VC Roundup: DeFi, AI, hybrid exchanges showcase resilient month for crypto

June was lit for crypto VCs, despite the overall chill in funding. DeFi, AI, and hybrid exchanges were the stars, pulling in major cash. Here’s the lowdown on who got the bag.

Rails just bagged $20M to mix the best of CEX and DEX – speed meets custody. Kraken’s backing? Chefs kiss. Slow Ventures called it a game-changer. Hybrid trading’s the future, folks.

Beam’s stacking paper to bridge crypto and trad-fi. $7M fresh from Castle Ventures & co. They’re already on Visa, Mastercard, and FedNow. Global domination? In progress.

Ex-Chorus One exec Xavier Meegan’s Frachtis is dropping $20M on pre-seed gems. AI, infra, consumer apps – if it’s decentralized and dope, they’re in. Eight projects already got the nod.

Inference Labs is making AI trustable with crypto. $6.3M to prove AI outputs aren’t BS using zero-knowledge proofs. Testnet’s live, mainnet’s coming. Watch this space.

Pantera and Multicoin dropped $10M on Gradient’s Solana-based AI runtime. Decentralized AI on SOL? Yes, please. Lattica’s out, Parallax is next. Big brain energy.

OKX and Story are throwing $10M at IP innovation. Think AI, data licensing, and programmable IP. Because why should patents be boring? Their token’s already making waves.

Yupp’s turning AI model battles into a crypto reward fest. $33M from a16z to let you judge ChatGPT vs. Claude and get paid. Human judgment as a resource? Genius.

Blueprint Finance’s stacking $9.5M to revamp DeFi. Concrete on ETH, Glow on SOL – yield and trading, reinvented. Polychain’s leading the charge. DeFi’s not dead, it’s evolving.

Waves’ Units Network just scooped $10M from Nimbus to fix Web3’s scaling woes. More validators, better crosschain liquidity, and an AI roadmap. Ambitious? You bet.