Jul 13, 2022
H1 2022 Crypto VC Fundraising Report
Overview
In Q1 of 2022, there were 543 rounds of fundraising and 652 rounds in Q2. A combined total of 1,195 rounds for H1 2022, a 50.79% increase from H1 2021.
Total value raised was $30.2B, spread relatively even between Q1 and Q2. A massive increase from $9.9B in H1 2021.
Across Sectors
The sector that garnered the most attention was Web3 & NFTs, accounting for 50.46% of all fundraising rounds. The Infrastructure sector raised $9.6B, the most out of all categories.
DeFi raised the least amount despite being runner-up in the number of fundraising rounds. Signifying smaller, more conservative fundings as we head deeper into the bear market. CeFi raised $8.5B, likely due to the number of institutions that raised debt to avoid liquidation like Voyager and BlockFi.
Top 5 Funds At A Glance
a16z became the top VC in H1 2022 that raised the most funds, a total of $4.5B. They made 44 investments covering sectors from DeFi, Web3, NFTs, and Infrastructure, with an absence of CeFi companies. Notable investments include Phantom, Yuga Labs, NEAR Protocol, and Lido.
Sequoia and FTX Ventures were tied for second, raising $2B each. Sequoia made 29 investments, including the likes of StepN, Polygon, and Magic Eden. FTX made 28 investments, including the likes of Mina Protocol, Yuga Labs, LayerZero, and BlockFi.
Haun Ventures raised $1.5B, and made 7 investments in total. With a focus on NFTs in the gaming sector, including companies like Zora and Derby Stars.
Ivy Blocks is a new subsidiary under Huobi. Just newly launched in June of 2022 with $1B asset under management, with no investments made so far.
Top 5 Rounds At A Glance
Epic Games, a gaming studio, raised $2B on April 11th, making it the biggest fundraising round. Investors include Sony, and KIRKBI.
The second biggest round is Citadel Securities, a quant trading firm, who raised $1.15B on January 11th. Investors include Sequoia, and Paradigm.
Luna Foundation Guard, the organization focused on Terra, raised $1B in February. Notable investors include 3AC, Jump Capital, GSR, and DeFiance Capital.
Cross River, a fintech company offering embedded payments, cards, lending and crypto solutions, raised $620M. Notable investors include a16z, Whale Rock, and Hanaco Ventures.
Robinhood, a centralized stock brokerage offering crypto assets, raised $600M with investment from Emergent Fidelity Technologies.
DeFi Breakdown
DeFi fundraising grew significantly from H1 2021. A total of $2.4B raised and 230 deals announced. DeFi fundraising rounds represent 19.24% of all deals announced.
Lithosphere, a decentralized cross-chain network of diverse blockchains where dApps and decentralized services will interoperate, raised $400M making it the top fundraising round in the DeFi sector. Its investor is Gem Capital.
Unizen, a smart exchange ecosystem, and Capricorn, a multi-asset-backed protocol with a collateral-based coin CUSD, both raised $200M each. Unizen’s investor is GEM global emerging markets. Capricorn received investment from MQ technology.
Rain, a Middle Eastern crypto exchange, raised $110M from Paradigm, Coinbase Ventures, and others.
Serum, a Solana DEX, raised $75M from Tiger Global Management, Commonwealth Asset Management, and Tagus Capital.
Web3 & NFTs Breakdown
The unfaltering potential to explore NFT use cases and Web3 hype has convinced investors to deploy large amounts of capital. A total of $9.5B raised and 603 deals announced. Web3 & NFTs represent 50.46% of all deals announced.
As mentioned above, Epic Games is not only the top fundraising round in the Web3 & NFTs sector, but also of the entire H1 2022.
Yuga Labs, the parent company that owns BAYC and Cryptopunks, raised $450M making it the second biggest fundraising round within the Web3 & NFTs sector. Notable investors include FTX, a16z, and The Sandbox.
Animoca Brands, a gaming company with recent expansions into blockchain and Web3 games, received $358,888,888 in funding through VCs like Gemini.
OpenSea, Ethereum’s biggest NFT marketplace, received $300M in funding through Paradigm and Coatue Management. Onefootball, a football news and media platform, has also raised $300M. The funding will be used to expand Onefootball into Web3 and blockchain.
Infrastructure Breakdown
The infrastructure fundraising landscape is very much alive. Attracting $9.6B funding in 198 deals announced, making it the biggest fundraised sector across crypto. Infrastructure represents 16.58% of all deals announced.
Luna Foundation Guard and Cross River are the first and second biggest fundraising rounds within the Infrastructure sector.
Polygon, a L2, raised $450M from investors like Sequoia, Softbank, and Galaxy Digital.
Consensys, a blockchain studio supporting projects in the Ethereum ecosystem, raised $450M from investors like Softbank, Microsoft, and ParaFi.
Compute North, a data center that delivers high-performance crypto mining and infrastructure solutions, raised $385M.
CeFi Breakdown
CeFi attracted $8.5B funding in 164 deals announced. The fresh capital are mostly from institutions raising debt to avoid liquidation like BlockFi receiving $250M from FTX, or Voyager receiving $200M from Alameda.
Citadel Securities and Robinhood as mentioned above, both received sizeable fundings.
Fireblocks, an institutional digital asset custody, received $550M from investors like Sequoia, Spark Capital, and more.
Both FTX US and FTX raised $400M each. Notable investors include Paradigm and Softbank who invested in both.
M&A Deals
H1 2022 experienced a relatively even spread of M&A deals over the months. With a prominent highlight of Web3 and GameFi companies in these M&A deals.
Animoca Brands is the top acquiring company in H1 2022, with 6 M&A deals all across Web3 & NFTs sector. With a heavy focus on gaming companies and an Australian marketing company, Animoca Brands hopes to further facilitate its reputation in the gaming industry.
FTX is the second acquiring company in H1 2022, with 4 M&A deals in total. With a heavy focus on stock trading and liquidity companies, FTX is looking to expand its financial services to more customers, specifically the US. FTX has also acquire Good Luck Games, the gaming company that made Storybook Brawl, the game that SBF is obsessed with playing.
Amber Group is the third acquiring company in H1 2022, with 2 M&A deals in total. The acquisitions Amber Group made are specifically for the convergence of TradFi and crypto. Through these deals, Amber Group has secured five types of SFC licenses — Type 1, 2, 4, 5 and 9 — which allows the company to carry out a broad range of services including advising on and dealing in securities and futures contracts as well as providing asset management services.
