2023 Web3 Financing Summary: Infrastructure Sector Leads, 5 Key Projects to Follow

Data shows that there were 1,178 financing events throughout the year 2023, with a total financing scale of $2.839 billion.

In terms of financing scale, the infrastructure sector ranks first. Several top investment institutions, such as a well-known venture capital firm, a trading platform's laboratory, and an investment company, have prioritized infrastructure as a key focus area. Although different institutions have varying degrees of preference for different sectors, the infrastructure sector undeniably occupies a significant share of their investment landscape. In addition, a well-known venture capital firm also places considerable emphasis on the gaming sector; a certain investment company, the venture capital department of a certain exchange, and a trading platform's laboratory focus on the DeFi track, while a certain investment company has relatively fewer investments and maintains a relatively average number of investments in other sectors.

Next, let's take a look at several potential projects in the infrastructure sector:

B² Network

B² Network is an EVM-compatible Rollup based on Bitcoin zero-knowledge proof verification commitments. Its Rollup data and zk proof verification commitments are recorded on the Bitcoin network and are ultimately confirmed through a challenge-response mechanism.

The project participated in a Bitcoin ecosystem project roadshow organized by a certain institution in 2023 and successfully secured investment. It is understood that the core members of the B² Network technical team are active contributors in mainstream open-source communities such as Ethereum and Bitcoin.

Recently, the B² Network has upgraded from the Alpha testnet to the Haven Beta testnet. Currently, their Odyssey mission is ongoing, and users can participate through the official website.

Mind Network

Mind Network is a zero-trust layer aimed at bringing the next billion users and trillions of dollars in scale to Web3. The project provides security and data privacy solutions, enabling true CrossFi scale while complying with regulatory requirements and adhering to the principles of asset tokenization and personal data ownership in Web3. Previously, Mind Network was also selected for the fifth season of an incubation program from a certain trading platform's laboratory and the BUILD program of a well-known oracle project.

On June 29, 2023, Mind Network announced the completion of a $2.5 million seed round financing, with investors including a trading platform laboratory, Comma3 Ventures, SevenX Ventures, and a certain capital.

Omni Network

Omni is the interoperability layer of Ethereum, providing core infrastructure to support all modular applications on Ethereum. With Omni, developers are no longer limited to a single Rollup or execution environment, but are able to seamlessly build applications that exist throughout the Ethereum ecosystem while accessing all users and capital. Omni originated from the DeFi protocol Rift Finance, which provided financial services for Web3 projects.

Omni has secured a total of $18 million in funding, with investment firms including a certain exchange's venture capital department, Jump Capital, and a certain capital.

In June 2023, the Omni testnet went live. Currently, the official has not announced any news regarding airdrop plans, so it is recommended to follow up on subsequent developments.

Wormhole

Wormhole is a decentralized universal messaging protocol that enables developers and users of cross-chain applications to leverage the advantages of multiple ecosystems.

Wormhole completed a $225 million financing round with a valuation of $2.5 billion, with investment firms including the venture capital arm of a certain exchange, Folius Ventures, and Multicoin Capital, making it the largest financing round of 2023.

CESS

CESS is committed to building a blockchain-based distributed cloud storage system. By effectively managing distributed resources through virtualization technology, it provides customers with consistent and efficient distributed storage services. The CESS global content delivery network enables users to easily access their data anytime and anywhere.

In December 2023, CESS completed a financing round of 8 million USD, with investors including DWF Labs and Infinity Ventures Crypto.

The CESS team won the championship of a Web3 hackathon organized by a certain foundation in 2021 and has passed all three milestones funded by the foundation. According to the officially published roadmap, CESS plans to issue tokens in 2024. Currently, CESS has activities for users to participate in during the testnet phase on a certain task platform.