PANews said funding in the crypto sector last week centered on real-world asset liquidity infrastructure and stablecoin payments. Based on PANews’ incomplete tally, the global blockchain industry recorded six financing events from Oct. 12 to Oct. 18, with total disclosed funding exceeding $54 million.
Crypto funding snapshot
The main deals listed in the roundup included a $10 million Series A for tokenized fund liquidity startup Fission led by Pantera Capital, a $30 million investment by Sui Foundation in AI data protocol DATA Network, formerly Story Protocol, an $8 million raise by tokenized asset settlement platform Multiliquid led by Polychain, and Tether’s investment in the seed round of Latin American financial infrastructure company EFY Finance to support institutional use of USD₮ and USA₮.
In AI, DeepSeek’s new financing round is expected to increase to about 100 billion yuan, with a pre-money valuation of about 500 billion yuan. AI-native infrastructure company Infinigence AI completed a 2.3 billion yuan Series C, while SWI Group raised 800 million euros through equity financing to convert former bitcoin mining sites into AI data centers. In embodied intelligence, Zhiyuan is reportedly pursuing a new 1 billion yuan to 1.5 billion yuan raise at a valuation of about 50 billion yuan, Euler Vientiane completed an angel-plus round worth several hundred million yuan, and DeepSeek plans to lead a seed round worth tens of millions of dollars in robotics AI startup Winverse AI at an expected post-money valuation of about $400 million.
Crypto deals
Fission closes $10 million Series A led by Pantera Capital
Fission, a startup focused on liquidity for tokenized funds, said it completed a $10 million Series A led by Pantera Capital, with participation from Circle Ventures, Borderless Capital, and Ari Rubenstein. The financing was completed in September 2026.
The company said its platform lets investors connect a digital wallet and compress a tokenized fund share sale process that would normally take about 200 days into a transaction completed in 90 seconds, charging fees for instant liquidity. Its current client base is mainly institutional, including hedge funds, crypto organizations, and stablecoin issuers holding tokenized private credit or equity.
Multiliquid reaches $8 million in total funding
Uniform Labs, the developer of tokenized asset settlement platform Multiliquid, has raised a cumulative $8 million across pre-seed and seed financing rounds. The latest seed round was led by Polychain, with participation from Strobe Ventures, CMT Digital, Metalayer Ventures, Generative Ventures, and Circle Ventures.
Multiliquid supports institutional conversion between tokenized assets and stablecoins through a single atomic transaction. It is currently deployed on Ethereum and Solana.
Spout raises $2 million in strategic financing
Spout, a tokenized U.S. equities collateralized lending platform, said it completed a $2 million strategic round. Investors included Draper Dragon, Anchorage, Flow Traders, Taisu Ventures, Vessel VC, Solayer Labs, 2Square Capital, Bering Waters, Solana Labs, Solana co-founder Toly, and former CFTC Chair Chris Giancarlo, among others.
Under Spout’s disclosed product structure, users can pledge tokenized U.S. stocks and borrow USDC at a fixed 50% loan-to-value ratio. Borrowers pay no interest while the loan is outstanding. Lenders earn returns from premiums generated by weekly covered call sales on the collateral rather than from borrower interest payments.
Stablecoin payments
Tether backs EFY Finance seed round
Tether said it invested in the seed financing of Latin American financial infrastructure company EFY Finance to expand the use of USD₮ and USA₮ in institutional settings. Tether said the investment is meant to strengthen links between stablecoins and the traditional financial system and support EFY Finance in building stablecoin-based cross-border payments, account services, and digital asset custody infrastructure.
Tether Chief Executive Officer Paolo Ardoino said several parts of Latin America face inflation and capital controls, making dollar stablecoins a tool for accessing dollar liquidity, while compliant infrastructure and banking connectivity remain key to broader adoption.
EFY Finance currently offers on- and off-ramp services for USD₮ and USA₮, over-the-counter trading, wallet services, and payment cards. It supports local settlement rails across more than 12 currencies and 17 countries. The company has obtained a digital asset service provider license in El Salvador and serves more than 25,000 individual and business accounts.
Web3 and AI
Sui Foundation invests $30 million in DATA Network
Sui Foundation invested $30 million in AI data protocol DATA Network, formerly Story Protocol. The protocol will migrate to the Sui blockchain and become a native protocol there, while its standalone chain will be shut down.
Existing DATA tokens will migrate to the Sui network on a 1:1 basis. Until that migration is complete, the current DATA Network will continue operating.
Web3 applications
IPX raises $4 million seed round at $125 million valuation
Intellectual property tokenization platform IPX said it raised $4 million in a seed round at a $125 million valuation. The round was led by Bitsurge Holdings, with participation from YICIPX Holdings Family Office and a group of strategic investors.
IPX is headquartered in Miami, Florida. Its founder and chief executive officer is Brendan McCafferty. The company’s product suite is built on Base and includes an intellectual property agent operating system, a tokenized issuance platform, and IPX Exchange, allowing creators to handle tokenization, advertising, monetization, and distribution in one system.
IPX said it plans to launch IPXOS, IPX Exchange, and its native IPX token on Nov. 15, 2026. The company described the financing as the start of a series of updates leading into that launch, with technical releases, partner announcements, and news on its first original projects expected almost every week afterward.
Ramp raises $1.85 billion at a $60 billion valuation
Ramp co-founder Eric Glyman said the company completed a new $1.85 billion financing round at a $60 billion valuation. The round was co-led by Dragoneer Investment Group, Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Sands Capital, and Avenir Growth.
The financing came just four months after Ramp raised $750 million in June at a $44 billion valuation.
Earlier reports said Ramp, a financial platform serving more than 70,000 businesses, has already launched a stablecoin on Solana. Its accounts allow businesses to hold USDC or USDT and make cross-border payments through existing bridge and accounting processes.
Selected AI financings
DeepSeek set for about 100 billion yuan financing round
Caijing magazine, citing multiple people involved in the transaction, reported that large model company DeepSeek is expected to complete its latest financing round soon, with the amount increasing from an earlier planned 50 billion yuan to about 100 billion yuan. This would be DeepSeek’s second financing round, and the targeted amount has doubled in less than half a month.
According to the report, existing and new shareholders are each expected to account for about half of the planned investment. The larger raise has not changed the overall valuation, with DeepSeek’s pre-money valuation still at about 500 billion yuan. New investors in the round include Shixi Capital, CICC Juyuan, CPE, Legend Capital, and Geely, with industrial investors making up the bulk of the new entrants.
SWI Group raises 800 million euros for AI infrastructure expansion
SWI Group has completed an 800 million euro financing, equivalent to about $895 million, to expand its AI infrastructure business. The company had previously obtained control of Genesis Digital Assets, a bitcoin mining company backed by FTX.
SWI Group said it will retrofit part of its bitcoin mining facilities that are suitable for high-performance computing for AI workload deployment. The move shows the company shifting from traditional crypto mining into AI computing infrastructure.
The report said more bitcoin mining companies are exploring how to redirect existing power capacity, data centers, and hardware resources toward AI computing as demand for AI compute continues to rise.
Infinigence AI completes 2.3 billion yuan Series C
AI-native infrastructure company Infinigence AI completed a 2.3 billion yuan Series C, equivalent to about $344.2 million, bringing cumulative financing to more than 4.3 billion yuan, or about $643.6 million.
Participants included Hangzhou Hi-Tech Golden Investment, the Social Security Zhongguancun Fund, Zhuhai Technology Industry Group, Xuhui Capital, Tencent, Baidu, Lenovo, Sequoia China, Qiming Venture Partners, and Shunwei Capital, among other financial investors.
Earlier in October, the company confidentially filed for an IPO in Hong Kong and plans to raise several hundred million dollars, with a listing possible as early as the first half of 2027.
KONST raises $30 million Series B
AI computing operator KONST said it completed a $30 million Series B led by ADATA Technology, with strategic participation from M Mobility and Pegatron Venture Capital. The new capital will be used to expand the company’s AI data center buildout and accelerate its Token Factory strategy.
Iambic raises $150 million in U.S. IPO
Iambic Therapeutics, an AI drug discovery company backed by Nvidia, raised $150 million in a U.S. initial public offering by selling about 9.38 million shares at $16 each. The pricing was at the midpoint of its $15 to $17 range and implied a market value of about $758 million.
The company is expected to begin trading on Nasdaq on Oct. 15 under the ticker IAM. The proceeds will support three early-stage cancer drug candidates. ARK and the family office of Stanley Druckenmiller had previously indicated interest in buying up to $60 million combined.
AIsa extends seed financing
Enterprise AI agent infrastructure company AIsa said it completed an extension of its seed round, with Tether and HIVEN joining as strategic investors. The round brings total financing to more than $9 million.
With the new additions, AIsa’s investor base now includes Alibaba, Tribe Capital, Sumitomo Corporation, Draper Associates, and Saison Capital.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer Jordan Liu said the company is building infrastructure that allows AI agents to discover, access, and pay for resources globally. AIsa’s network combines resource discovery, access, and transactions, linking enterprise AI agents with external data, AI search, models, APIs, software tools, and industry services, while also providing permission management, usage metering, billing, and settlement.
Embodied AI
Euler Vientiane completes angel-plus financing worth several hundred million yuan
Euler Vientiane recently completed an angel-plus round worth several hundred million yuan. Investors included Chengyuanxiang Fund, Xinneng Venture Capital, Xizhou International, Topband, and Hony Capital, while Zhiguan Capital acted as exclusive financial adviser.
The company was founded by Zhou Shunbo, a former Huawei “genius youth” recruit and Huawei’s first embodied intelligence employee. Established a little more than half a year ago, the company is building a Real-world RSI system for home service robots and has released a staged result called UniWAM to explore how robots can keep improving through feedback from real-world scenarios.
Zhiyuan seeks new financing at about 50 billion yuan valuation
Embodied intelligence unicorn Zhiyuan Innovation has recently launched a new financing round of about 1 billion yuan to 1.5 billion yuan, according to the report. The round is nearing completion, and the company’s latest valuation is about 50 billion yuan.
In July 2026, Zhiyuan announced preparations for a Hong Kong listing. At the time, an investor said the company could list as early as August with a target valuation of HK$40 billion to HK$50 billion.
Under Hong Kong exchange rules, if a listing applicant completes a new financing after filing and before listing, it generally cannot begin trading until 120 days after the financing is completed unless a special waiver is granted. The investor cited in the report said the new financing means Zhiyuan will not be able to complete its IPO this year. A company representative said there was no response for now regarding the financing, valuation, and IPO progress.
DeepSeek plans to lead Winverse AI seed round
DeepSeek plans to lead the seed financing of robotics AI startup Winverse AI, with an investment in the tens of millions of dollars, according to the report. A source said Winverse AI was founded by a former top Tencent AI scientist and is currently operating in stealth mode.
In addition to DeepSeek, investors including Meituan-backed Long-Z Investments are participating in the round. After the financing, the company is expected to be valued at about $400 million.
The report said DeepSeek will use part of its more than $12 billion in financing resources to support the investment, extending its reach from large language models into embodied AI.
