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.

Summary

Tempo raised $500M in Series A, valuing its Layer 1 at $5B.
Kraken acquired the SMALL exchange for $100M.
Total crypto funding hit $1.06B across 22 projects.

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

We’ve raised $75M to build the decentralized energy network powering the world’s most important commodity: electricity.
This funding helps us move faster toward an electric grid that delivers what the old one no longer can: affordability, reliability, and abundant power. pic.twitter.com/Jk8fIlSQko
— Daylight (@daylightenergy_) October 16, 2025

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

Source: https://crypto.news/crypto-vc-funding-tempo-bags-500m-kraken-secures-the-small-exchange-for-100m/