Amid a steady market environment, crypto venture capital funding surged to $293.2 million during the week of April 13–19, 2025, signaling continued investor confidence in infrastructure, DeFi, and AI-focused projects. The standout headline belonged to Auradine, a U.S.-based infrastructure company that secured a massive $153 million Series C round, dominating the week’s funding landscape.
Auradine Secures $153 Million in Oversubscribed Series C
Auradine, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, topped the charts with a $153 million raise led by StepStone Group, with additional participation from Samsung Catalyst Fund, Qualcomm Ventures, Premji Invest, and others. Since its founding in 2022, Auradine has raised over $300 million in total.
Alongside the funding announcement, Auradine unveiled a new business unit, AuraLinks AI, dedicated to creating open-standards networking solutions tailored for AI data centers. The unit will address next-gen bandwidth and cooling requirements and includes tech veterans from Cisco, Google, and Microsoft.
“We’ve raised $153M in Series C funding, bringing our total to over $300M!” — @Auradine_Inc
LayerZero: a16z Crypto Doubles Down with $55 Million Token Purchase
LayerZero received renewed backing from a16z Crypto, which acquired an additional $55 million worth of the project’s native token, ZRO, under a three-year lockup. This marks another milestone in a16z’s ongoing support, having previously led the project’s Series A+ and B rounds. LayerZero has now amassed $318.3 million in total funding.
“This new purchase of ZRO reflects [a16z’s] continued conviction in LayerZero.” — @LayerZero_Core
World Liberty Financial Scores $25M from DWF Labs
DWF Labs made headlines by acquiring $25 million worth of World Liberty Financial (WLFI) tokens. The Trump-linked venture also launched USD1, a stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasuries, cash, and equivalents, now trading on Ethereum and BSC. While WLFI claims transparency with BitGo as its reserve custodian, the stablecoin’s potential political implications have sparked concerns in U.S. Congress.
Rep. Maxine Waters raised red flags over USD1 during a House hearing on stablecoin regulation, suggesting potential use in replacing the U.S. dollar in government functions.
Optimum Raises $11 Million for Blockchain Memory Infrastructure
Tech firm Optimum secured $11 million in Seed funding to develop the world’s first high-performance memory infrastructure for blockchains. The round was led by 1kx, with support from Robot Ventures, Animoca, Spartan, and others. The company’s core innovation revolves around Random Linear Network Coding (RLNC) to enable scalable, resilient networks.
Resolv Labs Raises $10M to Advance DeFi Tools
Resolv Labs, a DeFi infrastructure startup, announced a $10 million Seed round co-led by Cyber Fund and Maven11 Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Arrington Capital, Gumi Cryptos, and others. The funds will support further development of tools designed for cross-chain asset management and risk resolution in decentralized finance.
Emerging Startups: Sub-$10M Rounds
Several early-stage projects also secured noteworthy investments:
- ORO AI: $6M Seed round targeting AI, data services, and blockchain infrastructure
- Neutri: $5M Seed funding for decentralized apps and stablecoin ecosystems
- Rekord AG: $4.5M for API, identity, and IoT-focused solutions
- Glider: $4M in undisclosed round for DeFi and trading infrastructure
- Embr Labs: $1.8M Pre-seed funding for gaming and meme token projects on the Injta ecosystem
From infrastructure breakthroughs to regulatory-challenging stablecoins, the crypto VC landscape remains dynamic and ambitious. Auradine’s record-setting round reflects the rising importance of AI-compatible infrastructure, while continued support for LayerZero and the controversial rise of USD1 underscore the sector’s evolving narrative.
With nearly $300 million raised across various verticals, this week’s crypto funding activity reaffirms that builders still attract big capital especially those solving for performance, scalability, and political disruption.
