This week has been full of funding announcements. The largest came from Andrena, an Internet Service Provider (ISP), which announced its plans to launch DePIN for decentralized broadband.
The Decentralized Autonomous Wireless Network (DAWN) has raised a total of $18 million in a round led by Dragonfly. CMT Digital, Castle Island Ventures and Wintermute Ventures also contributed.*
“Andrena has been at the forefront of DePIN before the term existed. Since we first backed the company, they have built a large install base and are perfectly positioned to layer on the DAWN network,” said Nick Carter, co-founder of Castle Island Ventures. “We believe strongly in the idea that households will consume and provide network resources, and Andrena is an emerging market leader in this space.”
Read more: DePin projects have gained momentum on the Solana blockchain
According to a press release, the funds will be allocated to completing the protocol, expanding “Andrena’s subscriber base and relaying end-user transactions on-chain with DAWN.”
Another double-digit raise came from ZK-powered Vessel, which raised $10 million in a seed round. Sequoia, Scroll, and Folius Ventures all participated in the round.
The project says it “combines the efficiency and ease of use of centralized exchanges (CEX) with the transparency and security of decentralized platforms (Direct implementation“)
“Our mission is to transform cryptocurrency trading into a safe and seamless journey, improving transparency, accessibility and efficiency for all users. We are ready to revolutionize cryptocurrency trading with superior services in spot trading, perpetual trading and other innovative derivatives,” the team wrote in a post on X.
Other notable tours:
- Zoth, a DeFi infrastructure company, said it has raised $4 million in a strategic funding round. Investors include Taisu Ventures, Fat Cat Ventures and AstraX Capital.
- Payman AI, which builds artificial intelligence for human payments, Announce $3 million pre-funding round. Investors included Visa, CB Ventures and Untapped Capital.
- Blockscout, a block explorer for EVM-based chains, He said It has raised $3 million in a round led by 1kx. Other investors include Gnosis and Primitive Ventures.
- Nexio, a parallel Bitcoin pool, Announce $2.2 million seed round led by Lattice.
Disclosure: Jason Yanowitz, co-founder of Blockworks and host of Empire, also participated in the DAWN Tour.
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