Between Oct. 17 and 24, 2026, Incrypted’s editorial team tracked 11 venture, corporate and M&A deals, six of which disclosed amounts totaling nearly $691 million. Strive’s $630 million offering dominated the period, while venture investors provided about $32 million to six projects.

Venture capital

Fintech startup Mural raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Tether, with participation from North Island Ventures and existing investors. Mural is developing a platform through which fintech companies, software providers and payroll services can use one account to hold U.S. dollars, local currencies and stablecoins. It plans to use the funds for international expansion and payments and regulatory infrastructure, including financial operations involving AI agents.

Dataline, a decentralized data network for AI agents, raised $10.6 million in seed financing co-led by Lattice and Dispersion Capital. Coinbase Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Anagram and Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev joined the round. Other investors included a former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair and founders and partners from Venmo, Anchorage Digital, NEA, General Catalyst, Jump Capital and FalconX. The company closed the round in April through a SAFE agreement with token rights and did not disclose its valuation.

Nectar Group closed a $5 million seed round led by Portal Ventures and Peer Ventures. Anchorage Digital Ventures, family investment funds and private investors also participated. Nectar is developing HoneyB, infrastructure intended to let institutional investors earn yield on bitcoin without removing assets from qualified custodians or the Bitcoin network. The platform will combine custody, lending, asset management and compliance services.

Solana-based decentralized finance protocol Hylo raised $1 million in a strategic round led by Solana Ventures, with participation from Colosseum. Hylo plans to expand leverage and yield infrastructure on Solana.

Tether also led a pre-seed round for Bolivian fintech startup Peso, which is building USDT-based payments infrastructure in Latin America. Peso offers stablecoin accounts, cross-border transfers, point-of-sale payments and virtual accounts integrated with Bolivia’s banking system. It plans to develop services for exchanging cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. The amount was not disclosed.

Lighthouse, a developer of memory infrastructure for AI agents, also raised additional strategic funding. Its shared-memory technology is designed to let AI agents retain context, decisions and constraints across models and sessions. Lighthouse plans to develop its memory infrastructure, MCP integrations and decentralized storage using IPFS, Filecoin and Walrus. The amount was not disclosed.

Corporate placements and deals

U.S. investment firm Strive completed an initial public offering of 7 million Series A SATS perpetual preferred shares at $90 each, raising $630 million. Strive plans to use the proceeds for purposes including purchases of bitcoin and related products, acquisitions of income-generating assets and general corporate needs. The shares carry cumulative annual dividends equal to 15% of their stated value of $100 per share. Trading began on the Nasdaq Global Market under the ticker SATS on Oct. 20, 2026.

Robinhood Ventures Fund I acquired $30 million of preferred shares in U.S.-based Erebor Bank in a deal completed Sept. 17. The bank focuses on companies in innovation and industrial manufacturing and is building financial infrastructure based on modern technologies. The investment gives the fund’s RVI retail investors indirect exposure to shares in a private bank.

Sonic representatives reported the transfer of about 13 million S tokens in a strategic over-the-counter deal. The team described the counterparty as a long-term partner that would help broaden the Sonic network’s reach and engagement. Sonic said it announced the transfer in advance to explain the movement of funds when it appeared on-chain.

Mergers and acquisitions

Bitget announced plans to acquire GMO-Z.com, a licensed digital-asset trading and brokerage platform in Bangkok. Bitget expects the acquisition to expand its presence in Thailand through an already licensed operator. Completion remains subject to regulatory approvals and other conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OpenWorld signed a definitive agreement to acquire Blocksight, which develops AI agents for real-world asset tokenization. After closing, OpenWorld plans to integrate Blocksight’s technology into its Enterprise platform to automate deal structuring, asset-data verification, investor onboarding and continuing reporting. The companies did not disclose financial terms.

Other activity

No token sales were recorded during the week. Information about current and planned campaigns remains available through Incrypted’s token-sale section and its dedicated Telegram channel.

Ecosystems and decentralized autonomous organizations reported no project-support allocations during the period. Tether was the most active investor, backing two startups, while investor activity focused primarily on blockchain services and the centralized-finance sector.

Source: Incrypted