Gazing into a Crystal Ball…
If you could see the future, would you want to? While crystal balls may interest some, they may not hold merit when predicting VC deals in 2024 and beyond. Today’s headlines can only comment on the past, not predict the future. Remember, those making predictions may be gazing into a crystal ball of what happens next for VCs and startups.
Our advice: Learn from the past and move forward confidently because there are always deals (and $) to be made somewhere.
Some notable trends this week:
- A slow start to funding
- Blockchain is “where it’s at”
- Foreign deals dominating; U.S. funding lags
Up next are this week’s top 5 VC deals…
1Akron Energy
$110 million, Capital| Equity | Australia | Blockchain | Bluesky Capital Management, Kestrel 0x1, Nural Capital | https://www.arkonenergy.com/
TechCrunch Overview:
“Arkon’s business model focuses on strategically acquiring distressed data center assets across the globe…”
2Nearpay
$14 million, Series A, Capital| Equity | Saudi Arabia | Payments | Sanabil Investments, stc, Vision Ventures, Hala Ventures, Arzan Ventures | https://www.nearpay.io/
LinkedIn Overview:
“Nearpay is a fintech startup based in Saudi Arabia, on a mission to make payments easy, secure, and accessible for every merchant. Our focus is simple: we build innovative payment infrastructure solutions that cater to banks, payment providers, and SaaS startups…“
3Medallion
$13.7M, Series A, Capital | Equity| NYC | Blockchain | Dragonfly, Lightspeed Faction, Coinbase Ventures, Infinite Capital, J17, The Chernin Group, Third Prime, Zeal Capital, Bill Silva Entertainment, Black Squirrel, Foundations Artist Management, Method, TAG Music, Jungle, Mt. Joy, Guy Lawrence (Disclosure), Tiga| https://www.medallion.fm/
LinkedIn Description:
“The artist-to-fan connection is fractured, limiting an artist’s ability to build tailored creative experiences and sustainable economic opportunities. Medallion is web3 technology that helps artists launch digital worlds to expand fan participation, actionable insights, and economic potential.“
4Tres Finance
$11M, Series A, Capital| Equity | Israel–based web3 tax services firm | Blockchain | Faction, New Form, Boldstart Ventures, Cyber Fund, Ambush Capital | https://www.tres.finance/
LinkedIn Description:
“Get the full and accurate picture across all of your Web3 financial activity. Web3 finance teams, asset managers and crypto service providers can now make Web3 accounting, audit and reporting the easiest part of their financial workflow…“
5Cumulus Encrypted Storage System
$8M, Series A, Capital |Equity | Singapore | Blockchain | HTX Venture, Infinity Ventures Crypto, DWF Labs, Mentha Partners, Vespertine Capital, Web3 Foundation, Singchain Investment, 7 O’Clock Capital, SolrDAO, FishDAO, OneBlock+, Winkrypto, Polkadot Ecology Research Institute | https://cess.cloud/
Website Description:
“CESS (Cumulus Encrypted Storage System) is a blockchain-powered decentralized storage and content delivery network (CDN) infrastructure for Web3. Users and creators alike use the platform for on-chain data sharing, whilst builders can develop and deploy DApps...“
