Crypto VC funding: Ripple acquires Hidden Road for $1.25b, Wunder Social raises $50m
6 seconds ago
cryptonews
04-12
The second week of April saw a significant acquisition: Ripple, which offers enterprise blockchain products on the XRP Ledger, purchased Hidden Road for $1.25 billion.
According to data from Crypto Fundraising, the deal helped push the week’s total funding to exceed $1.5 billion.
Let’s take a closer look at last week’s funding activity.
Hidden Road, $1.25 billion
Ripple (XRP) is acquiring prime brokerage firm Hidden Road for $1.25 billion.
The deal will be primarily cash-based, along with a portion paid in XRP and Ripple stock. Marc Asch, the founder of Hidden Road, will continue to lead the brokerage under Ripple.
“Ripple needs to make sure we have the infrastructure in place to appeal and expand to a larger segment of the biggest bulge bracket institutions,” CEO Brad Garlinghouse told Fortune.
Wunder Social, $50 million
The British social media startup amassed $50 million in a round led by Rollman Management and other big-name investors; It’s one of the largest hauls for a U.K. social platform this year.
Set to launch in 2025, Wunder.Social aims to shake up the $200 billion social media world with “cutting-edge tech and a user-first ethos.”
Former TikTok marketing boss Ryan Martin is now serving as Wunder’s Chief Marketing Officer.
🔥 BIG NEWS! 🔥We’ve just raised $50M to REINVENT social media! 🌎✈️Powered by @base, bot-free, and rewarding YOU with ad revenue. Say goodbye to fake followers and hello to REAL connections.🎉 And yes, @CoinDesk already covered us! Get ready for $WUNDER token offer… pic.twitter.com/4Nz5j2LjHA
— Wunder (@wunder_social) April 9, 2025
Blackbird, $50 million
Blackbird, a loyalty and membership platform built for restaurants, secured $50 million in Series B funding.
Spark Capital, Coinbase Ventures, and a16z crypto participated in the effort.
Blackbird has raised $85 million so far; it previously raised $24 million in a Series A.
Meanwhile, $40 million
Meanwhile, a Bitcoin-denominated life insurance firm regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority, nabbed $40 million in Series A funding.
Framework, Farcus Ventures, and Wences Casares, co-founder of Bitcoin-enabled Xapo Bank, joined the investment.
Meanwhile offers policies denominated in Bitcoin (BTC). It previously raised $20.5 million in its seed round, which attracted backing from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley.
We're proud to announce our $40M Series A led by @hiFramework & @FulgurVentures, w/ participation from Bitcoin pioneer Wences Casares.This capital accelerates our global rollout of BTC-denominated life insurance & annuities, protecting users from inflation & currency risk 🧵⤵️ pic.twitter.com/kTMxDaDBeh
— meanwhile (@meanwhilelife) April 10, 2025
Solix DePIN, $29.5 million
Secured $29.5 million in an unknown round backed by Eclip Foundation
The investment is expected to help enhance core technology, expand global reach, and introduce advanced features such as smart bandwidth allocation and AI-powered network optimization.
Solix DePIN also plans to partner with cloud service providers and content delivery networks to create broader use cases for its decentralized bandwidth marketplace.
APX Lending, $20 million
APX Lending clinched $20 million in an unknown round.
The round was backed by CypressHills, a private credit investment firm.
APX Lending $20M Funding Round⚡️📑 About:@APXLending is a compliant crypto-backed lending platform.🤝 Investor:Cypress Hills👉 https://t.co/YTGOZUy2gG pic.twitter.com/QLZVVDbniI
— Fundraising Digest (@CryptoRank_VCs) April 11, 2025
BugsCoin, $12 million
BugsCoin secured $12 million in Series A funding
Backed by Becker, Eastrum Capital, and BullPerks
The project has raised a total of $20.5 million
🚨 BugsCoin Raises $12M Series A to Lead Innovation in Web3 Financial Education🏦 VC Investors:• Becker Ventures• Castrum Capital• BullPerks• DuckDAO• Maxx CapitalOn April 11, BugsCoin ($BGSC), a Web3-based financial education platform, announced the successful… pic.twitter.com/lD7GYnJeGu
— bugscoin (@bugscoin_bgsc) April 11, 2025
Towns Protocol, $10 million
Towns Protocol raised $10 million in Series B funding
The investment was backed by a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and Benchmark
It has raised a total of $61 million
Excited to share our latest funding round, led by @a16zcrypto, with the addition of new investor @cbventures and continued support from @benchmark.The future of communication is onchain. pic.twitter.com/qGQUa9cvaE
— Towns Protocol (@TownsProtocol) April 10, 2025
Notable crypto VC funding rounds < $10 million
Cap Labs, $8 million for DeFi yield aggregation
Octane Security, $6.75 million for AI security
OpenZK, $6 million in an unknown round
DecentralGPT, $3 million in a Series A round
Firefish, $1.80 million in a Seed round
Sats Terminal, $1.7 million for Bitcoin yield aggregation
Lyzi, $1.42 million for Tezos (XTZ) payments
Libraro, $1.28 million in Seed funding
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