Crypto VC funding: Félix lands $200M, Cari raises $32.5M

By: crypto.news|2026/09/05 08:21:54
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Crypto and blockchain companies disclosed $292.35 million across 10 funding deals between Aug. 31 and Sep. 5, 2026. Félix led the week with a $200 million financing package that combined equity and debt, while bank-backed digital money network Cari secured $32.5 million.

• Ten crypto and blockchain companies disclosed $292.35 million in financing during the seven-day period.
• Félix secured $200 million through $87 million in equity and a $113 million credit facility.
• Cari raised $32.5 million from seven U.S. banks for its tokenized deposit network.
• OpenReserve announced a $25 million seed round alongside preliminary approval for a U.S. bank charter.
• Payments and banking infrastructure accounted for $270.5 million, or nearly 93% of disclosed financing.

OpenReserve and Diameter Pay also attracted funding for regulated banking and stablecoin payment infrastructure. The weekly total includes Félix’s $113 million credit facility and therefore represents disclosed financing rather than pure venture capital.

Data from DeFiLlama’s crypto raises database, CryptoRank, and company announcements showed that investors concentrated most of the week’s capital in stablecoin payments, remittances and tokenized banking infrastructure. The total excludes acquisitions and unconfirmed reports, including Polymarket’s reported $1 billion round.

Félix secures $200 million for stablecoin remittances

Miami-based Félix secured $200 million in Series C financing to expand its WhatsApp-based financial platform for Latino customers in the United States.

The package included an $87 million equity investment led by Andreessen Horowitz. QED Investors, Castle Island Ventures, Switch Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, and Endeavor Catalyst also participated.

General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund separately committed to a $113 million credit facility. Félix plans to expand beyond remittances into savings, lending and AI-supported financial services.

The company uses USDC on Stellar to help settle cross-border transfers and works with Bitso to move funds between digital assets and local currencies. Félix said it has processed more than $8 billion in transactions across 11 Latin American markets and served more than six million people.

The financing brought the company’s total capital raised to nearly $300 million. Félix did not disclose its latest valuation, although it said the figure had tripled since its $75 million Series B in 2025.

Cari raises $32.5 million from U.S. banks

Washington, D.C.-based Cari raised $32.5 million in the first tranche of its initial external funding round. All of the capital came from banking institutions.

First Horizon Bank, Huntington Bank, KeyBank, M&T Bank, Old National Bank, SouthState Bank and Glacier Bank participated in the financing.

Cari is developing a bank-governed network that allows chartered institutions to issue and transfer tokenized commercial bank deposits. Its permissioned Layer 2 network is anchored to Ethereum, while participating banks remain responsible for issuing and managing their own deposits.

The company said the funds would support product development, bank onboarding, and network integration. Cari has signed 30 banks and is holding discussions with another 40 institutions, according to its announcement.

Unlike stablecoins backed by separate reserve assets, tokenized deposits represent liabilities of the banks that issue them. Cari’s structure is designed to let regional and community banks use programmable payment rails without handing control of deposits to nonbank issuers.

OpenReserve announces $25 million seed round

OpenReserve announced a $25 million seed round led by a16z crypto as it works to establish a full-service U.S. national bank built around continuous settlement.

Jump Crypto, Acrew Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Quona Capital, AAF Management, and Zero Knowledge participated.

The announcement followed preliminary conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. OpenReserve must still raise at least $210 million in initial paid-in capital, secure Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation coverage and meet the OCC’s preopening requirements before beginning banking operations.

The proposed Utah-based bank plans to offer deposits, lending, digital asset custody, tokenized deposits, and stablecoin payment services. OpenReserve said its infrastructure would support settlement outside the operating hours of conventional U.S. payment systems.

— Price

Diameter Pay adds $10 million for stablecoin payments

Jersey City-based Diameter Pay raised $10 million in a Series A co-led by CMT Digital and Lightspeed Faction.

SixThirty Ventures, the Stellar Development Foundation, Onigiri Capital, Tech Council Ventures, and BitRock Capital also joined the equity round.

Diameter provides financial institutions with U.S. dollar virtual accounts, domestic and international payment rails, stablecoin access, and compliance tools through an application programming interface. The company said it processed more than $10 billion in payments during 2026 before announcing the financing.

The funds will support additional banking connections, stablecoin settlement services, foreign exchange products and compliance infrastructure.

Projects raising between $3 million and $8 million

• Firelight raised an $8 million seed round led by gumi Cryptos Capital. Maven 11, Metalayer Ventures, Joint Effects, and Tribe Capital participated. The protocol uses staked digital assets to provide cover against smart contract exploits and other DeFi risks.
• MemeBitcoin secured an $8 million strategic round from Gemhead Capital, Archer Capital, M2M Capital, and Mayer Venture. The Bitcoin-based project said it would use the funds for its public launch, community campaign, and preparations for centralized exchange listings.
• GAEA raised $3.6 million in strategic financing from MH Venture, CGV FOF, K24 Ventures, and M2M Capital. The decentralized AI project plans to develop infrastructure connecting users, data, computing resources, and AI agents.
• Colombian fintech Plenti closed a $3 million seed round led by Tether, with participation from Verda Ventures. Plenti plans to strengthen its Colombian business and expand its multicurrency accounts and investment platform into Peru and Bolivia.

Funding rounds below $3 million

• Prediction market infrastructure company ParlayX raised $1.25 million in a pre-seed round led by Dreamcraft Ventures. The platform is building collaborative trading, key management, reporting, and order execution tools for institutional prediction-market participants.
• Ethereum-based DeFi protocol Polaris completed a $1 million angel round backed by contributors associated with the Ethereum Foundation, Fusion, Altitude, Liquity, and LI.FI. Polaris is developing pETH, a yield-bearing collateral asset designed to support decentralized stablecoins, synthetic assets and tokenized commodities.

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