A new venture capital firm in New York City wants to bring back the art of making startups. With a $55 million fund, Asylum Ventures recently launched its new fund targeting inception-stage startups, planning to invest $1-2 million in pre-seed and seed-stage firms.
Behind the initiative are Nick Chirls, founder of Notation Capital and an early investor in Livepeer, Solana, Near, and Bison Trails — now Coinbase Cloud — and Jonathan Why, a former Aztec Networks growth leader.
Asylum is based in Brooklyn but is generalist in geography and scope. “We are generalists, but we believe the best investments are in markets/categories that no one cares about (yet),” Wu told Cointelegraph. “We are looking for the categories that folks will be excited about 5-10 years from now.”
The fund is looking for early-stage projects having a “harder time raising capital because it is NOT hot today.” In other words, founders and startups working on initiatives that other venture funds may not see as “a good idea or venture fundable today” are welcomed on Asylum.
In a blog post announcing the fund, Chirls offers a message directly to the “artists” behind startups, promising an approach that centers on the art of venture rather than the business of banking. “I’ve always believed the best early-stage founders are artists – they’re obsessive about new and unusual things, they feel compelled to bring creation into the world, and they are often misunderstood for long periods of time – even lifetimes.”
Founders, in Chirls’ words, “are artists, not assets.”
Along with Asylum’s launch, this edition of Cointelegraph’s VC Roundup explores some other startups that raised funding in the first weeks of September.
Puffpaw secures $6M in seed funding for vape-to-quit smoking model
Puffpaw, a decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) platform on Berachain, announced the closure of a $6 million seed funding round led by Lemniscap with participation from Volt Capital, Spartan, Folius Ventures, Karatage, Seed Club Ventures, Hypersphere, Panga Capital, EVG, Corner, Social Graph Venture, and Nonce Classic. Puffpaw offers a “vape to quit smoking & earn” model, encouraging smokers to use its Smart Vapes (PSV) that feature lower nicotine levels and organic components. The platform leverages blockchain to record each inhalation and provide users insights into their smoking habits through a gamified experience.
The funds will help develop the first 10,000 pre-order nodes. According to a statement, the team includes professionals from the e-cigarette, pharmaceutical, and blockchain industries. Incubated by Berachain’s Build-A-Bera program, Puffpaw plans to leverage the ecosystem for expansion and market growth.
Source: Puffpaw
Permissionless Labs secures $10M in Series A round led by Multicoin Capital
Permissionless Labs, creators of Pipe Network, has raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by Multicoin Capital, with participation from Solana Ventures, Robot Ventures, and key industry figures. Pipe Network is developing the first permissionless content delivery network (CDN) built on the Solana blockchain. The funds will be used to scale Pipe’s decentralized CDN, which aims to outcompete centralized CDNs by leveraging Solana’s efficiency, reducing latency, and optimizing unused bandwidth. The company is led by David Rhodus, an early employee at Consensys with 20 years of experience in media streaming and crypto networks.
DeFi abstraction layer Infinit raises $6M in funding
Abstraction layer for decentralized finance Infinit has raised $6 million in a funding round led by Electric Capital, Mirana Ventures, and Hashed. The startup offers infrastructure for DeFi protocols, enabling developers to launch and scale services in a modular approach without starting development from scratch. Infinit supports 12 DeFi DApps across Ethereum, Mantle, and Blast, with over $630 million in total value locked. Future plans include expanding to new chains like Arbitrum and Berachain. Other investors in the round include Maelstrom.fund, Faction, Robot Ventures, Nomad Capital, Tangent, Presto Labs, Bankless Ventures, and Selini Capital.
DRiP raises $8m seed for creators’ engagement app
DRiP, a creator engagement platform built on Solana, has raised $8 million in a seed round led by NFX, Progression, and Coinbase Ventures, with additional backing from 30 other investors, including 6th Man Ventures. The funds will be used to launch DRiP’s first mobile app, enhance creator tools, and scale marketing to attract more creators, fans, and brands. With DRiP, creators send weekly exclusive images, video, audio and other multimedia content to subscribers. The digital collectibles’ distribution is monetized with tips from fans. To date, 550 creators have sent 170 million collectibles to over 2 million wallets.
IN1 Secures $6M in seed funding for fiat-crypto management
Fintech IN1 has raised $6 million in seed funding from private investors to integrate fiat accounts, crypto wallets, and an all-in-one card. The startup is reportedly licensed as a virtual asset provider in Europe, which allows it to offer services such as crypto asset trading and custody. The funding will support product development, currently in beta, with plans for a European launch followed by expansion into the MENA region and Asia, said IN1 in a statement. The startup targets individual users, in addition to offering services to other fintech companies and traditional banks. Future development plans include the introduction of Roboadvising, an IN1 Hub with partner offers, and AI-powered personal finance management tools.
DeFi.Gold secures $2.22M funding for Bitcoin DeFi hub
DeFi.Gold, a decentralized finance platform built on the Bitcoin blockchain, has raised $2.22 million in funding from several investors, including Brian Rose, Walid Benothman, Mario Nawfal, Cypher Capital, Elevate Capital and other investors. The funds will support the development of DeFi. Gold’s platform, which will include a decentralized exchange (DEX), LBP launchpad, and NFT marketplace running on the Bitcoin blockchain and powered by the Lightning Network. The startup is founded by tech investors Shidan Gouran and David Nikzad.
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