Over $1.8 billion flowed into crypto companies and funds this week, up 36% from last week

The crypto financing environment continued to heat up this week, with multiple large-scale financings and funds launched one after another.

According to PitchBook data, more than $1.82 billion in new capital entered the crypto space, up 36% from $1.34 billion last week. The total money invested this week came from about 30 deals and funds.

Immutable got off to a strong start this week, with a $200 million funding round on Monday that valued the company at $2.5 billion. The round was led by Temasek, with other investors including Animoca Brands, Tencent, ParaFi Capital, Princeville Capital, Arrington Capital, Mirae Asset and Liberty Global.

On Tuesday, Bain Capital Ventures, which manages about $155 billion in assets, launched a $560 million crypto-focused venture capital unit, Bain Capital Crypto. Bain Capital Crypto managing partner Stefan Cohen said the funds will be deployed in about 30 companies or protocols focused on DeFi and crypto infrastructure.

Cohen said on Tuesday that over the next 10 years, the Bain Capital Crypto team expects crypto technology to be integrated and embedded into traditional consumer and business software stacks, and plans to invest in companies that bridge protocols to software ecosystems.

Separately, Singapore-based platform Cake DeFi has launched its corporate venture capital arm with $100 million in capital. Cake DeFi Ventures (CDV) said it will focus its investments on Web3, the metaverse, NFT, gaming, esports, and fintech, which will help boost its core business.

According to Israeli newspaper Calacalist, Ethereum second-layer developer StarkWare is raising at least $100 million, which will increase its valuation to $6 billion. StarkWare declined to comment. An unnamed insider said he could not confirm the news, but said "it sounds completely reasonable."

The new valuation is three times the $2 billion valuation four months ago, when the company raised $50 million in a Series C round led by Sequoia Capital.

Other notable financings this week:

• Okcoin announced the “Bitcoin Odyssey” initiative to invest $165 million in Bitcoin-focused DeFi applications over the next 12 months;

• Espresso Systems, a Web3 application scaling and privacy solution, has raised $32 million in funding;

• Stablecoin payment developer Kado completes $5.4 million fundraising;

• Swim Protocol raised $4 million in seed funding from Pantera Capital, with participation from FTX, Alameda Research, Coinbase Ventures, and others.