Azuro, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) developing a protocol for blockchain-based prediction, has partnered with hyperchain Sophon to improve the development of a prediction application by combining technologies.
Both the Azuro platform and Sophon plan to launch a co-sponsored grant program to support and accelerate the deployment of Sophon ‘s zkSync hyperchain and predictive applications built on the Azure platform.
Following the announcement of the partnership, Azuro Protocol said that liquidity providers for the AZUR/ETH pair on decentralized exchanges will receive a $SOPH token drop. The companies are preparing to launch their $AZUR and $SOPH tokens later this year.
Funding secured
In April, Azuro raised $11 million through investments from SevenX Ventures and Arrington Capital. Other participants in the funding round include Fenbushi Capital, Polymorphic Capital, Red Beard Ventures, Dewhales and G1 Ventures.
The funds will be used to further accelerate the ecosystem’s growth in this critical expansion phase and to intensify marketing efforts in the decentralized prediction market.
Some 26 applications are using the Azure platform for the on-chain forecasting marketplace, with a transaction volume of $340 million.
In the first quarter of this year, Sophon raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by Paper Ventures and Maven 11, with participation from Spartan Group, SevenX Ventures, OKX Ventures and others.
Sophon completed the sale of the node in April, raising ~21,000 ETH. Azuro said it joins Sophon’s other infrastructure partners, including zkSync and Beam, in the new partnership agreement.
VC funding growth in 2024
Venture capital funding in the Web3, gaming, artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency space rose sharply in the first quarter of 2024, breaking a two-year downward trend.
According to data collected by cryptocurrency analysis platform Crypto Koryo, both the total amount invested and the number of projects receiving VC funding have increased significantly since the fourth quarter of 2023.
