Jonathan Huang

Play Ventures, a global venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments in the gaming industry, has secured $140 million for its third gaming fund. This latest fund marks the largest raised by the Singapore-based firm, increasing its total assets under management to $450 million. “Software may have eaten the world, but mobile has swallowed our time whole. People now live on their phones—spending hours a day engaging with social media, apps, and, most notably, games,” said Henric Suuronen, founding partner at Play Ventures, in a statement. “Mobile gaming is one of the most dynamic arenas of our time, presenting massive, untapped potential. With Fund III, we’re investing in a new wave of billion-dollar games and interactive experiences, supercharged by the transformative power of AI.” “Integrating gaming mechanics into everyday apps is just the first step. There’s a ton of user engagement and value that can be unlocked by taking learnings from the entire f2p gaming playbook that has been perfected over decades, including meta design, live ops, economy design, and monetization”, said Phylicia Koh, Partner at Play Ventures. “Our playable apps investments in Arya, Ahead, Benjamin and Bible Chat are testaments of how this approach can drive significant growth and reshape user experiences.”

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Introducing Pyth Network, Silver Sponsor at TOKEN2049 Singapore. Pyth Network secures smart contracts with reliable, low-latency market data from institutional sources such as Jane Street, CBOE, Binance, OKX, and Bybit. Learn more about Pyth Network at pyth.network

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Remy Blaire is joined by Peko Wan, Co-CEO at Pundi X to discuss the gradual adoption of crypto as a genuine asset class. How will we see businesses and governments integrate crypto into everyday life as international markets begin to embrace crypto? They discuss the methodology for the ranking crypto indexes around the world and how countries are utilizing defi protocols. FINTECH.TV

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𝐁𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐖𝐞𝐞𝐤. Last week, over $140M was secured through 22 deals. 1/ Partior secured $60.0M in Series B led by Peak XV Partners Partior is a blockchain platform for payments clearing and settlement, born from the Project Ubin collaboration, founded by J.P. Morgan, DBS and Temasek, and backed by MAS. 2/ ZAP secured $15.0M in funding round led by Cypher Capital Group, Rarestone Ventures, Sharding Capital ZAP is a Blast-based, community-driven token offering protocol designed to optimize token offering success rates by providing advanced technical support. 3/ Rome Protocol secured $9.0M in funding round Rome Protocol is building a shared sequencer network leveraging Solana. 4/ Aidatify secured $8.3M in funding round Aidatify is a DeFi strategy aggregator that uses artificial intelligence technology to aggregate and analyze massive data from multiple blockchains in real time, ensuring that users can obtain market dynamics and help users make more informed investment decisions. 5/ Term Finance secured $5.5M in Strategic led by Electric Capital Term Finance is a decentralized lending protocol that utilizes a unique auction model to support scalable fixed-rate/fixed-term lending, the first of its kind in DeFi. 6/ Dora secured $5.5M in funding round led by Dragonfly, Lemniscap Dora's multi-chain search engine and explorer enables users to visualize transactions across any chain. 7/ idOS secured $4.5M in funding round led by Fabric Ventures The idOS, AKA Identity Operating System, is an open-source, composable and interoperable solution designed to serve as the identity layer of web3. 8/ RECRD GROUP secured $4.0M in Seed led by Sui RECRD’s platform allows creators to earn up to 100% of advertisement revenue with instant monetization based on views rather than follower count. 9/ tread.fi secured $3.5M in Pre-Seed led by New Form Capital Tread.fi is a crypto trading infrastructure startup focused on serving institutional firms. 10/ Soccerverse secured $3.1M in funding round led by Square Enix Soccerverse is a free-to-play game where players can build a dream team and wield influence using the power of blockchain technology. #Web3Fundraising #CryptoFundraising #Investors #Web3Startups

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Kairous Capital Doubles Down on Vietnam with New Investments & a Local Office 📢 In a recent interview with DealStreetAsia, Kairous Capital’s Managing Partner Joseph Lee, CFA shared why we are strategically deepening our investments in Vietnam, pointing to key opportunities in this dynamic market. This month alone, we invested in two innovative Vietnamese companies: - Coolmate: Joined a $6 million funding round for this standout men’s apparel e-commerce brand. - PangoCDP: Led a $1.5 million round for this B2B platform that enhances business connections via social chat apps. "Despite a challenging economic environment, resilient companies in Vietnam are gaining market shares as weaker competitors exit. Kairous sees this as a prime time to invest, with attractive valuations, better margins and motivated founders." Joseph Lee, Managing Partner of Kairous Capital. To further strengthen its presence, Kairous will open an office in Vietnam next year, ensuring closer support for its expanding portfolio. These investments are part of Kairous Capital’s newly launched $30 million Southeast Asia-focused fund, which is on track to grow to $50 million by next year’s final close. The firm is directing 80% of this fund toward key markets like Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. With a focus on Series A investments and follow-up funding for cross-border growth, Kairous is poised to accelerate its impact in the region. Read more from the interview here: https://lnkd.in/gqzwPDzY #KairousCapital #DealStreetAsia #Vietnam #Coolmate #PangoCDP #D2C #B2B #VentureCapital #CrossBorder #InvestingInVietnam

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Sekuya Partners with Flokifi to Lock $1.15 Million Worth of SKYA Tokens, Strengthening Ecosystem Commitment Strategic Token Locking: Sekuya has locked $1.15 million worth of SKYA tokens (50 million SKYA) in Flokifi for one year, demonstrating a strong commitment to ecosystem stability and long-term project development. Strengthening Trust and Confidence: By locking a significant portion of its tokens, Sekuya aims to build trust and confidence among investors and the broader crypto community, showcasing its dedication to a sustainable and thriving ecosystem. Synergy with $FLOKI: The partnership with $FLOKI leverages the innovative financial mechanisms of $FLOKI, aligning Sekuya with a platform known for supporting high-growth crypto projects and fostering strong community engagement. Read more on: https://lnkd.in/g347F3WW

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The collapses of Celsius, FTX, and BlockFi in 2022 painfully highlighted the risks of poor digital asset custody. Many investors suffered losses due to mismanagement and lack of segregation by these exchanges when managing client's funds. At BlockByte, we prioritise security by using Fireblocks custody, which offers up to $42.5M in insurance per client account. Fireblocks meets the highest SOC II security standards and is rigorously audited by EY. When investing in digital assets, ensuring your funds are properly segregated and protected is crucial. If you'd like to learn more about our secure custody solution, feel free to reach out. #cryptocustody #digitalassets #assetprotection #familyoffice #wealth #cryptocurrency #Bitcoin

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SGX needs “a flush of liquidity”, says Loke Wai San, the chairman of chip-tester AEM Holdings who famously led the company from its low share price of 7 cents to more than $5. As a co-founder of local private equity firm Novo Tellus, Loke helped AEM build up a strong institutional following, including securing Temasek as its single-largest investor with a stake of 12.5%. Loke is also known for launching one of the three spacs, known as blank-cheque listings, on SGX, although the potential of this would be unfulfilled as global market interest began to wane by the time the necessary processes were completed and SGX welcomed the three spacs. While he recognises that launching the spac was a form of risk-taking on his end, he adds that the capital market has to be welcome of risks, especially if investors desire something innovative with high equity. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gJZu5YUV #TheEdgeSG #finance #Investing #MarketTrends #GlobalMarkets #FinancialNews #EconomicGrowth #REITs #venturecapital #innovation #capitalmarkets #techgrowth #funding #startups

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Blockchain-based fintech Partior has bagged over $60 million in a Series B funding round led by Peak XV Partners. 💰 New investors such as Valor Capital Group and Jump Trading Group and existing shareholders, including J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered, and Temasek, also participated in the round. The funding will enable the Singapore-based firm to advance its new capabilities, such as intraday FX swaps, cross-currency repos, programmable enterprise liquidity management, and just-in-time multi-bank payments. It will also support international network growth and integration of additional currencies. Founded in 2021, the block-chain based company, which enables cross-border payments and settlements, emerged from Project Ubin—a collaboration between the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the financial services industry. The firm strives to tackle industry inefficiencies such as settlement delays, limited transaction transparency, and high operating costs, while facilitating liquidity movement for financial institutions and their customers. Read more at the link in our comments section 👇 by Ishan P. | #FundingWithYS #Funding Humphrey Valenbreder

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RealmSense, as the AI engine behind RealmAI’s Tokenization Viability Scoring system, Assets Portal, and Assets Dashboard, is not just a technological achievement — it’s a paradigm shift in how we approach asset tokenization.

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Syfe Secures $27 Million in New Funding 🚀 Syfe, a Singapore-based wealthtech platform, has successfully raised $27 million in its latest equity funding round! 🌟 Backed by prominent investors like Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures LLC, Unbound, and two UK-based family offices, this latest round brings Syfe’s total capital raised to $79 million. About Syfe: Founded in 2019 by Dhruv Arora, a former senior executive at grofers (now Blinkit), Syfe has rapidly expanded its footprint across Singapore, Hong Kong, and Australia. Serving customers in over 60 countries, Syfe is committed to democratizing wealth management with innovative technology and a customer-centric approach. With its technology hub based in India, Syfe is well-positioned to leverage top talent to drive its next phase of growth. What’s Next? With this new funding, Syfe plans to expand its offerings, roll out new products, and enter new markets. The company is also set to bolster its engineering and product teams in India, focusing on enhancing the user experience and developing cutting-edge financial solutions. Why This Matters: Syfe’s ability to achieve profitability in Singapore—one of its key markets—so early on highlights the strength of its business model and the potential for even greater growth. This funding not only solidifies Syfe’s position as a leader in the wealthtech space but also sets the stage for significant innovation and expansion. 🌟 Aspirants Space (https://lnkd.in/gYkc-Ni8) congratulates Syfe on this milestone and is ready to support them as they scale. Whether it’s attracting top-tier talent or driving innovation, we’re here to help Syfe achieve its vision. 🔗 Spread the word! Share this exciting news or explore opportunities with Syfe if you're passionate about reshaping the future of wealth management. 🔍 Job seekers, analyze your resume - https://lnkd.in/ei4wgXHk to land top opportunities in leading companies! Source : https://lnkd.in/eFf9JidH #AspirantsNews #Funding #WealthTech #Innovation #Syfe #ValarVentures #FinancialTechnology #StartupGrowth

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🎭 Last week, Forbes dropped its annual Midas List — the ultimate [list](https://lnkd.in/gxmRUrzC) of top venture capitalists, this time teaming up with TrueBridge Capital Partners. 🚀 Surprise, surprise! The usual suspects made the cut: Alfred Lin from Sequoia Capital, Micky Malka from Ribbit Capital, and Neil Shen from HongShan (formerly Sequoia China). But in year three of the "VC winter," the industry isn’t exactly celebrating. 💬 Twitter blew up with VCs and entrepreneurs debating if we even need this list anymore. John Coogan, co-founder of Soylent and EiR at Founders Fund, suggested an "Icarus List" for VCs who you should *never* trust with your money. 🗣 In my chats with Silicon Valley peeps, a recurring theme is that the list is flawed. The media’s loving the snark too. Adam Brown’s spicy column in The Information Weekend argued that VCs mainly excel at "losing other people’s money." 🔥 His take? They’re also great at bragging and self-promotion when they do manage to make some cash. “Honestly, I’m surprised someone’s seismograph didn’t record vibrations from the Midas List release as a minor earthquake,” he wrote. 😈 Brown ran with Coogan's idea for an "Icarus List," featuring VCs whose returns are melting faster than wax in the sun. He argued this would be a more useful journalistic service—highlighting those you should avoid rather than celebrate. 📉 He even suggested criteria: spotlight investors responsible for last year’s biggest startup flops or those with consistently lousy fund performance. Imagine the tech scene publicly trashing such a list while secretly using it religiously. 😏 “This would spark age-old debates between techies and media about whether it’s fair to highlight failures,” said Brown. “It’d give many people more schadenfreude than any substance at a Musk party.” 📞 So what if The Information actually made an "Icarus List"? Coogan predicts: “The effort firms put into making the Midas List will look trivial compared to their efforts to stay off the Icarus List.” Expect Stanford-educated armies working round-the-clock to dodge it. #VentureCapital #ForbesMidasList #ICarusList #SiliconValleyDrama

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Explore the world of cryptocurrency with Cointel's CTO, Kim Seong Sik! In the interview with NFTStudio24, he discusses - How to be successful in the cryptocurrency industry and - How to get over obstacles in Japan, and what lies ahead for cryptocurrency investors. https://lnkd.in/gMqjUC6Y If you want to appear in NFTStudio24's podcast and display your project, send your details at [email protected] #crypto #podcast #decenterlize #crypto #Blockchain #Web3 #CryptoInvestors

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Before resigning in a legal dispute with the CEO of Mintable, an NFT marketplace supported by billionaire investor Mark Cuban, Jiawen Ngeow served as COO. Ngeow now launched Uncharted, a Web3 game firm that just secured venture funding totaling US$1.7 million. The investment was led by Shima Capital and included participation from 32-bit, Double Peak Group, Devmons, and The Spartan Group. Aleksander Larson, a co-founder of Ronin, Justin Waldron of Zynga, and the three creators of Immutable are among the angel investors in Uncharted. With the addition that its initial game, Gangster Arena, made 150 ether (US$486,000) in its first season, Uncharted plans to use the additional revenue to build its GameFi network. The business is now planning for future growth and developing Gangster Arena 2. Ngeow had departed from Mintable in January 2023. Other investors in the company were Animoca Brands, well-known angel investor Koh Boon Hwee's CRC Capital, and the now-defunct Three Arrows Capital Limited. Mintable's problems started in 2022 when it kept reporting losses and decreased revenues due to a drop in interest in NFTs. In June of that year, sales of the digital tokens reached a 12-month low. Ngeow, CEO Zach Burks, CFO Chui Bond, and former board members Jeremy Khoo and Adam Gartenberg have filed numerous lawsuits as a result of this. The executives were at odds over who would run Mintable and about a funding agreement that went sour with the private equity firm Nepstone. As stated in his declaration, board member Jeremy Khoo stated that Mintable Burks' initial goal was to turn the firm around by entering the Ethereum #trading industry. However, Burks needed investors' approval before moving further, and it seems that they didn't. To share your startup story write us on - [email protected] #GamingIndustry #Gaming #Trading #Mintable #Web3Game #NFTs

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