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Top Stories for Crypto Fundraising in 2022

Delbert Williams IIBy No Comments8 Mins Read

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2022 was a turning point for crypto venture capital as investors poured tens of billions of dollars into blockchain-focused startups despite an overwhelming bearish trend in asset prices. Is the dominant cryptocurrency funding model a good one for the industry? Only time will tell.

Cointelegraph Research is still tallying all of this year’s fundraising figures, but 2022 has easily surpassed all other years in terms of total capital raised and deals completed. VC inflows exceeded $14 billion in each of his first two quarters, and in the third quarter he fell to just under $5 billion. Still an impressive number given the industry-wide contagion caused by the sudden collapse of Celsius, Three Arrows Capital, Genesis and BlockFi. Above all, FTX.

With this background, we have compiled a list of the biggest fundraising stories of 2022.

Haun Ventures: Raises $1.5 billion

In March, crypto investor and Coinbase board member Katie Haun raised $1.5 billion for two investment funds focused on Web3. Newly launched Haun Ventures has set up a $500 million early stage fund and he a $1 billion acceleration fund to invest in “every layer of the Web3 tech stack.” Katie Haun hired ex-executives from Airbnb, Coinbase and Google tech incubators Jigsaw to launch her new fund.

Web3 has been a major focus of venture capital for the past 12 months. The Web3 company is said to be working on the next version of the decentralized internet, but the concept remains vague and the industry behind it is still in its early stages.

Related: Investors Chase Web3 As Blockchain Industry Builds Despite Bear Market

Huobi Global: Launching a $1 Billion Fund

In June, cryptocurrency exchange Huobi Global spun out a $1 billion investment fund focused on decentralized finance (DeFi) and Web3 projects. Dubbed Ivy Blocks, the new fund is designed to identify and invest in “promising blockchain projects” across various crypto subsectors. Specifically, Huobi Global will focus on providing “liquidity investments” to help launch and execute DeFi projects.

The DeFi sector contracted with other cryptocurrency markets in 2022, but unlike centralized exchanges, the sector has been highly resilient to contagion.

From over $180 billion to $39 billion, total DeFi value locked crate during the bear market. Source: DeFi Rama.

NBA Top Shot creator: $725 million in funding

Dapper Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot, has launched a $725 million fund to support the development of the Flow blockchain. The fund is backed by various investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Spartan Group and CoinFund. In addition to supporting the development community already built on Flow, the funding is being used to lure developers from other blockchains such as Ethereum.

Dapper Labs has produced some of the largest collections of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in recent years, but weak network effects and a small collection of decentralized applications have left revenue behind other layer 1 ecosystems. increase.

Dragonfly Capital: Launching $650M Fund

Crypto VC Dragonfly Capital completed its third funding round in April, raising $650 million, surpassing its previous two rounds of $100 million and $200 million. The funding initiative, backed by Tiger Global, Sequoia China, KKR and Invesco, tops his $500 million that the company originally declared as part of its Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Dragonfly said the funds will be used to invest in his DeFi, Metaverse and blockchain gaming startups.

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Fireblocks: Raises $550M

Digital asset management platform Fireblocks surged in valuation in January after completing a $550 million Series E funding round. The latest round brings Fireblocks’ cumulative funding since 2019 to his $799 million, as VCs continued to back the institution’s infrastructure solutions. Fireblocks’ most prominent clients include Bank of New York Melon, Galaxy Digital, and CoinShares. It also served the now defunct BlockFi and Three Arrows Capital.

Binance Labs: Securing $500 Million for Web3 Development

Blockchain incubation and late-stage growth stood out in Binance Labs’ $500 million fund that launched in June. Changpeng Zhao, his CEO at Binance, said the funding will help the founder of the project that will lead his Web3 adoption across DeFi, NFTs, Gaming, Metaverse and Social his subsectors. . At its launch, the Binance Labs fund already supported 14 projects across the DeFi and social finance subsectors.

Yuga Labs: $450 million

The NFT market has peaked in 2021, but VCs expect continued growth in their digital collections. In March, Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs closed his $450 million funding round at a $4 billion valuation. Backers included Andreessen Horowitz, Animoca Brands, MoonPay and, you guessed it, FTX.

Few subsectors have moved as violently or as fast as NFTs in the last bull market. With this success, Yuga Labs landed a large investment round in his March, but the NFT-focused company will continue to struggle to maintain its valuation. As reported by ConsenSys, NFT prices have fallen harder than many other crypto assets, indicating that new use cases will need to emerge if the industry is to avoid oblivion. There may be

Related: Fidelity plans NFT marketplace and financial services on Metaverse

Polygon: $450 million investment round

Sequoia Capital India and over 40 other venture funds have invested $450 million in Polygon, a layer 2 scaling solution. The company says it will use the funding to expand its scaling solution to meet the eventual mainstream adoption of Web3 applications. According to Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal, Ethereum does not offer enough scalability to support the future of Web3, even after his long-awaited Merge has taken place.

Polygon’s funding round closed in February. This was months before the implosion of the Terra ecosystem caused the first sector-wide contagion in cryptocurrencies. After a scandalous 2022 in the crypto sector and attention returning to development, Layer 2 protocols still have a bright future.

Multicoin Capital: $430M in New Startup Fund

As the crypto epidemic is in full swing, Multicoin Capital announced in July that it had launched a $430 million fund to back early-stage companies. The company said that from $500,000 he will allocate $25 million to cryptocurrency startups and is willing to invest up to $100 million in larger projects. Multicoin has indicated that its latest fundraising initiative will prioritize projects with “physical proof of work,” or protocols that have created real incentives for decentralization.

Framework Ventures: Raises $400M

In April, crypto VC Framework Ventures launched FVIII, a $400 million fund dedicated to Web3, blockchain gaming and DeFi. According to Framework Ventures, half of the funding will go to blockchain game projects.

The interest in gaming may have been catalyzed by the success of Axie Infinity, a popular play-and-earn game with millions of unique users. The growth of Metaverse and his NFT technology could also be a positive driver for the blockchain gaming industry.

Related: Pantera Plans to Raise $1.25 Billion in Second Blockchain Fund: Report

Ava Labs: $350M in New Funding

Ava Labs, developer of the Avalanche blockchain, raised $350 million in April at a valuation of $5.25 billion. At the time of the funding, Avalanche was one of the most popular blockchains in terms of his TVL (Total Value Locked). Of course, that is no longer the case after cryptocurrencies and DeFi enter a serious bear market.

After peaking above $12.2 billion in December 2021, Avalanche’s TVL is now below $800 million, according to DeFi Llama.

Near Protocol: $350 Million Funding Round

In April, Tiger Global and FTX Ventures led Near Protocol’s $350 million funding round. At the time, this was one of the largest funding rounds for a decentralized application platform. Proceeds were allocated to support the growth of the Near ecosystem, including increasing the number of regional hubs around the world. Almost finished 2022 as the 35th largest crypto project by market capitalization.

Binance.US: $200 Million Seed Round

US cryptocurrency exchange Binance.US has raised $200 million at a market valuation of $4.5 billion, attracting prominent investors such as VanEck and Circle Ventures. Binance.US said the funding will be used to expand product functionality and operations across the United States. The company appears to have made some progress recently by rolling out mobile payments to its US-based customers. The exchange also plans to acquire the assets of bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital for just over $1 billion from him.