Crypto VC funding surged by 52.5% monthly to $1.16 billion in March with a focus on infrastructure and decentralized finance projects.
In March, Crypto VC funding increased by 52.5% monthly to $1.16 billion, primarily for infrastructure and decentralized finance projects.
According to RootData data, 180 publicly disclosed investments were able to close last month, marking the highest monthly total since April 2022.
One-fifth of agreements saw fundraisings of $1 million to $3 million and just over 15% of deals raised between $5 million and $10 million. Even though most of the funded projects were located in the US, they accounted for less than 10% of all deals.
Ethereum’s layer-2 blockchain in a private transaction, Optimism raised the most money of the month by selling $89 million worth of its tokens. Startup in cryptography Zama came in second with their $73 million Series A.
Crypto VC Funding Surges in March
The total amount raised was up 28% from March 2023, and the monthly deal number was up 25% from February and over 70% from last year. Crypto VC funding firms have made suggestions about their upcoming year-long focus on cryptocurrency.
On April 1, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) set aside $30 million for a Web3 gaming fund. Co-founder of a16z Marc Andreessen and Galaxy Digital were among the top donors to 1kx, a venture capital firm, last week. 1kx focuses on funding consumer apps that utilize cryptocurrency.
In February, Hack VC collected $150 million to support early-stage entrepreneurs in artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. The most well-funded companies in March were those involved in infrastructure projects, accounting for about $283 million, or roughly 25% of the $1.16 billion in venture capital funding.
Projects related to decentralized finance (DeFi) received $228.1 million, or roughly 20% of the total. Centralized finance (CeFi) projects, like exchanges, received the third-highest amount of funding, totaling $85.5 million.
The DAO category received no monetary contributions. With last month’s fundraising, Crypto VC funding surpassed $1 billion for the first time since November.
Following FTX’s collapse in late 2022, which knocked down the cryptocurrency markets, 2023 was a gloomy year for cryptocurrency fundraising.
Due to the return of interest in cryptocurrency and market movements, Crypto VC funding has increased each month so far this year. PitchBook attributes this to the introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States.