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This is the 98th edition of The Web3 + AI Daily - your definitive guide to the intersection of blockchain and AI. If the amount of VC money flowing into crypto is any indication of the sector’s financial health - and it surely is - then we are definitely back in a bull market.
September saw an impressive wave of funding rounds, spanning both the Web3 + AI space and the broader crypto industry. Below is a summary of some of the most interesting deals.
Thank you for being here! Let’s dive in.
Web3 + AI Money Rounds
Binance Invests $100M in Circle
Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and superapps, has invested $100M in Circle, the entity behind the USDC stablecoin.
The two companies have partnered before, and now agreed to expand their relationship for another five years. In addition to the stake it acquired in Circle, Binance has committed under the new deal to promote USDC across its platform, introducing millions of people around the world to the stablecoin. Yet Binance won’t do this for free:
While the deal does not directly involve companies bringing Web3 and AI together, I believe it is still worth highlighting. Not only because of Circle’s growing ambition to power the emerging agentic economy, but also because of what Binance’s move says about its strategy.
Over the last couple of years, Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) have been involved in a series of scandals and reputational setbacks. As a result, the exchange has fallen behind competitors such as Coinbase and Robinhood.
Coinbase, in particular, has emerged as a major player in agentic payments through its x402 payment standard, which is built around USDC. Seen in this context, Binance’s investment in Circle makes a great deal of strategic sense.
Finloop Welcomes HSBC as Strategic Investor
Finloop HK, the “AI-driven global one-stop Web5 (Web2+Web3) wealth technology platform,” closed a $10M Series A round supported by strategic investors like HSBC and People’s Capital.
Cheng Kang, Chairman of Finloop, said: “Finloop has built an enterprise-grade AI wealth management platform that comprehensively covers a full range of products, including cash management, funds, structured products, bonds, insurance, and virtual assets. Finloop will take this milestone as an opportunity to further empower financial institutions and corporate clients with more efficient, secure, and comprehensive technology solutions for wealth management and capital operations. Driven by technological innovation, compliance and security, we will collaborate with industry partners to explore a new paradigm for wealth management in the digital era.”
NEAR, Animoca Brands, and More Fund Perp DEX Perptools
The AI-driven perpetual trading platform PERPTools, part of DEXTools.io, raised $8M across its pre-seed and seed rounds.
According to an announcement shared with crypto.news, the team behind DEXTools raised $3 million in a pre seed round at a $30 million fully diluted valuation before securing another $5 million at an $80 million valuation.
DEXTools Ventures and Orderly Network led the first round, which closed in December 2025 after fundraising began a month earlier. Big Brain Holdings, NEAR Protocol, Animoca Brands, Sfermion and Shima Capital joined the seed round in early 2026.
PERPTools is building a decentralized perpetual futures platform that combines an exchange with autonomous AI trading agents and prediction markets. Its infrastructure uses Orderly Network’s liquidity layer, while its connection with DEXTools gives the project access to an existing trading analytics platform used by millions of traders.
Agentum Gets $7M to Power Trust and Settlement for the Autonomous Agent Economy
The protocol for autonomous agentic commerce Agentum raised $7M in a money round backed by MEXC Ventures, BingX, Arcaze The Builder, Wave Digital Assets, BlockTower Capital, Greenwood Global Capital, UZ Capital, Vega, and others.
Undisclosed Funding Rounds and M&A
TRM Labs Announces Series C Expansion at $2B Valuation
TRM Labs, the AI-native blockchain intelligence and investigation platform, has announced an expansion of its Series C raise concluded in February 2026. This latest funding, led by Blockchain Capital, doubled the company’s valuation, bringing it to $2B.
“In February, we led TRM’s Series C. Since then, we’ve had a front row seat to a significant period of growth. This latest investment reflects that growth, and our firm conviction that TRM is the AI investigations platform of the future,” said Spencer Bogart, CFA, general partner at Blockchain Capital. “TRM is helping to disrupt almost every facet of digital crime and, more critically, is now defining the category of AI investigations — a horizontal AI use case soon to be as widely known and used as coding and customer service.”
Multicoin Capital Backs Grass - the Read Layer for Machine Intelligence
Multicoin Capital has unveiled an investment in Grass from both its hedge fund and its venture fund, classifying the company as one of the clearest examples of a DePIN working at commercial scale.
Other Notable Rounds
4dlabs1, data layer for verifiable physical AI, was backed by YZi Labs.
XStable AI, AI-native infrastructure for onchain gold and FX trading, received investment from YZi Labs, Sui Foundation, Taisu Ventures, and CatcherVC.
Travix, the world’s first AI compute omnibroker, closed its Seed round from Amber Group.
AI model marketplace operator Cubed raised funding from Taisu Ventures.
LimeWire, Web3 + AI file-sharing and content studio, has been acquired by BabyDoge.
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Disclaimer: The content of this newsletter is provided for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing contained herein should be construed as financial advice or as a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any of the companies or assets mentioned.
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