Crypto VC Funding: Tempo Bags $500m, Kraken Secures The Small Exchange For $100m

The week of October 12-18, 2025, has seen $1.059 billion in crypto funding across 22 projects, with Tempo’s $500 million Series A round leading.

Payment infrastructure and trading platforms dominated the VC funding this week. Here’s a list of this week’s crypto funding activity according to Crypto Fundraising data.

Tempo

• Tempo, a payments‑first Layer 1 blockchain, raised $500 million in a Series A round
• The project now has a fully diluted valuation of $5 billion
• Tempo’s backers include Grey Wolf, Thrive Capital and Sequoia.

SMALL exchange

• Kraken acquired SMALL Exchange for $100 million.
• The deal enables the startup to offer regulated crypto derivatives onshore.
• It builds on earlier acquisitions like NinjaTrader and Crypto Facilities.

Daylight Energy

• Raised $75 million in an Unknown round
• Investors include Framework, Turtle Hill Capital, and AI6Z
• Daylight Energy has raised $88 million so far

Jito

• ai16z invested $50 million in Jito
• Jito is a liquid Solana staking protocol

Better Payment Network (BPN)

• Better Payment Network raised $50 million in a Seed round
• Investors include YZiLabs
• The project is a blockchain-native cross-border payments and FX protocol

Projects under $50 million

• Telcoin, $25 million in a Series A round
• Tria, $12 million in a Pre-seed round
• Inference, $11.8 million in a Seed round
• TAO Synergies Inc. (ex Synaptogenix), $11 million in an Unknown round
• DSRV, $9.57 million in a Series B round
• Crown (BRL), $8.1 million in a Seed round
• Orochi Network, $8 million in an Unknown round
• 4AI, $6 million in a Strategic round
• Temple, $5 million in a Seed round
• Ryder, $3.2 million in a Seed round
• Voyage, $3 million in a Pre-seed round
• CryptoMesh, $2.5 million in a Series A round
• 375ai, $2 million in a Public sale with $75 million fully diluted valuation
• Octra, $2 million in a Public sale
• Dare Market, $2 million in an Unknown round
• Legend Trade, $1.5 million in a Pre-seed round
• Seer, $300,000 in a Private round