Explore

Web3 Venture Funding Roundup (Late July 2025)

Web3 Venture Funding Roundup (Late July 2025)

Abstract

This article offers a comprehensive overview of Web3 venture capital activity between July 24 and August 4, 2025, spotlighting key funding rounds and identifying the core trends in the web3 funding terrain. Headline deals include Mill City Ventures’ $450 million raise to acquire SUI tokens as a treasury asset, OSL’s $300 million round to scale regulated crypto infrastructure, and Billions Network’s $30 million push toward privacy-preserving digital identity. Together, these rounds reflect a growing institutional focus on foundational infrastructure, decentralized social platforms, and compliant on-ramps to Web3.

The period marks a clear resurgence in funding activity, with over $1 billion in capital deployed across multiple segments, contributing to a year-to-date total that already exceeds 2024’s full-year venture flow. Notably, this revival is characterized by strategic, long-term capital from both crypto-native and traditional investors, targeting protocols with tangible utility, revenue models, and alignment with regulatory clarity.

This article synthesizes weekly funding data, emerging market dynamics, and institutional behavior to paint a picture of Web3’s evolving capital terrain.

Key Funding Rounds (July 24 – August 4, 2025)

During the last week of July 2025 and early August, several Web3 and crypto startups announced significant venture funding rounds. Below is a summary of each identified round, including the protocol/company, amount raised, key investors, announced date, valuation (if disclosed), intended use of funds, and a brief project description:

  • Mill City Ventures III, Ltd. – $450 million (Private Placement, announced July 31, 2025). Lead Investors: Karatage Opportunities (a London-based hedge fund) and the Sui Foundation (each providing a significant allocation) (businesswire). Other Investors: A large syndicate including Big Brain Holdings, Galaxy Digital, Pantera Capital, ATW Partners, Electric Capital, GSR, Arrington Capital, Maven 11 and others (businesswire). Valuation: Not disclosed (the raise was structured as a PIPE into the NASDAQ-listed Mill City). Purpose of Funds: To implement an “industry-first” Sui blockchain treasury strategy – essentially using 98% of the proceeds to acquire Sui (SUI) tokens as the company’s primary treasury asset (businesswire). About the Project: Mill City is a publicly traded specialty finance company pivoting to become a crypto treasury vehicle for Sui. By anchoring its balance sheet to SUI tokens (over 76 million SUI acquired at ~$3.64 each), Mill City aims to offer institutional investors a regulated, liquid way to gain exposure to the Sui network’s growth (businesswire). This massive raise – one of the largest of the year – effectively makes Mill City the first public Sui-focused treasury entity, backed by both crypto-native VCs and traditional funds (Galaxy Asset Management is serving as the asset manager) (businesswire).
  • OSL (OSL Group) – $300 million (Equity Funding Round, announced July 25, 2025). Lead Investor: Not publicly specified Other Investors: Not disclosed. Valuation: Not disclosed. Purpose of Funds: To accelerate OSL’s global expansion of regulated digital asset infrastructure and payment gateways (coinstats). About the Project: OSL is a Hong Kong-based institutional crypto trading and custody platform. This $300M raise marks a major milestone for OSL, providing capital to grow its compliant exchange, custody, and payment services worldwide (coinstats). This round is notable as one of the largest for a crypto enterprise in 2025, signaling renewed investor confidence in exchanges focused on regulatory alignment.
  • FG Nexus (Fundamental Global Inc.) – $200 million (Private Placement, announced July 30, 2025). Lead Investors: The round was co-led by a group of strategic crypto and finance firms, notably Galaxy Digital (Mike Novogratz’s firm) which also became a strategic advisor, and Kraken, which will assist with treasury management (globenewswire). Other Investors: Hivemind Capital, Syncracy Capital, Digital Currency Group (DCG), Kenetic Capital, and other global financial institutions participated (globenewswire). Valuation: Not explicitly stated (the deal involved 40 million prefunded warrants at $5.00 each globenewswire). Purpose of Funds: To launch an Ethereum-based treasury strategy – FG Nexus will use the proceeds to purchase large amounts of ETH as a reserve asset and stake it for yield (globenewswire). The company plans to leverage Ethereum’s network (on its 10th anniversary) for both treasury holdings and to integrate blockchain into its traditional merchant banking and reinsurance businesses (globenewswire). About the Project: Formerly known as Fundamental Global, FG Nexus is a Nasdaq-listed financial company repositioning itself as an Ethereum-focused investment vehicle. With heavyweight backers from both TradFi and crypto, it aims to provide investors “a capital markets vehicle engineered for Ethereum” – benefiting from ETH price exposure, staking rewards, and tokenized asset opportunities (globenewswire). The initiative is led by a team of Wall Street veterans and crypto pioneers (including ex-TD Ameritrade CEO Joe Moglia as an advisor), illustrating the blend of traditional finance expertise and Web3 vision behind the project (globenewswire).
  • Mercurity Fintech (MFH) – $200 million (Equity Line of Credit, announced July 21, 2025). Lead Investor: Solana Ventures (provided a committed equity financing facility)(globenewswire). Other Investors: Not applicable (sole investor arrangement with Solana Ventures). Valuation: Not disclosed (structured as an equity line, enabling drawdowns up to $200M). Purpose of Funds: To roll out a Solana-based digital asset treasury strategy – Mercurity aims to become a leading institutional holder of SOL, using the funds to accumulate Solana tokens and participate in staking, validator nodes, and Solana DeFi protocols for long-term yield (globenewswire). It will also invest in Solana ecosystem projects (e.g. tokenized real-world assets) to expand on-chain innovation (globenewswire). About the Project: Mercurity Fintech is a New York-based fintech company (NASDAQ: MFH) that is bridging traditional finance and Web3. It operates broker-dealer and asset management subsidiaries, and with this infusion, it’s expanding beyond fintech software into direct participation in decentralized networks (globenewswire). By securing Solana Ventures’ backing, Mercurity is positioning itself as a long-term strategic participant in Solana’s ecosystem – a move mirroring other treasury plays in Ethereum and Sui, but focused on SOL. (Note: This funding was announced just before the specified date range, but is included because it wasn't covered in the previous episode of this weekly funding update)
  • Billions Network – $30 million (Undisclosed round, announced July 31, 2025). Lead Investors: The round was backed by Polychain Capital and Coinbase Ventures (among other top VCs) (coincarp). Other Investors: Participants included Liberty City Ventures, Polygon Labs, and BITKRAFT Ventures (comcoincarp). Valuation: Not disclosed. Purpose of Funds: To develop “the first universal human-AI verification network” for digital identity (coincarp). In practice, this means scaling an identity platform that can verify real humans (and distinguish AI bots) in a privacy-preserving way using zero-knowledge proofs. About the Project: Billions is a mobile-first digital identity protocol aimed at enabling trust between humans and AI online. In the age of deepfakes and AI-generated content, Billions’ platform will allow verification of personhood without sacrificing privacy. Notably, the project draws inspiration from Sam Altman’s Worldcoin (“World” is even referenced in its materials) but intends to be non-biometric and privacy-centric. The backing by Coinbase and Polychain highlights how decentralized identity and social trust solutions are viewed as critical infrastructure in Web3’s next phase (coincarp). (This round also aligns with the broader trend of SocialFi and decentralized social networks, as protocols attempt to solve identity and authenticity – a key piece of the Web3 social puzzle.)
  • Courtyard (Courtyard.io) – $30 million (Series A, announced July 24–25, 2025). Lead Investor: Forerunner Ventures led the round (coinexplorers). Other Investors: New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Y Combinator, Burst Capital, Prelude Ventures, and ParaFi Capital participated (coinexplorers). Valuation: Not disclosed. Purpose of Funds: To scale up a physical collectibles tokenization platform – expanding marketplace features, user acquisition, and partnerships in the collectibles space. About the Project: Courtyard is a Web3 platform for tokenizing physical collectibles (think rare trading cards, sneakers, luxury goods), by minting NFTs that are 1:1 backed by the physical item stored in vaults. The $30M Series A demonstrates investor conviction in real-world asset (RWA) tokenization as a growing segment. With this capital, Courtyard aims to make trading real collectibles as easy as trading digital assets, bringing more liquidity and accessibility to collectors while bridging tangible assets into the blockchain ecosystem (coinexplorers).
  • The Open Platform (TOP) – $28.5 million (Undisclosed round, late July 2025). Lead Investors: Pantera Capital and Ribbit Capital co-led this investment (blockchainreporter). Other Investors: Included several strategic crypto funds (exact names beyond the leads were not specified in the public announcement). Valuation: Not disclosed. Purpose of Funds: To support development of The Open Platform, often abbreviated “TOP”, which aims to provide an open-source Web3 communications and engagement layer (details on TOP’s product are limited, but it’s generally described as a decentralized platform connecting developers and users). About the Project: TOP’s $28.5M raise from major crypto VCs suggests it’s working on core infrastructure – possibly related to decentralized messaging or developer tools for Web3 (the company had been quiet publicly). (Due to limited public info on TOP, this entry is based on investor disclosures blockchainreporter)
  • XTAO – $22.8 million (Strategic funding round, announced late July 2025). Lead Investors: Digital Currency Group (DCG) and other strategic investors (names not all specified) provided the funding (blockchainreporter). Other Investors: Not fully disclosed publicly. Valuation: Not disclosed. Purpose of Funds: To further develop XTAO’s platform, which is believed to be related to decentralized autonomous organizations or tooling (the name suggests a connection to DAOs). About the Project: Little was publicly described about XTAO at the time of funding. The round’s size and backing by DCG indicate it’s a noteworthy project likely focusing on DAO infrastructure or blockchain scalability solutions.
  • Spiko– $22 million (Undisclosed round, late July 2025). Lead Investors: White Star Capital and Blockwall Capital co-led the round (blockchainreporter). Other Investors: Not disclosed. Valuation: Not disclosed. Purpose of Funds: To fund Spiko’s development, which reportedly transforming cash management through tokenized infrastructure.
  • Soluna Holdings (Project Kati) – $20 million (Project financing round, announced July 27, 2025). Lead Investor: Spring Lane Capital (a sustainability-focused infrastructure investor)(datacenterdynamic). Other Investors: None in this tranche; Spring Lane also agreed to potentially extend up to $100M in additional capital for future phases (datacenterdynamics). Valuation: Not applicable (project financing deal). Purpose of Funds: To build a 35 MW green data center (Project Kati 1) in Texas, primarily for Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing (including AI workloads)(datacenterdynamics). The $20M will fund site construction, targeting energization by Q1 2026 (datacenterdynamics). About the Project: Soluna is a public company (NASDAQ: SLNH) that develops renewable energy-powered data centers.
  • XMTP (Ephemera Inc.) – $20 million (Series B, announced mid-July 2025). Lead Investors: The Series B was co-led by Union Square Ventures, a16z Crypto, and Lightspeed Venture Partners (theblock). Other Investors: Included Variant Fund, Coinbase Ventures, and others (from prior rounds Old Fashion Research – “Olda Crypto” – and some crypto angels were involved)(theblock). Valuation: The round reportedly valued XMTP’s network at ~$750 million (with a $300M equity valuation for the company) (theblock). Purpose of Funds: To advance XMTP’s decentralized messaging protocol – funding will accelerate the mainnet launch and expand the team building out the secure communication network (theblock). XMTP (Extensible Message Transport Protocol) enables wallet-to-wallet messaging, aiming to be the Web3 equivalent of email or WhatsApp, but user-controlled. About the Project: XMTP is an open messaging network for Web3, allowing developers to integrate interoperable, end-to-end encrypted messaging into any dApp (e.g. for NFT trading chats, DAO communications, etc.). The protocol decouples messaging from any single platform by using blockchain identities.

The funding data from late July 2025, combined with broader Web3 news of that week, reveal several key market trends:

1. Resurgence of Funding Activity and “Smart Money” Confidence

After a quiet 2022–2023, Web3 venture funding is rebounding in 2025. July 2025 alone saw $3.21 billion raised across 130 deals, pushing year-to-date funding above $20.7B (already eclipsing 2024’s total of $13.8B) (coinstats). This resurgence is not characterized by irrational exuberance, but by larger, more strategic investments – often led by top-tier funds. In Q2 2025, crypto VC funding hit $10.03B, the highest quarterly total since early 2022 (quicknode). Crucially, this wave is driven by “smart money” – institutional and disciplined investors – focusing on areas with real use cases and clearer regulatory outlooks (quicknode). Unlike the 2021 bull frenzy, 2025’s deals feature extended due diligence, sensible valuations, and targeted bets (31 mega-rounds over $50M occurred in Q2, mostly into companies with revenue or regulatory compliance)(quicknode). The late-July deals reflect this maturity: many financings were into infrastructure (e.g. stablecoin platforms, custody solutions, data centers) or into companies bridging traditional finance and crypto (treasury plays, exchanges). The overall uptick in deal value and count suggests that investor confidence is returning to the crypto sector, fueled by improving macro conditions and regulatory clarity in some jurisdictions (quicknode).

2. Infrastructure is King – Focus on Core Tech, Scalability, and Compliance

A dominant theme in these funding rounds is the heavy focus on infrastructure – the building blocks of the next-generation internet. Many of the week’s largest raises were for projects that fortify the Web3 tech stack or integrate crypto into traditional systems.

3. Real-World Asset Tokenization and Crypto’s Integration with Traditional Finance

A noticeable trend in the week’s funding news is the push toward real-world assets (RWA) and TradFi integration in crypto. Several investments show crypto reaching into traditional industries or vice versa. For example, Courtyard’s $30M (tokenizing physical collectibles) brings real-world items on-chain, aligning with a larger movement of RWA platforms gaining traction.

Conclusion

Web3 venture funding is regaining momentum, with smart capital flowing into infrastructure, compliance, and decentralized social layers. As foundational projects mature and regulatory clarity improves, the stage is set for the ecosystem’s next growth chapter. The focus now shifts from experimentation to execution. With fresh capital and a more disciplined investment lens, Web3 is evolving from a speculative terrain into a structured, innovation-driven economy.

References

Read next

Comments ()