Crypto Venture Capital Funding Exceeds $1 Billion for Second Consecutive Month
Ruholamin Haqshanas
Updated: May 6, 2024 02:38 EDT | Reading Time: 2 minutes
Continuing to demonstrate strong investor interest, crypto venture capital funding has once again surpassed the $1 billion mark for the second consecutive month.
According to data from RootData, April saw a total of $1.02 billion in funding spread across 161 investment rounds, slightly lower than March’s $1.09 billion across 186 rounds.
This achievement marks the first time since October-November 2022 that the crypto sector has experienced two consecutive months of funding exceeding $1 billion.
Notable Fundraisings in April
Key fundraisings in April included a significant investment of $47 million led by BlackRock into Securitize, a company specializing in real-world asset tokenization.
Another noteworthy investment was the massive $225 million injection into Monad, a new layer-1 blockchain often referred to as a “Solana killer,” which was backed by Paradigm and Coinbase Ventures.
Significant capital injections were also made into blockchain infrastructure startup Auradine and Cosmos-based layer-1 blockchain Berachain, receiving $80 million and $100 million respectively.
In terms of sector distribution, blockchain infrastructure firms dominated the funding landscape in 2024, securing $1.7 billion, followed by decentralized finance protocols at $626 million.
In contrast, decentralized autonomous organizations received the least funding, with only $3 million raised so far this year.
The surge in venture capital funding is indicative of the overall growth trend within the blockchain industry.
With a total of over $3.67 billion already invested across 604 funding rounds in 2024, the year is on track to surpass the $9.3 billion raised in 2023.
Since June 2014, the blockchain industry has received over $100 billion in funding across 5,195 rounds, according to DeFiLlama.
This increase in funding aligns with the ambitions of major VC firms such as Pantera Capital and Paradigm, both seeking substantial amounts for new cryptocurrency funds.
Pantera Capital’s potential $1 billion raise would be the largest in the industry since May 2022, when a16z raised a record-breaking $4.5 billion.
Interestingly, a16z, despite raising $7.2 billion for investments in various sectors, including artificial intelligence and gaming, chose not to further strengthen its cryptocurrency-focused fund.
VC Funding Soars in Q1
Venture capital funding in the crypto space has experienced a surge in the first quarter of 2024, breaking a two-year downward trend.
Both the total amount invested and the number of projects receiving VC funding have significantly increased since Q4 2023.
The data shows a notable 38% rise in funds invested during the quarter, indicating renewed investor confidence in the crypto industry.
Moreover, there has been a remarkable 49% increase in the number of projects securing funding, a level not seen since Q4 2021.
In total, Web3 startups managed to secure just under $1.9 billion in funding across 346 deals in the first quarter of 2024.
This marks a significant 58% increase from the previous quarter, offering a glimmer of hope amidst the ongoing decline in overall crypto VC interest.
According to analysts at Bernstein Research, crypto funds could potentially reach an astonishing $500 billion to $650 billion within the next five years, a substantial leap from the current valuation of approximately $50 billion.
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