• USDh

  Participated · Seed · Oct 2024

  USDh is a stablecoin developed by DeFi protocol Hermetica on the Bitcoin layer-2 Stacks network. Hermetica secured roughly $3 million in liquidity for USDh through a collaboration with Bitcoin lending protocol Zest, which Hermetica says will make USDh the largest stablecoin on Stacks. Hermetica and Zest plan to offer yield on USDh by lending against sBTC, the bitcoin-backed bridging asset used to bring BTC into the Stacks ecosystem. Hermetica said the initial liquidity boost could create a short-term window of higher yields, with projected APYs as high as 50% and a current average APY of 18%. The article notes that the $3 million is small relative to dominant stablecoins like USDT and USDC, highlighting the relative infancy of Bitcoin DeFi. Stablecoins are framed as integral to the crypto economy and important to Bitcoin's evolution into a network that can support DeFi capabilities.

• Liquidium

  Participated · Seed · Oct 2024

  Liquidium is a Bitcoin-native DeFi platform that offers peer-to-peer bitcoin lending and borrowing. Its protocol lets users borrow bitcoin using Bitcoin-based assets such as Ordinals and Runes as collateral, secured via Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBTs) and discrete logarithm contracts (DLCs) on Bitcoin layer one. The company launched a rune lending service weeks before this financing and says it continuously expands supported assets. Liquidium is compatible with wallets including Xverse, Unisat, and Leather and plans to add BRC-20 assets and integrate wallets like OKX and Phantom. Founded in 2022, Liquidium aims to be an Aave-like lending hub on native Bitcoin with mature liquidity pools for passive income and overcollateralized borrowing. Financially, Liquidium announced a $2.75M seed financing from a group of institutional and individual investors. The team intends to broaden access across the Bitcoin ecosystem and expand its reach into Eastern markets. Liquidium operates a P2P lending protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain that lets users use native Ordinals inscriptions as collateral to borrow and lend native bitcoin. The platform is designed to eliminate intermediaries and custodians by keeping collateral and lending interactions on-chain. Liquidium announced completion of a $1.25M Pre-Seed financing. Named participants in the round include Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Side Door Ventures, Actai Ventures, Sora Ventures, Spicy Capital, UTXO Management, and several angel investors. The article does not provide operating metrics, a founding year, or a company location.

• TES AI

  Participated · Series A · Jul 2024

  TES AI operates an AI computing-power protocol first launched on BNB Chain that leverages distributed computing and smart contract technology to deliver compute for real-time data processing, AI applications, and other high-compute scenarios. The platform incorporates a high-deflation model, a computing-power balance mechanism, a burning mechanism, and an innovative Dex414 protocol. TES AI charges fees for computing resources and uses a token reward mechanism to distribute fees to users who purchase computing power nodes. The protocol emphasizes token-driven incentives to align node operators and users. The company completed a $5 million financing round at a $100 million valuation, which strengthens its financial position following launch. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

• Inference Labs

  Participated · Seed · Apr 2024

  Inference Labs combines AI and Web3 to build infrastructure for efficient AI verification and automated liquid restaking strategies. The company has launched Omron.ai, a Bittensor subnet that integrates smart contracts, validator and mining nodes to support Liquid Staking Token (LST) and Liquid Restaking Token (LRT) activity. Omron enables users to create restaked ETH positions by contributing LSTs or ETH and select (re)staking services via an aggregation interface, producing ERC20 restaked tokens that can earn rewards and provide training data to the subnet. Inference Labs intends to use the funds to develop a network for AI verification using a Proof of Inference consensus, to grow the team, and to fast-track product development to catalyze an ecosystem. The company is led by co‑founders Colin Gagich (CEO) and Ronald Chan.

• ZeroLend

  Participated · Seed · Feb 2024

  ZeroLend is a decentralized lending protocol that focuses on DeFi lending, RWAs, privacy, and account abstraction. It is currently the largest lending protocol on zkSync and the third-largest on Manta by total value locked (TVL). The project plans to launch its native governance token ZERO in Q1 2024 and run a series of airdrop initiatives under its Zero Gravity campaign to engage users. ZeroLend reports rapid growth, with TVL rising roughly 1500% from $3 million to $50 million and averaging around 100k daily active users. The protocol highlights integrations with Pyth and potential future integrations across the Manta and zkSync ecosystems. Development and expansion have been incubated by MahaDAO and are funded in part by recent seed and private round financing.

No current team members are available.