Weekly Financing Brief | 9 Projects Funded, Total Financing Reaches $160 Million (3.09-3.15)

According to Odaily Planet Daily’s incomplete statistics, from March 9 to March 15, 2025, a total of 9 funding events were disclosed in the global blockchain industry, a slight decrease from 8 the previous week; however, the total funding amount reached $160 million, significantly down from $223 million the previous week.

The largest single funding project this period was stablecoin payment company KAST, which completed $80 million in funding. The next was Zcash Open Development Lab, founded by former Electric Coin Company CEO Josh Swihart, which raised over $25 million.

Below are the specific funding events (Note: 1. Sorted by announced amount; 2. Excludes fundraising by funds and M&A events; 3. * indicates companies involved in traditional sectors with some blockchain-related activities):

Stablecoin Payment Company KAST Completes $80 Million Funding, Valued at About $600 Million

On March 9, stablecoin payment company KAST completed $80 million in funding, led jointly by QED Investors and Left Lane Capital. The funds will be used for expansion in North America, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as for hiring, licensing, and product development. The new valuation is approximately $600 million. Sources say the terms of this round were finalized in October, and the company’s annual revenue is expected to reach $100 million this year.

Zcash Open Development Lab Completes Over $25 Million Funding, Participated by Paradigm and Others

On March 9, according to official sources, Zcash Open Development Lab, founded by former Electric Coin Company CEO Josh Swihart, completed over $25 million in funding. The round was participated in by Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Cypherpunk Technologies, Maelstrom, Chapter One, Balaji Srinivasan, David Friedberg, Haseeb Qureshi, James Nicholas, and others.

Zcash Open Development Lab’s core mission is to develop an open, self-hosted private financial platform, aiming to expand ecosystem interoperability through collaboration and to bring protected ZEC transactions to mainstream markets globally. Protocol development for Zcash remains the core work of ZODL.

Yield-bearing Stablecoin Protocol Unitas Completes $13.33 Million Seed Round, Taisu Ventures and Others Participate

On March 12, the yield-bearing stablecoin protocol Unitas Labs completed a $13.33 million seed round, with participation from Amber Group, Blockchain Builders Fund, Taisu Ventures, Bixin Ventures, and SevenX Ventures. The funds will mainly be used to expand strategic development, strengthen infrastructure and risk systems, support compliant institutional access, and promote DeFi ecosystem integration.

MetaComp Completes Pre-A+ Round Funding, Led by Alibaba and Others, Total Nearly $35 Million in Two Rounds

On March 13, Singapore-based licensed stablecoin cross-border payment and fund management service provider MetaComp announced the completion of a Pre-A+ round, led by Alibaba, Spark Venture, and other venture capital firms. Existing shareholders also participated, with 100Summit Partners serving as exclusive financial advisor. The two rounds of funding completed within three months have totaled $35 million (including $22 million in a Pre-A round in December last year). The new funds will accelerate the expansion of its StableX network in high-growth regions such as Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, and develop AI strategic architecture Agent-Skills-MCP (Model Context Protocol) to support agent-based Web 2.5 payments and wealth management services.

VeryAI Completes $10 Million Seed Round, Led by Polychain Capital

On March 12, identity verification startup VeryAI completed a $10 million seed round, led by Polychain Capital, with participation from Berggruen Institute, Anagram, and several crypto angel investors. VeryAI currently focuses on serving crypto platforms, providing SDKs for palm vein scanning via mobile cameras, which partners can integrate into existing applications to combat bot accounts and reduce multi-factor authentication fatigue.

Ark Labs Completes $5.2 Million Seed Round, Participated by Tether

On March 12, Bitcoin-based programmable financial application infrastructure Ark Labs announced the completion of a $5.2 million seed round, with participation from Tether, Ego Death Capital, Epoch VC, Lion26, Sats Ventures, Contribution Capital, Anchorage Digital, former PayPal CFO Ralph Ho, and other digital asset and fintech investors. Ark Labs did not disclose specific details about the round’s structure, timing, or valuation post-funding. The funds will be used to expand infrastructure for programmable financial applications on Bitcoin (BTC).

Bitcoin L1 Smart Contract Platform OP_NET Completes $5 Million Funding, Led by Further

On March 12, Bitcoin L1 native smart contract platform OP_NET announced the completion of $5 million in funding, led by Further, with participation from a16z, Arcanum Capital, Humla Ventures, Morningstar Ventures, G20 Ventures, and UTXO Management.

General Tensor Completes $5 Million Seed and Pre-Seed Rounds, Led by Good Morning Holdings

On March 12, Bittensor ecosystem infrastructure startup General Tensor announced the completion of an oversubscribed $5 million combined seed and pre-seed funding. The seed round was led by Good Morning Holdings, a VC supported by Goldman Sachs; the December 2024 pre-seed round was led by Lvna Capital, with participation from DCG, X Ventures, Proof of Talk, and Outliers Fund.

AI Entertainment Platform NEXST Completes Over $3 Million Strategic Round, Participated by Castrum Capital and Others

On March 11, Japan-based AI entertainment platform NEXST announced the completion of over $3 million in strategic funding, with participation from Castrum Capital, TBV, M2M Capital, Becker Ventures, and others, raising approximately $3 million in seed funding.

NEXST integrates AI, RWA, and blockchain technology to enable global fans to enjoy entertainment more conveniently and with immersive experiences. It aims to reshape the global entertainment industry through innovative models and cutting-edge technology.