The Venture Codex

Participated · Equity · Feb 2024

Analog develops interoperability tooling to enable unified liquidity and cross-chain transfer of assets. The project plans to build the Omnichain Analog Token Standard (OATS) to enable transfer of fungible and non-fungible assets across blockchains. Analog is also developing Firestarter, a real-world-asset (RWA) marketplace to tokenize real estate, collectibles and revenue-producing items. The team frames these products as solutions to fragmented liquidity that can impede tokenization adoption by traditional financial institutions. Financially, Analog completed a $15M token sale and now has $36M in total backing. The proceeds will be used to advance OATS, Firestarter and related interoperability efforts. Analog builds cross-chain communication tools aimed at helping developers pull and analyse on-chain data across multiple blockchains. Its tooling is positioned to simplify tasks such as aggregating DEX data for best-route price discovery. The company plans to use the newly raised capital to upgrade and expand those cross-chain developer tools. Analog secured $16 million in funding in the reported round, and the startup’s valuation is expected to reach $120 million after the raise. The round was backed by a mix of crypto projects, Web3 funds and venture firms including Near, Wintermute, Orange DAO, Benqi Finance, Quantstamp, Tribe Capital, Alumni Ventures and NGC Ventures, plus individuals such as Balaji Srinivasan and Samara Asset Group. Coverage notes rising demand for cross-chain solutions as Web3 becomes multichained and references other projects working on similar problems, such as LayerZero and Axelar.

Participated · Seed · Feb 2024

Velar is building Velar Artha, a decentralized perpetual derivatives exchange (PerpDEX) on Bitcoin that enables trustless perpetual derivatives trading using BTC as non-custodial collateral. The PerpDEX will support up to 20x leverage and aims to unlock dormant Bitcoin liquidity for advanced DeFi use cases. The product is slated to launch in Q2 2024 on Bitcoin Layer-2 protocol Stacks, and Velar plans to explore integrations with other leading L2s and scaling solutions. Velar’s broader suite includes a Uniswap v2-inspired AMM DEX for swaps and liquidity pools, yield-generation tools, and a token launchpad for Bitcoin-based projects. The company raised $3.5M in seed funding to accelerate development of these flagship products. The team is led by Co-Founder and CEO Mithil Thakore and Co-Founder Aravind Sathyanandham.

Led · Series A · Jul 2022

Topl operates a blockchain used to trace products such as conflict-free diamonds, ethically sourced coffee, and fair-wage cocoa, and is used by sustainability startups, move-to-earn apps and some Fortune 500 companies for ESG reporting. The company raised $15 million in a Series A and previously raised $5 million in a 2020 seed round. Over the next 12 months Topl plans to decentralize its blockchain to enable community governance and to hire additional talent. It will launch two blockchain-powered products: a traceability-as-a-service application next month and a registry-as-a-service application for carbon credits next year. Topl expects to have about 40 to 50 projects on-chain by the end of the year as it pursues broader adoption. Topl is a purpose-built blockchain ecosystem that enables companies and communities to record verifiable social and environmental impact claims on an immutable ledger. Its core product simplifies certification and track-and-trace for ethical supply chains, aiming to cut operational costs and increase transparency across industries such as fashion, agriculture, healthcare and energy. Topl plans to launch a Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) solution in early 2021 that offers two-click access to the Topl blockchain. The company announced a strategic partnership with TrackX to provide verifiable tracking and tracing for supply chain sustainability. Topl emphasizes diversity, equity and inclusion across its team and board and uses the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a guidepost. Financially, Topl closed a $3.0M seed round and has raised $4.4M in total venture capital since its 2017 founding.

Participated · Equity · Jul 2021

Chintai builds capital markets infrastructure using blockchain technology, offering a Blockchain Platform-as-a-Service (BPaaS) one-stop solution to optimize capital markets operations. Its regulated platform is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. The product suite includes dynamic security token issuance, secondary trading, and automated compliance infrastructure for regulated digital assets. Chintai’s platform incorporates a proprietary Sentinel-AI automated compliance engine and supports end-to-end white-labeling for enterprises. Led by CEO and founder David Packham, the company aims to bridge the gap between businesses and compliant blockchain technology. It recently received an investment from B1 and intends to use the funds to accelerate growth as it launches its core regulated platform. Chintai is a Singapore-based provider of a blockchain technology platform for compliant tokenization of traditional financial assets. Led by David Packham, the company targets asset managers, banks and enterprises with a product suite that enables regulated assets such as securities, debt and real estate to be tokenized. It uses Block.one's open source EOSIO protocol to provide compliance-enabled digital asset technology for issuance, secondary trading, automated market making, cap table management, custody and more. The company will use proceeds from its recent fundraising to expand its business reach and development efforts. Chintai raised $7.5M in a seed financing round reported in August 2021.

Led · Series B · Mar 2021

nextmarkets is a commission-free online broker that provides a stock exchange to trade shares and ETFs via a proprietary technology platform. The platform hosts professional investors, called coaches, who generate up to 300 curated investment ideas for users every month. Founded in 2014 by CEO Manuel Heyden and CTO Dominic Heyden, the company operates offices in Cologne, Lisbon and Malta and employs a team of 39. By the end of 2020 it had launched in Germany and Austria plus six additional countries: the United Kingdom, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Spain and Italy. nextmarkets intends to use recent funding to further develop the platform and accelerate European expansion. The core product blends trading infrastructure with curated investment ideas from professional coaches. nextmarkets operates a platform that helps private investors trade by offering real-time coaching from 14 investment professionals who analyze over 1,000 markets and deliver trading ideas on web and mobile. The company supports trading across stocks, indices, foreign exchange, commodities and plans to add ETFs and crypto currencies. Led by CEO Manuel Heyden and CTO Dominic Heyden, nextmarkets has offices in Cologne and Malta and recently obtained a banking license in Malta. Financially, the company has raised €12m to date and is continuing to scale its product and commercial footprint. The latest funding will be used to drive dynamic growth across Europe and globally. The product focus and regulatory positioning (banking license) support its expansion plans.