VC Roundup: Crypto Investments Focus on Blockchain Infrastructure Amid Funding Challenges

Despite signs of stagnation in venture capital funding within the crypto industry and a challenging macro environment, investment continues to flow into specific blockchain infrastructure areas, including AI, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), tokenization, payments and real-world assets (RWA).

Kraken-backed Rails Goes Live Following $20M Funding

Cryptocurrency exchange Rails has secured $20 million in venture funding across two rounds, with the latest completed in April. The company is launching a trading platform designed to combine the speed and ease-of-use of centralized exchanges (CEX) with the benefits of decentralized markets.

Backing comes from crypto exchange Kraken, venture capital firm Slow Ventures, blockchain security firm Quantstamp and others. Slow Ventures described Rails as a “hy杂 trading platform offering professional traders the speed of a CEX without giving up custody.”

Castle Ventures Leads $7M Beam Fundraise

Stablecoin payment service provider Beam has closed a $7 million funding round to expand its compliance efforts and network capabilities. The Series Seed round was led by Castle Ventures, with additional participation from Bankless Ventures, Archetype, Arca, Verda Ventures and others.

Beam offers stablecoin payment rails for fintechs, banks and consumer platforms, already live on Visa Direct, Mastercard Send and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow system.

With this latest raise, Beam’s total funding now stands at $14 million. The company plans to deploy capital into Africa, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and the European Union.

Frachtis Debuts $20M Crypto-Native Fund

Former executive at staking provider Chorus One, Xavier Meegan, has launched Frachtis, a $20 million pre-seed fund. Backing comes from Theta Capital, RockawayX and others. The fund targets startups building decentralized AI, infrastructure and consumer applications.

Frachtis has already supported eight pre-seed and seed stage projects across DeFi and AI.

Inference Labs Secures $6.3M Funding

Web3 developer Inference Labs has raised $6.3 million to build a cryptographic trust layer for AI agents. Funding participation came from DACM, Delphi Ventures, Arche Capital and Lvna Capital.

Known as Proof of Inference, its cryptographic method uses zero-knowledge proofs to validate AI outputs. The company has launched a testnet featuring EigenLayer and Bittensor integrations.

Pantera Capital, Multicoin Capital Lead Gradient Network Seed Round

Gradient Network, developing a decentralized AI runtime on Solana, secured $10 million in seed funding led by Pantera and Multicoin Capital. The investment supports expansion of their decentralized AI infrastructure.

OKX and Story Launch $10M IP Innovation Fund

Crypto exchange OKX and programmable IP blockchain Story have established a $10 million ecosystem fund supporting startups innovating in IP frameworks. Funding utilizes IP tokens (STORY).

a16z Leads $33M Seed Round in Yupp

Blockchain startup Yupp closed a $33 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto arm. The firm is building an AI evaluation platform rewarding users with crypto for comparing AI model outputs.

Blueprint Finance Raises $9.5M

DeFi infrastructure developer Blueprint Finance has raised $9.5 million funding following the launch of its Ethereum-based yield platform (Concrete) and Solana-based services (Glow Finance). Investment led by Polychain Capital.

Units Network Secures $10M

Blockchain ecosystem Units Network built on Waves protocol raised $10 million led by Nimbus Capital. Investment aims to scale infrastructure and address scalability, decentralization challenges preceding its AI roadmap.