas costs and cross-chain liquidity prospects, and notes that applications do not need to be native to Polkadot—early covers will likely include Ethereum-based DeFi. Tidal issued a TIDAL token that captures a portion of origination fees and functions as a governance token, with a fixed supply of 20 billion tokens. A disclosed distribution allocates roughly 12% to the token sale, 10% to the team, 12% to a liquidity mining program, and 39% to staking rewards, with the remainder split between reserve, treasury and ecosystem. The company raised a $1.95 million seed round for the TIDAL token and expects the first insurance pools to go live in Q1 2021.