The Web3 + AI Funding Bulletin | April II

The second half of April 2024 did not disappoint in terms of Web3 + AI funding rounds.

Image generated using OpenAI's DALL-E 3

Hello and welcome!

This is The Web3 + AI Funding Bulletin, covering the latest investments in companies converging blockchain and artificial intelligence. As you will see below, the second half of April has recorded a fair share of Web3 + AI capital rounds, as the intersection of AI, blockchain, and gaming is once again attracting a lot of attention.

Thank you for being here! Let's dive in.

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Auradine Hints AI Product Launch After $80M Round

Auradine, a Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer, has closed an $80M Series B round, a mix of $60M equity and $20M debt, to enhance blockchain and AI infrastructure. StepStone Group, Top Tier Capital Partners, Mayfield Fund are among the stakeholders.

This strategic injection of capital will support Auradine’s ambitious roadmap, which includes expanding its blockchain and AI security solutions.

"We are working on an additional blockchain product line and an AI product line," [CEO Rajiv] Khemani said.

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CARV's AI and Gaming Data Layer Attracts $10M

CARV Protocol, building an AI and Gaming-focused modular blockchain, has closed a $10M Series A funding. The round was co-led by Tribe Capital and IOSG Ventures, and supported by HashKey Capital, SNACKCLUB, W3GG, Litentry, Consensys, OKX Ventures, Arweave, Marblex, and ARPA.

[CARV] is a data layer that permits cross-chain authentication, storage, processing, and monetization of data. It also has a cross-platform credentialing system for blockchain gaming that allows users to carry their identity between different platforms, and recently released an AI gaming assistant that integrates with cryptocurrency wallets.

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DeepLink Raises $8M to Redefine Cloud Gaming

The decentralized AI and Gaming company DeepLink has raised $8M through angels and investors like Gobi Ventures and ROCK Ventures.

DeepLink integrates AI, blockchain, and streaming technology to achieve unparalleled user cloud gaming experiences with low latency, high resolution, and uninterrupted gameplay.

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Prime Intellect to Build Decentralized AI Research Platform

Venture Capital firms like Distributed Global, CoinFund, Compound, Protocol Labs, Collab+Currency, and angels Erik Voorhees, Clement Delangue, and Dylan Patel have all participated in Prime Intellect's $5.5M investment. Its mission is to democratize AI development at scale by providing on-demand, cost-effective, and scalable compute, and enabling collective ownership of AI models.

Our vision: Build infrastructure to aggregate compute, develop distributed training frameworks, and create a protocol for decentralized AI development—enabling anyone to contribute resources, collectively train open models, and share in their ownership.

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Sortium Gets $4M to Boost Game Production

AI-powered 3D assets generation platform Sortium has closed a $4M money round led by Signum Growth, and supported by ARK Invest, IDG Blockchain, and IVC Fund.

Sortium facilitates game studios' work by delivering advanced AI tools for content creation automation. It leverages the Polkadot blockchain infrastructure.

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Web3 + AI Search Engine Adot Secures $3M Pre-A Round

Adot, the decentralized search engine founded by ex-Googlers, has secured a $3M Pre-A round, pushing its total funding to $6M. The investment is ensured by HashGlobal and gumi Cryptos.

Adot's mission is to create a trustworthy, decentralized search engine tailored for the AI era and Web3 networks.

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Other Web3 + AI Investments: Sharpe, AIT Protocol, Creator.Bid, NavyAI

The information I found about the following funding rounds was very limited, but I still consider them worth mentioning:

• The AI x Crypto super app Sharpe has closed its Seed round with participation from Animoca Brands, GBV Capital, Morningstar Ventures, and Maven Capital.

• The AI training-focused data infrastructure AIT Protocol was also supported by Animoca Brands.

• Creator.Bid, the project empowering users to monetize their AI-generated content and co-own AI Agents, received a capital injection by Mechanism Capital, ZeePrime Capital, Moonrock Capital, and Cogitent Ventures.

• NavyAI, the Solana-based AI training layer, has successfully closed its Seed round thanks to the support of AlfaDAO, XVentures, and Moni.

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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.

Please don’t take my views at face value. Instead, do your own research (DYOR), think critically, and share your perspective so we can challenge ideas, learn from one another, and arrive at better conclusions through thoughtful discussion.