5 High-Potential DeFi Projects That Recently Raised Millions From Top VCs
Follow where the VC’s money is flowing and you’ll be able to identify the next promising crypto projects before they even launch their token.
One of the best strategies to uncover the next hot crypto narratives, big airdrops, and high-potential blockchain projects is to monitor where large investment funds are directing their capital.
The easiest way to do this is on DefiLlama’s Raises page, Cryptorank or CoinDesk.
While raising money from notable investors doesn’t guarantee the project’s success, it does give it a runway to survive different conditions, including a bear market.
In this post, we’ll go over 5 projects that have recently attracted the attention of top investors with their innovative solutions and that should be on your crypto radar!
1. Worldcoin
Tools for Humanity, the team behind Worldcoin, recently raised an astounding $115 million in a single round, bringing its total fundraising sum to $240 million.
Worldcoin is building the world’s largest identity and financial network and aims to create universal access to the global economy that will benefit every person on the planet. It is a decentralized open-source protocol co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
The project consists of 3 parts: World ID, a digital identity that proves you’re a real person while protecting your privacy; Worldcoin, a utility and governance token that will be globally and freely distributed to people just for being a unique individual; and World App, an application enabling global payments, purchases and transfers using the Worldcoin token, digital assets, and traditional currencies.
Worldcoin is introducing a new system called Proof-of-Personhood which consists of scanning your iris to validate your identity. This of course has raised concerns over privacy-related questions.
The crypto hasn’t officially launched yet, and the team is currently trying to get more people to sign up. It aims to register 2 billion users before launch by incentivizing them with free tokens.
From a technical perspective, Worldcoin is built upon Ethereum and uses a layer-2 network with Optimistic Rollups to handle scalability. This enables it to benefit from Ethereum’s security while allowing for fast transactions and compatibility with many existing tools and services.
According to its website, 1.5 million people have already joined the World App pre-release and more than 500,000 use it every month.
Wordcoin might seem like an Orwellian nightmare, but by raising an impressive amount of funds from notable investors (giving we’re officially still in the bear market), it could have a bright future ahead.
If you want to become part of the Worldcoin ecosystem, you can download the Android or iOS World App here and see if you’re currently eligible to get verified (regarding your age and country of residence).
2. Polyhedra
Polyhedra raised $15 million in a Pre-Series A round led by Polychain Capital in April, after already raising $10 million in February from top investors such as Binance Labs.
California-based Polyhedra Network is developing a set of solutions focusing on blockchain interoperability, scalability, and privacy.
It’s using zero-knowledge proof technology to build zkBridge, a solution used to send assets between Web 2 and Web 3 which recently launched its mainnet; ZK-DID, a ZK decentralized identity solution; and ZK-NFT, a programmable NFT protocol.
Pulling off 2 relatively large fundraising rounds a few months apart from notable investors is putting Polyhedra ahead of its competition.
Pertaining to several strong crypto narratives, such as ZK-proofs and decentralized identity makes Polyhedra a project worth monitoring.
3. Webb Protocol
Webb Protocol raised $7 million in a seed round led by Polychain Capital and Lemniscap in May.
Webb Protocol is a multi-chain privacy technology allowing assets to be transferred across blockchains while ensuring financial anonymity.
The frequency with which assets are transferred across different chains makes the risk related to data privacy substantial. Webb is building a new cross-chain privacy standard via its private bridge protocol called The Webb Anchor System.
The Webb Anchor System is an interoperable zero-knowledge proof-based system for privately moving assets between blockchains. The team also plans to extend its solution into a cross-chain messaging system.
With blockchain interoperability and privacy being pressing blockchain-related issues, Webb Protocol is an intriguing project to have on your watchlist, especially as it’s backed by renowned investment partners.
Currently, you can try out the beta version of the bridge.
4. Catalyst
Cata Labs, a blockchain infrastructure startup behind Catalyst, raised $4.2 million in a seed round led by venture-capital firm The Spartan Group.
Catalyst is an open-source protocol that provides liquidity between modular blockchains. Any modular blockchain can opt into the Catalyst ecosystem to have the Catalyst solution integrated into its blockchain.
According to Catalyst, the future will hold thousands of modular blockchains that will need to communicate with each other. The team is thus building a cross-chain bridge to make the interaction between different blockchains and the transfer of assets easier and seamless.
Catalyst allows the swapping of native assets, removing the need for wrapped tokens. It aims to dissolve the barriers between chains, giving people the freedom to navigate all of Web 3.0.
Catalyst is an exciting project to track because it has raised significant funds from top VCs, is completely at the beginning of its development, and fits nicely into the modular and multi-chain narrative.
Currently, the product is not available for testing, but you can sign up for the waitlist to join Alpha as soon as it’s ready in a few months.
5. PlayBux
PlayBux raised $2 million in April in a seed round led by Binance Labs.
Playbux is a blockchain-based e-commerce metaverse platform built on the BNB chain that integrates Shop-To-Earn, DeFi, and NFT activities.
Users can earn Playbux tokens by purchasing merchandise in the real world and receiving codes that can be used to redeem metaverse items or PBUX tokens in the metaverse. Over 20k merchants are included, such as AliExpress and Alibaba.
Playbux aims to revolutionize digital commerce by integrating blockchain and DeFi platforms into one virtual world. It’s already the 15th top crypto dApp by wallet activity.
The Playbux token hasn’t been launched yet, but if you want to start earning your first rewards, you can create an account and connect your wallet here.
Being part of the Metaverse narrative and having such eminent VCs as Binance, Playbux is a very interesting emerging project to keep an eye on.
Zooming out
Monitoring which projects established venture capital firms are betting their money on can provide invaluable insight into which blockchain niches are currently gaining traction.
ZK proofs, metaverse, blockchain interoperability, privacy, decentralized identity - they’re all part of trending crypto narratives.
In this article, we went over 5 projects that have raised substantial funds from notable VCs and are pursuing innovative solutions in their field of expertise.
By putting such projects on your crypto watchlist, you are in the know and gain an edge over the crowd.
PS: If you want to learn how to make a consistent profit from the Metaverse in 2023 and beyond, check out my free guide How To Make Your First $1000 In The Metaverse.
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Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and should not be considered as financial or any other advice. Always do your own due diligence before investing your hard-earned money.