Bitcoin development startup Botanix Labs has raised $8.5 million in a seed series funding round from Polychain Capital, Placeholder Capital, Valor Equity Partners and ABCDE to build a Bitcoin-native DeFi ecosystem.

Angel investors, including Andrew Kang, Fiskantes, Dan Held, The Crypto Dog, Charlie Spears, Altcoin Sherpa, Dovey Wan, Jebus, Icebergy, Crypto ISO, Davis (a.k.a., “KarbonBased”), Walt Smith and Domo (creator of the BRC-20 token standard) also participated in the round, according to a statement shared with The Block.

This latest raise closed in April, but the firm did not disclose a valuation or the structure of the round. Following a previously unannounced $3 million pre-seed round that closed in June 2023, Botanix Labs has now raised $11.5 million in funding. The pre-seed …