This Week in Blockchain Venture Capital – Sept. 25
CoinAlpha, a Mountain View-based startup using blockchain technology to create the next wave of transparent, efficient, and secure financial products, recently closed a $3.5 million seed round. Already involved with StartX, Stanford University’s accelerator program, other participants in the round included Bain Capital Ventures, SharesPost Investment Management, Alpha Startups, and Ironfire Ventures.
On a mission to decentralize finance, CoinAlpha is building protocols for smart contract-based financial products that are more open, fair, and secure than those of the legacy financial system. One of CoinAlpha’s current projects is the Basket Protocol, an open-source protocol for Ethereum tokens containing a portfolio of other Ethereum tokens.
CASPIAN, a Sydney-based institutional grade trading platform for cryptoassets, recently raised $16 million in a pre-sale of its CSP token. Participating in the round were Galaxy Investment Partners (lead), Kinetic, Techemy Capital, and Octagon Strategy. CASPIAN offers an Order and Execution Management System (OEMS), Portfolio Management Service (PMS), and Risk Management System (RMS). CASPIAN additionally provides a clean interface into all major cryptoasset exchanges, historical P&L, a set of trading algorithms, expert 24/7 customer service, compliance solutions, reporting assistance, and exposure tracking.
Crypto Valley Venture Capital (CV VC), a Switzerland-based consortium, has launched a launched a blockchain incubator with a goal of $100 million. The incubator dubbed “Genesis Hub” is aiming to fund 40 more startups in addition to the 20 startups currently in the program.
The program provides a three-month Kickstarter program and $125,000 seed funding to any approved startups while offering later stage financing to more developed startups.
Furthermore, startups participating in the incubator program will receive guidance and mentorship from experienced Crypto Valley Venture Capital Consultants. CV VC is said to be aiming to incubate 1,000 blockchain companies every year in exchange for a stake in their business of up to 8 percent in either shares or digital tokens. Moreover, Crypto Valley Venture Capital is looking to open similar incubators around the world in coming years.