{"id":7995,"date":"2025-08-16T20:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T20:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/crypto-vc-funding-bullish-dominates-with-1-1b-public-sale-story-protocol-secures-82m\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T20:08:19","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T20:08:19","slug":"crypto-vc-funding-bullish-dominates-with-1-1b-public-sale-story-protocol-secures-82m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/crypto-vc-funding-bullish-dominates-with-1-1b-public-sale-story-protocol-secures-82m\/","title":{"rendered":"Crypto VC Funding: Bullish dominates with $1.1b public sale, Story Protocol secures $82m"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Crypto funding roared back to life this week, with nearly $1.5 billion pouring into 18 projects \u2014 and one blockbuster IPO stealing the spotlight.<\/p>\n<p>Bullish, the Peter Thiel\u2013backed exchange, priced its long-awaited NYSE debut at $37 a share and raised $1.1 billion. Finance and infrastructure players also dominated the week\u2019s deals, from Story Protocol\u2019s $220 million token-driven partnership with Heritage Distilling to fresh rounds for cybersecurity firm 1Kosmos and payments gateway Transak. <\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the full breakdown of who raised what, and where investors are betting next, according to <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/crypto-fundraising.info\/deal-flow\/?start_date=2025-08-10&amp;end_date=2025-08-16&amp;sortby=raised&amp;sort=desc&amp;filter=closed\" target=\"_blank\">Crypto Fundraising data<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bullish<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bullish priced its IPO at $37 per share, above expectations, giving the crypto exchange a $5.4 billion valuation with backing from JPMorgan, Jefferies, and Citigroup.<\/li>\n<li>The upsized $1.1 billion raise sold 30 million shares, buoyed by strong demand from investors, including BlackRock and Cathie Wood\u2019s Ark Invest.<\/li>\n<li>Trading under ticker BLSH on the NYSE, the deal marks a comeback for Bullish after its 2022 SPAC collapse, now backed by Peter Thiel and led by ex-NYSE chief Tom Farley.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Story Protocol (PIP Labs)<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Heritage Distilling (Nasdaq: CASK) became the first U.S.-listed company to adopt Story Protocol\u2019s IP token as a reserve asset, holding about 52.5 million tokens worth $361 million.<\/li>\n<li>The move <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/StoryProtocol\/status\/1954885593286238460\" target=\"_blank\">includes<\/a> a $220 million private placement of cash and tokens, with $82 million allocated to purchase IP directly from Story Foundation at $3.40 per token.<\/li>\n<li>Heritage will also raise $100 million via stock and warrants, with added token contributions from strategic partners and major crypto investors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">1Kosmos<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1Kosmos raised $57 million in a Series B round<\/li>\n<li>Investors include Forgepoint Capital, Silvertech Ventures, and Daher Capital<\/li>\n<li>The project is a cybersecurity platform that offers identity-first authentication solutions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">1Kosmos has raised $57M in Series B funding, bringing our total to $72M!<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re accelerating innovation in AI-powered fraud detection, privacy-first digital wallets &amp; cross-platform credential portability.<\/p>\n<p>Read more \ud83d\udc49  <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/eY5dHm8BfA\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/eY5dHm8BfA<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Ry19rlePJj\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/Ry19rlePJj<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 1Kosmos (@1KosmosBlockID) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/1KosmosBlockID\/status\/1956413857125007505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">August 15, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sui (Mysten Labs)<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Gathered $20 million in an Unknown round<\/li>\n<li>The investment was backed by Hill City Ventures<\/li>\n<li>Sui (SUI) has raised $415.45 million so far<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Neon Machine (Shrapnel)<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Neon Machine raised $19.5 million in an Unknown round<\/li>\n<li>Investors include Gala Games, Griffin Gaming Partners, and Polychain Capital<\/li>\n<li>The project has raised $57 million so far<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shrapnel Raises $19.5M to Fuel Global Launch (via <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DecryptMedia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">@decryptmedia<\/a>) \u2935\ufe0f <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/o1r29qxHoD\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/o1r29qxHoD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SHRAPNEL (@playSHRAPNEL) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/playSHRAPNEL\/status\/1955619278960378016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">August 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transak<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Secured $16 million in a Strategic round<\/li>\n<li>Transak is a web3 payments infrastructure provider<\/li>\n<li>The investment was backed by IDG Capital, Tether, and Prism Capital<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Money is changing and we\u2019re enabling it!<\/p>\n<p>Thrilled to announce our $16M strategic round to scale stablecoin payments, led by <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Tether_to?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">@Tether_to<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IDGCapital?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">@IDGCapital<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Read more on our blog \ud83d\udc49 <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bcqavJZ99m\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/t.co\/bcqavJZ99m<\/a> <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cG7K5IMKMM\" target=\"_blank\">pic.twitter.com\/cG7K5IMKMM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Transak (@Transak) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Transak\/status\/1955310598075396336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\">August 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Projects &gt; $15 million<\/h3>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>USD AI (Permian Labs), <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/USDai_Official\/status\/1955990379851034944\" target=\"_blank\">$13.4 million<\/a> in a Series A round<\/li>\n<li>Mesh (ex Front Finance), <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/meshconnectapi\/status\/1955965507472867697\" target=\"_blank\">$9.5 million<\/a> <\/li>\n<li>Hyperbeat, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/0xHyperBeat\/status\/1956346418509029760\" target=\"_blank\">$5.2 million<\/a> in a Seed round<\/li>\n<li>Bitlayer, $5 million in a Public sale<\/li>\n<li>HoneyCoin, $4.9 million <\/li>\n<li>HackQuest, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HackQuest_\/status\/1954738443118145823\" target=\"_blank\">$4.1 million<\/a> in a Series A round<\/li>\n<li>HolmesAI, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HolmesAI_\/status\/1955509845735641332\" target=\"_blank\">$3 million<\/a> in a Seed round<\/li>\n<li>Riva Money, $3 million in a Pre-seed round<\/li>\n<li>PublicAI, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/PublicAI_\/status\/1955314600301433191\" target=\"_blank\">$2 million<\/a> in a Public sale with $70 million fully diluted valuation<\/li>\n<li>XMAQUINA, $315,000 in a Public sale with $45 million fully diluted valuation<\/li>\n<li>ODX (ex Ordinox), <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SonicLabs\/status\/1955690591553208704\" target=\"_blank\">$260,640<\/a> <\/li>\n<li>Silo Labs, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SiloFinance\/status\/1954944199759134943\" target=\"_blank\">$122,500<\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Crypto funding roared back to life this week, with nearly $1.5 billion pouring into 18 projects \u2014 and one blockbuster IPO stealing the spotlight. Bullish, the Peter Thiel\u2013backed exchange, priced&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7997,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7995\/revisions\/7997"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}