Although cryptocurrency markets have had poor performance in the first quarter of 2022, a Messari researcher recently published a fundraising report that shows that $30.3 billion was raised during the first half 2022 by startups and crypto projects. This sum surpasses the total funding raised by blockchain projects and startups last year, which was $30.3 billion.
According to the “H1-2022 Fundraising Report”, published by Messari, and Dove Metrics (a subsidiary of Messari Holding Inc.), significant amounts of money have been invested in specific crypto projects and startups. According to report decentralized finance (defi) was outsold by centralized finance (cefi), with cefi capturing more than $10.2 million in H1.
Defi was able to raise $1.8 billion while Web3 and other non-fungible token projects (NFTs) and related companies raised $8.6 million in the first six months. Web3 and NFTs were the second largest investors in the blockchain and crypto infrastructure sector. However, Web3 and NFTs had the third highest capital raised. Web3-NFT saw the highest number of rounds with 530 during the first quarter.
June was Defi’s most successful month, with a variety of defi businesses and projects raising $624 million. The report explains that “despite DeFi’s maturity seed rounds continue to prevail,” Messari researchers state. For infrastructure, February saw the most money raised in a single month, while January was the best month for cefi, while April was the best month for the Web3-NFT industry.
In terms of fundraising, Ethereum-based defi startups and projects have received the most funding rounds and the largest dollar amounts. This is in contrast to other smart contract blockchains such as Polkadot, Avalanche and Solana. In Q1, Ethereum-based defi project saw 54 deals and Q2 saw 61. In Q1, Ethereum-based Defi Projects raised $387 Million, while projects using alternative blockchains raised $309 Million during the first quarter 2022.
Q2 saw ETH-based defi raise $890 million, while alternative chain-based projects raised around $193 million. Messari researchers have found that early-stage funding is the most important factor in the Web3–NFT sector. Gaming also dominated the majority of NFT funding. In comparison to other smart contract platforms networks, Ethereum again dominated the Web3-NFT sector.
As far as centralized finance is concerned, cefi “continues to mature,” Messari’s report says as it highlights that $10 million+ funding rounds “make up 50% of activity.” Messari’s latest H1 fundraising report follows the recently published “4th Annual Global Crypto Hedge Fund Report 2022,” authored by the international professional services firm Pricewaterhousecoopers (PWC).
PWC’s latest crypto study shows that hedge funds have been investing more capital in cryptocurrency and blockchain projects than last year. PWC researchers found that only 21% of hedge funds participated this year in crypto-related financing rounds. However, the participation rate for this year is 38%.
Messari’s fundraising report reveals that many sectors are “maturing”, as Series A financing rounds, or later made up 40%+of H1’s dedicated rounds for crypto infrastructure. Web3’s Series-A rounds, or later, equated to approximately 30%+ of H1 2022’s fundraising rounds. Messari’s report includes investors such as FTX and Mechanism Capital, Pantera Capital and Sequoia Capital. Gumi Cryptos and Dragonfly Capital are also mentioned. Slow Ventures and Seven Seven Six are just a few of the others.
