For the second month in a row, crypto venture capital funding has exceeded the $1 billion mark, highlighting continued investor interest in the industry.
According to data from RootData, April witnessed $1.02 billion in funding spread across 161 investment rounds, slightly down from March’s $1.09 billion across 186 rounds.
Nonetheless, this marks the first time since October-November 2022 that the crypto sector has seen two consecutive months of funding surpassing $1 billion.
Key Fundraisings in April
Key fundraises in April include a significant $47 million investment led by BlackRock into Securitize, a firm specializing in real-world asset tokenization.
Another standout was the massive $225 million investment into Monad, a new layer-1 blockchain often dubbed a “Solana killer,” backed by Paradigm and Coinbase Ventures.
Notable injections of capital also went 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 so far this year.
The momentum in venture capital funding reflects a broader trend of growth within the blockchain industry.
With over $3.67 billion already invested across 604 funding rounds in 2024, the year is on pace to exceed the $9.3 billion raised in 2023.
Since June 2014, the blockchain industry has seen over $100 billion in funding across 5,195 rounds, according to DeFiLlama.
The surge in funding coincides with the ambitions of major VC firms like Pantera Capital and Paradigm, both seeking substantial sums 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 $4.5 billion.
Interestingly, a16z, while raising $7.2 billion for investments across various sectors including artificial intelligence and gaming, opted not to further bolster its cryptocurrency-focused fund.
VC Funding Surges in Q1
VC funding in the crypto space has experienced a surge in the first quarter of 2024, breaking a two-year downtrend.
Both the total amount invested and the number of projects receiving VC funding have seen substantial increases since Q4 2023.
The data shows a notable 38% rise in funds invested during the quarter, indicating a 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 witnessed 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 lingering downward trajectory of overall crypto VC interest.
According to analysts at Bernstein Research, crypto funds could reach a staggering $500 billion to $650 billion within the next five years, a significant leap from the current valuation of approximately $50 billion.
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