Financing Weekly Report | Nasdaq Invests $100 Million in Kraken's Parent Company Payward; Mistral AI Completes €3 Billion Series D Financing

Highlights of This Issue

In the AI sector, the primary market continues to be dominated by infrastructure investments. Mistral AI has completed €3 billion in Series D financing, with a post-investment valuation exceeding €21 billion; AI coding company Cognition has raised over $2 billion, bringing its valuation to $48 billion. The chip and computing infrastructure sector is also attracting significant investment, with Positron raising $875 million at a $5 billion valuation and Celero completing $275 million in financing.

In the cryptocurrency sector, funding continues to concentrate on stablecoin payments, compliance infrastructure, and the integration of traditional finance with the crypto market.

Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Payward, the parent company of Kraken, Latitude has secured $35 million in Series A financing, and TRM Labs has doubled its valuation to $2 billion after receiving financing for the second time this year; in terms of mergers and acquisitions, Circle plans to acquire the cross-border payment platform Tazapay for approximately $400 million in stock.

According to incomplete statistics from PANews, there were 8 financing events in the global blockchain industry last week (September 7-13), with a total funding scale exceeding $158 million. The overview is as follows:

• The decentralized perpetual contract exchange Antarctic Exchange completed $7 million in financing;
• The cross-border stablecoin payment infrastructure company Latitude completed $35 million in Series A financing;
• The autonomous AI agent economy layer Agentum completed $7 million in financing;
• Nasdaq invested $100 million in Payward, with a valuation of $21 billion;
• Stablecoin issuer Circle will acquire the cross-border payment platform Tazapay for $400 million in company stock.

Cryptocurrency Financing

DeFi

The decentralized perpetual contract exchange Antarctic Exchange completed $7 million in financing.

The Singapore-based decentralized perpetual contract exchange Antarctic Exchange has completed $7 million in financing, with a valuation of $70 million. Investors include Valisa Capital Markets, Lucidity Capital, and Republic Crypto, as well as proprietary traders entering the crypto asset space for the first time. The platform targets retail derivatives traders, providing tools similar to centralized exchanges. The founding team consists of former executives from OKX, Binance, and MEXC.

Infrastructure & Tools

The cross-border stablecoin payment infrastructure company Latitude completed $35 million in Series A financing, with Coinbase and others participating.

The cross-border stablecoin payment infrastructure company Latitude has completed $35 million in Series A financing, led by Oak HC/FT, with participation from NEA, Coinbase, Lightspeed Faction, and OpenFX. The company was co-founded by former executives from Stripe, Uber, Coinbase, and Meta, aiming to help businesses send fiat currency to emerging market users via stablecoins using local payment methods (bank accounts and mobile wallets).

TRM Labs completed additional financing for its previous Series C round, doubling its valuation to $2 billion.

San Francisco-based crypto crime tracking company TRM Labs completed $70 million in Series C financing in September 2025, reaching a valuation of $1 billion. Just six months later, it received additional investment from existing investors, doubling its valuation to $2 billion. CEO Esteban Castano stated that the company's mission has expanded from blockchain forensics to a broader mapping of cybercrime, with AI becoming a second growth engine rather than a transformation, while the core crypto business remains strong. The company is set to launch a new investigation platform specifically targeting AI-driven deepfake fraud, sexual extortion, and child sexual abuse crimes. Castano noted that the widespread adoption of cryptocurrency makes it possible to comprehensively map criminal networks, and the company expects to reach a $100 million annual recurring revenue milestone in the coming weeks, currently employing about 500 people with offices in London, Singapore, and Washington.

IOSG Ventures announced an investment in the crypto payment infrastructure company Immersve.

IOSG announced an investment in the stablecoin payment infrastructure company Immersve, focusing on bridging stablecoins from "account balances" to everyday spending payment channels. Immersve is a Mastercard principal member, connecting users' stablecoin wallets with existing merchant acceptance networks through a non-custodial settlement framework. It currently provides crypto card solutions for Binance, Bitget Wallet, and KuCoin, allowing users to pay directly with stablecoins like USDC at merchants accepting Mastercard. IOSG stated that with the GENIUS Act clarifying the payment tool identity for stablecoins in the U.S., and monthly spending on crypto cards exceeding $1.04 billion in July this year, stablecoins are expected to accelerate their evolution into "infrastructure" for global everyday payments.

Web3 + AI

The autonomous AI agent economy layer Agentum completed $7 million in financing.

The autonomous AI agent economy layer Agentum announced the completion of $7 million in financing, with participation from MEXC Ventures, BingX Labs, Arca Fund, Wave Digital Assets, Echo3, Greenwood Global Capital, UZ Capital, and Vega Ventures. Agentum is a trust and settlement layer for AI agents in the autonomous economy. It enables AI agents to independently publish tasks, bid for work, execute tasks, and complete payment settlements on-chain without human intervention. Agentum is built on BNB Chain, integrating on-chain identity, collateral bidding, custody, staking, portable reputation, trusted execution environments (TEE), and zkVM-based verification mechanisms to establish trust and accountability among autonomous agents.

Centralized Finance

Nasdaq invests $100 million in Kraken's parent company Payward, with a valuation of $21 billion.

Nasdaq Inc. is investing $100 million in Payward, the parent company of the cryptocurrency exchange Kraken. This move comes as Nasdaq continues to build infrastructure to support tokenized stock trading. The investment from Nasdaq's venture capital arm brings the valuation of the cryptocurrency company to $21 billion and deepens the partnership announced in March.

Others

Web3 AR mobile game RealGo completes $6 million in strategic financing, totaling $9.5 million.

The Web3 AR mobile game RealGo announced the completion of $6 million in strategic financing, with investors including UZ Capital, GW Global, and Infiniteall AI, bringing total financing to $9.5 million. The new funds will be used for core product development, global team expansion, and exploration in the AI field, further enhancing the Meme ecosystem built on AR, AI, LBS, mobile gaming, and on-chain assets. RealGo is a Web3-based augmented reality (AR) mobile game that utilizes artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and location-based services to transform real-world locations into interactive playgrounds.

Geo-DePIN project TINA completes $3 million in financing.

Geo-DePIN project TINA announced the completion of $3 million in financing, with investors including THINKWARE, Gemhead Capital, Archer Capital, Astra Capital, Mayer Venture, and Tidal Capital. TINA stated that this round of funding will be used to accelerate TINA Geo's global expansion, growth of the dashcam ecosystem, and advancement of Geo-DePIN data infrastructure. TINA is a geospatial DePIN project based on Solana, allowing users to earn rewards by contributing and verifying POI location data and collecting spatial data during daily driving. The project is collaborating with dashcam manufacturer THINKWARE to launch TINA Geo Dashcam, promoting the Drive-to-Earn model.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Circle will acquire the cross-border payment platform Tazapay for $400 million in company stock.

Stablecoin issuer Circle will acquire the cross-border payment platform Tazapay for $400 million in company stock. The transaction is expected to close in 2027, pending regulatory approval. Tazapay is headquartered in Singapore and holds a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license in Singapore, having registered in India, the U.S., Canada, and Australia, and is advancing applications for licenses in the UAE, EU, and Hong Kong, with an annual payment processing volume exceeding $25 billion, approximately 60% of which involves stablecoins. Tazapay has raised approximately $68 million since 2020, with Circle participating in its Series B and B+ rounds in 2025 and 2026, respectively, and being one of the first partners in the Circle Payments Network, with both parties previously collaborating deeply on the stablecoin cross-border payment network.

Sei Labs acquires data analysis and indexing platform Bilinear Labs.

Data analysis and indexing platform Bilinear Labs announced that it has been acquired by Sei Labs, with the team joining Sei Labs to participate in the development of projects such as Sei Network and Sei Giga. Bilinear Labs will cease operations on September 14, having built its platform using Rust, which indexed hundreds of billions of events and launched the BYOABI technology.

Selected AI & Robotics Financing

Models & AI Infrastructure

Mistral AI completes €3 billion in Series D financing, post-investment valuation exceeds €21 billion.

French artificial intelligence company Mistral AI announced the completion of €3 billion in Series D financing, with a post-investment valuation exceeding €21 billion. The company stated that this is the largest equity financing to date for a tech company in Europe. Samsung Electronics led the round, with EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund and existing investor PSG Equity co-leading.

New investors include Advent, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Existing investors such as a16z, ASML, Belfius, BNP Paribas CIB, Bpifrance, Carmignac, DST Global, Eurazeo, General Catalyst, Headline, Hillspire, Index Ventures, Korelya Capital, Lightspeed, Nvidia, and Phoenix Court's Solar Fund (including LocalGlobe, Latitude, and Solar) also participated.

Funding will be used for cutting-edge model research, computational power and infrastructure expansion, as well as commercialization and international market development. Mistral AI currently operates in 20 countries, serving over 125 companies, including Airbus, ASML, and HSBC.

AI Chip Startup Positron Raises $875 Million at $5 Billion Valuation

AI chip startup Positron announced it has raised $875 million at a $5 billion valuation, significantly increasing its valuation over the past six months. This round of financing was led by venture capital firms NEA, Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, Andra Capital, analyst Dylan Patel's SemiAnalysis Capital, and Netscape co-founder Jim Clark. Positron raised $230 million in its most recent funding round in February, when it was valued at $1 billion. Positron stated that it has delivered about 50 units of its previous generation server rack, Atlas, to Oracle, with clients also including financial firm Jump Trading and AI company Parasail. Positron is trying to gain an advantage in the crowded chip industry by quickly bringing its chips to market.

AI Chip Startup Celero Completes $275 Million Financing, Valuation Exceeds $3 Billion

AI chip startup Celero Communications announced it has completed $275 million in financing, with a valuation exceeding $3 billion. This round was co-led by Atreides Management, Valor Equity Partners, and CapitalG, a venture capital firm under Alphabet.

Founded in 2024, Celero primarily develops coherent digital signal processors (DSPs) for optical data transmission in AI systems, enhancing high-speed data transfer efficiency between data centers and different server racks within a single data center, thereby helping to build larger AI chip clusters. It is reported that Gavin Baker, managing partner and chief investment officer at Atreides, will join Celero's board.

AI 3D Company VAST Completes Approximately 3 Billion Yuan in Series B and B+ Financing, Led by Matrix Partners

AI 3D company VAST (Sanqi Wanshu) announced it has completed Series B and B+ financing totaling approximately 3 billion yuan, led by Matrix Partners. Perfect World, BlueFocus, Chipone Investment, Yanqu Game, Zhongke Chuangda, 37 Interactive Entertainment, as well as Dinghui VGC, CICC Capital, CMC Capital, and other investors participated, with existing shareholders such as Dacheng Caizhi, Chunhua Capital, and Yongce Capital continuing to invest. According to official information, VAST has raised approximately 5 billion yuan in total financing in less than six months. It is reported that VAST has also released the latest version of its flagship 3D base model, Tripo P2.0, and the funds from this round of financing will be invested in the iteration of 3D native models and data capabilities, training and inference infrastructure expansion, product development, and commercialization.

AI Applications & Agents

AI Coding Company Cognition Raises $2 Billion, Valuation Soars to $48 Billion

AI coding startup Cognition AI has completed a new round of financing of $2 billion, raising its post-financing valuation to $48 billion. This round was led by Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, and Avenir. Three months prior, Cognition's valuation was $26 billion. The company stated that its annualized revenue has increased from $492 million in May to nearly $900 million, with its core product being the AI engineering agent Devin.

Enterprise AI Company Clay Completes $115 Million Series D Financing, Participated by a16z

Enterprise AI company Clay announced it has completed $115 million in Series D financing, led by Wellington, with participation from Sequoia Capital, StepStone, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Perennial, Meritech, DST, CapitalG, and others, raising its post-financing valuation to $7.1 billion. Clay stated that its AI agent can build real-time business and customer profiles based on external data such as CRM and automatically construct and execute workflows according to business objectives. Companies such as Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, and Stripe are already using its products.

AI Wealth Management Company Savvy Wealth Completes $100 Million Series C Financing, Valuation Rises to $600 Million

AI wealth management company Savvy Wealth announced it has completed $100 million in Series C financing, raising its valuation to $600 million, with Halo Fund leading the round and existing investors such as Thrive Capital, Industry Ventures, and Index Ventures participating. So far, its total financing has exceeded $200 million. The AI wealth management platform Savvy Intelligence launched by Savvy Wealth utilizes large language models trained by OpenAI and Anthropic to support the integration of investment, tax, and financial planning data, simplifying the wealth management process through AI. The new funds will primarily be used to expand software product development aimed at wealth advisors.

Lightfield Completes $47 Million Series A Financing, Led by a16z

AI-native CRM company Lightfield has completed $47 million in Series A financing, led by a16z, with participation from Maverick Capital, Coatue, Greylock, Lightspeed, Audacious Ventures, and Alumni Ventures; founders and individual investors such as Guillermo Rauch, Immad Akhund, Mati Staniszewski, Jeff Wang, Scott Belsky, Avichal Garg, Nick Talken, and Zack Kisner also participated in this round of financing. The funds will be used to accelerate growth and expand AI Agent capabilities. Lightfield focuses on automatically integrating customer interaction data and building a "world model" for enterprises, allowing Agents to autonomously develop business opportunities, advance transactions, and manage customers; since its launch in November 2025, over 5,000 companies have registered.

AI Agent Terminal Project Herdr Completes $6 Million Seed Round Financing, Led by Bessemer Venture Partners

AI agent terminal project Herdr announced it has completed $6 million in seed round financing, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Y Combinator, e2vc, and Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke. The funds will be used to enhance Herdr's runtime performance, stability, and scalability, and to build a team focused on Rust, terminals, and AI agents.

Mergers and Acquisitions

Meta Platforms Acquires Swedish AI Startup Stilla.ai

Meta has acquired Swedish AI startup Stilla.ai to accelerate the development of the Meta Business Agent. This AI agent is currently used to help merchants interact with customers on WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, and drive transaction completion. Meta hopes to enhance the capabilities of its AI chatbots to help merchants convert customer inquiries into actual purchases more effectively. After the transaction is completed, Meta also plans to further expand its business layout in Sweden.

Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Stockholm, Stilla emerged from stealth mode in January this year and completed $5 million in pre-seed financing. After the transaction is completed, the Stilla team and its technology will be integrated into Meta. This acquisition highlights Meta's strategy to further integrate AI technology into its messaging ecosystem business system. Over the past decade, Meta has continuously built commercial infrastructure connecting merchants with its billion-level messaging app users, with over 1 million businesses currently using Business Agent to handle customer interactions.