News linked to both this project and an event.
According to Tech.eu, venture capital giant DIG Ventures has announced that its third fund has raised $120 million. Backed by Horsley Bridge, Sofina, Granite, and an endowment fund from a top U.S. university among other institutions, the fund will invest in AI-native enterprise software and cloud infrastructure startups at the Pre-seed and seed stages. Its investment focus covers infrastructure areas supporting AI-native enterprise software development, such as data, identity authentication, compliance, and orchestration. The fund plans to lead most investment rounds and has already begun deploying capital.
Odaily News: Prediction market operator Kalshi is in negotiations for a $1 billion funding round at a target valuation of $40 billion. Existing investors Sequoia Capital and Wellington Management are in discussions to lead the round, with Tiger Global and Dragoneer Investment Group also participating in talks.The funding round has not yet been finalized, and the final list of investors and closing date have not been disclosed. Kalshi raised $300 million at a $5 billion valuation in October 2025, and completed a $1 billion funding round at a $22 billion valuation in May 2026.The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Kalshi on September 25 in lawsuits involving Ohio and Tennessee, allowing the two states to regulate its sports contracts under gambling laws. Kalshi argues that its products are regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: Cryptocurrency exchange and wallet service provider Blockchain.com plans to raise approximately $500 million this year through an initial public offering (IPO), targeting a valuation of $4 billion to $6 billion, and may scale back the offering size if necessary to complete the listing.Blockchain.com reached a $14 billion valuation in 2022 and confidentially filed IPO registration documents with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in May of this year. Recently listed Gemini, BitGo, and eToro have seen their share prices drop approximately 50% to 80% from post-listing highs. (Cointelegraph)
Michael Saylor stated that as AI changes how businesses are built, digital tokens can help 10 million new companies raise capital and reduce fundraising costs and delays. He advocates simplifying issuance rules while preserving disclosure and anti-fraud protections.Michael Saylor is the Executive Chairman of Bitcoin treasury company Strategy Inc. He proposed that companies could issue tokens with rules tailored to the type of issuance, and set disclosure requirements matched to risk, thereby reducing legal costs while preserving ownership protections and fraud accountability.The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has separately proposed cryptocurrency issuance exemptions, one of which would allow eligible issuers to raise up to $5 million within four years, and another that would allow up to $75 million every 12 months; both remain proposals and come with disclosure and anti-fraud requirements. (Bitcoin.com News)
Odaily News: SoftBank Group is finalizing nearly $21 billion in potential new borrowing this week to expand its AI-sector financing capacity. People familiar with the matter said SoftBank has increased the size of a margin loan backed by shares of its chip subsidiary Arm Holdings by $5 billion to $25 billion, and added $450 million to an existing credit facility, bringing the total to $6.5 billion. In addition, SoftBank plans to raise another $10 billion to $20 billion next week through another mega bond deal. (Bloomberg)
Odaily News: Nasdaq-listed Bitcoin mining company and data center developer CleanSpark has announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, CSDC Finance I, plans to raise $2.227 billion through a private placement of senior secured notes due 2031. The proceeds will primarily be used to complete the construction of its Sandersville data center in Texas, reimburse the company for a portion of the equity funds previously invested in the facility, and establish a debt service reserve. However, the offering remains subject to market and other conditions, and there is no guarantee that it will be completed or what the final terms will be.
AI cloud service provider CoreWeave announced plans to privately place convertible senior notes due 2033 with an aggregate principal amount of $3 billion, granting initial purchasers an option to purchase up to an additional $500 million. The notes will mature on April 1, 2033, with specific terms including the interest rate and initial conversion ratio to be determined at pricing. CoreWeave plans to use a portion of the proceeds to pay for capped call transaction costs, with the remaining funds designated for general corporate purposes.
JPMorgan Chase, KeyCorp, and Bank of New York Mellon announced they will raise their prime rates from 6.75% to 7%, with the new rate taking effect on Thursday. This move will directly increase borrowing costs for consumers and businesses.
Odaily News: The Smarter Web Company has announced plans to launch the UK's first Bitcoin-backed preferred shares, subject to shareholder approval. The company expects to raise $20 million to $34 million through a potential IPO, to be used for increasing its Bitcoin holdings and acquiring cash-flow-generating operating businesses.
According to Bloomberg, venture capital firm 1789 Capital is leading a new funding round for prediction market platform Polymarket, with the round reaching a size of $1 billion and a post-money valuation of $21 billion. 1789 Capital plans to contribute approximately $300 million.
According to The Block, crypto investment firm RockawayX announced the acquisition of crypto hedge fund Relayer Capital to integrate long/short and pairs trading strategies into its existing business and expand its presence in the U.S. market. Relayer will be renamed the RockawayX Liquid Opportunities Fund, focusing on investments in undervalued liquid tokens and crypto-related stocks; its founder, Austin Barack, will serve as the fund's CIO. RockawayX currently manages approximately $2 billion in assets, and the new fund plans to raise $150 million.
Odaily News: RockawayX, which manages approximately $2 billion in assets, is seeking to raise $150 million for a new liquidity opportunity fund. RockawayX has previously acquired the crypto hedge fund Relayer Capital. Austin Barack, founder of Relayer Capital and former Partner at CoinFund, will continue to work at RockawayX and manage this fund. The fund will focus on investing in undervalued tokens and crypto-related stocks. Recently, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana have all risen more than 20% over the past week. Meanwhile, crypto venture capital firms such as Paradigm and Framework Ventures are incorporating fields like AI and robotics into their investment strategies.
Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) CEO Michael Saylor denied reports that the company sold Bitcoin due to financing pressures, clarifying instead that it maintains ample cash reserves and continues to steadily increase its holdings.
XPeng (NYSE: XPEV)'s robot subsidiary has signed a stock purchase agreement with investors, planning to raise over $900 million at a post-money valuation exceeding $6.3 billion. XPeng stated that this is the largest single funding round for a Chinese company in the robotics sector to date. IDG Capital led the round, with Tencent and Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) participating as strategic investors.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Tuesday proposed new rules that would allow crypto projects to raise funds without full securities registration. The proposed "crypto asset regulation" includes two exemptions: projects raising no more than $5 million over a 4-year period, and issuers raising no more than $75 million every 12 months, subject to filing financial statements and ongoing reports. Both exemptions require information disclosure and remain subject to federal anti-fraud and anti-manipulation rules. The proposal also includes a conditional safe harbor, allowing issuers to "decouple" crypto assets from the investment contracts under which they were issued, provided SEC conditions are met. SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce stated that the exemptions will not cover all types of crypto projects, and the Commission will refine the rules based on market developments. The SEC canceled a related meeting last week citing "unforeseen scheduling issues," and resumed advancing the proposal days later. (Decrypt)
According to Bloomberg, Google's parent company Alphabet launched its inaugural Australian dollar bond issuance on August 18, planning to raise approximately 5 billion Australian dollars (approximately 3.6 billion US dollars), with the funds raised to be used to address continuously rising AI infrastructure expenditures. The issuance is underwritten by institutions including Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ), offering Australian dollar notes with four maturities, with the longest maturity reaching 20 years.
According to Bloomberg, Lightspeed Venture Partners is seeking to raise approximately $600 million through secondary transactions to extend its investment exposure to OpenAI and other artificial intelligence companies, and to make additional investments in AI model company Anthropic. According to people familiar with the matter, the internal codename for Lightspeed's fundraising transaction is "Project Mercury", involving multiple secondary funds under Lightspeed, including the Select V Fund, the Opportunity II Fund, and portions of assets in a separately managed account. Lightspeed hopes to provide liquidity for investors through secondary market transactions while continuing to maintain long-term holdings in leading companies in the AI sector.
Odaily News: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold a public meeting on August 14 to consider proposing a "Regulation Crypto" rule framework that would allow certain crypto projects to raise funds without completing full securities registration. If public comment is initiated, this would mark the SEC's first formal, long-term crypto industry rulemaking. The framework is expected to establish a pathway for exiting SEC oversight: after project developers raise funds, if they no longer actively manage the project and the project achieves decentralization, it may fall outside SEC jurisdiction. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has previously stated that the exemption period could last up to four years, though the announcement did not disclose funding amount thresholds. The U.S. Senate did not advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act before entering its August recess. The final rule will still take several months to complete, and the meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. ET on August 14. (Decrypt)
Odaily News: Crypto-friendly bank Erebor Bank is in talks to raise $1.5 billion at a target valuation of $9.5 billion. The funds will be used to meet the 12% mandatory leverage ratio requirement and support loan business expansion, including a $200 million credit facility to Valar Atomics. Erebor Bank's total deposits grew from $1.1 billion in March to $4.6 billion in July, with customer growth primarily coming from the crypto, AI, and defense sectors. (CoinDesk)
According to Bloomberg, Singapore data center operator DayOne has confidentially filed an initial public offering (IPO) application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), planning to list in the U.S. as early as the next quarter of this year. The company plans to raise approximately $5 billion, with a listing valuation of around $20 billion. However, relevant details are still under discussion, and the offering size and timing may change.