private accounts, tokenization, and healthcare infrastructure grab investors’ attention

Blockchain-based startups continue to gather funding during the current bear market, with MetaMask partner Blockaid raising $33 million in October. However, the overall funding in the crypto industry has dropped to levels last seen in 2020, amassing $2.1 billion over 297 deals in the third quarter of 2023, as reported by Messari. As is often the case during bear markets, investors are taking a closer look at projects before investing and apparently seeking tangible real-world applications. 

As part of October’s highlights, the Nature Science Journal discussed applications of blockchain technology, praising decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) for their potential to support underfunded scientific research. Cointelegraph’s venture capital (VC) roundup features projects that raised capital in October.

Untangled Finance completes $13.5M fundraising to bring private credit on-chain

London-based fintech Untangled Finance has raised $13.5 million to accelerate efforts to bring institutional-grade credit with a built-in liquidation mechanism on-chain. Fasanara Capital was the lead investor in the round. The platform’s protocol focuses on tokenizing real-world private credit assets, such as invoices and SME loans, into on-chain structured credit pools. These pools, in turn, facilitate the issuance of collateralized debt notes to both DeFi and TradFi investors, Untangled noted in a statement. The protocol concentrates on private credit markets, where it sees the most utility for DeFi. Through the funds, Untangled plans to access more than 130 verified asset originators spanning 60 countries.

Nocturne raises $6M seed round for private accounts on Ethereum

Nocturne, a protocol enabling on-chain private accounts, announced a $6 million seed funding round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital with participation from Vitalik Buterin and other members of the Ethereum community. Other investors include Bankless Ventures, HackVC and Robot Ventures. The…