Stripe Acquires Bridge for $1.1B, Bluesky Secures $15M Funding

Bridge, a stablecoin startup launched less than three years ago, announced a deal this week that would leave many crypto entrepreneurs eager for similar opportunities.

Stripe, the payment processing giant based in San Francisco, has agreed to acquire Bridge for $1.1 billion.

This acquisition may spark curiosity among crypto entrepreneurs about when their projects might attract a significant buyer. In the meantime, startups in their early stages will need to keep appealing to venture capitalists to secure their funding.

Here are the latest startups securing funding, based on data from Crypto Fundraising gathered between October 20 and October 26:

Bluesky, $15 million

• Bluesky has successfully completed its Series A funding round.
• The decentralized social networking platform raised $15 million from key investors, including Blockchain Capital.

Variational, $10.3 million

• Variational offers a peer-to-peer trading protocol designed for perpetual and generalized derivatives.
• The company has secured $10.3 million in a seed funding round led by investors including Bain Capital Crypto and Peak XV Partners.

Validation Cloud, $10 million

• Validation Cloud is a web3 infrastructure platform that emphasizes scalable and compliant solutions for enterprises.
• The firm has raised $10 million from True Global Ventures.
• To date, Validation Cloud has accumulated a total of $15.8 million in funding.

Crypto VC funding rounds < $10 million

• Web3 mobile gaming platform Party Icons secured $9 million.
• Digital investment marketplace STOKR raised $7.98 million from Fulgur Ventures.
• Karpatkey, which provides DAO Treasury services, garnered $7 million.
• Full-stack decentralized platform Azura raised $6.9 million in a seed round.
• Non-custodial crypto trading platform Shuttle Labs acquired $6 million from CMCC Global.
• Crypto exchange Hata achieved $4.2 million in a seed round led by Castle Island Ventures and Nic Carter.
• Hana Network raised $4 million from investors including Binance Labs, Sushi, and Orange DAO.
• Decentralized borrowing platform Fluid Protocol raised $3.9 million in a seed round.
• Moonwalk Fitness secured $3.4 million with support from lead investors like Hack VC.
• Borderless raised $3.3 million in a pre-seed round led by Amity Ventures.
• Opti Games Studio raised $2 million, backed by L1 Digital as the lead investor.
• NFT marketplace Ordzaar raised $2 million from leading investors such as LongHash Ventures.
• Decentralized infrastructure platform Craftt secured $2 million in a seed round.
• Decentralized exchange BulbaSwap attracted $1.3 million from key investors like Foresight Ventures.
• Skyfire raised $1 million from Coinbase Ventures and a16z crypto.

Explore our column from last week for more insights.