report

Crypto Funding Trends: Winners and Losers of the Month

Categories

Blockchain Infrastructure

This month the Blockchain Infrastructure category raised $15M in 10 rounds, compared to last month's $11M in 9 rounds. This increase indicates a growing interest in this sector, continuing the upward trend. The largest projects include:

Hylé with $4.6M raised from Framework Ventures Crypto Fund, Delphi Digital, and Vitalik Buterin. Hylé builds out the Hylé network, using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP) for scalability and privacy. The network runs its own consensus mechanism and is purpose-built for ZKP verification.
Chainbound with $2.3M raised from cyber Fund Crypto Fund, Maven 11 Capital, and Chorus One. Chainbound is dedicated to the research and development of optimized infrastructure and network tools for blockchains, working on a protocol called Bolt for advanced pre-confirmation on Ethereum.

Blockchain Service

This month, the Blockchain Service category raised $60M in 25 rounds, a significant drop from last month's $115M in 40 rounds. This downward trend suggests a cooling off in this sector. The largest projects include:

Edge Matrix Chain with $20M raised from Candaq and Bochsler Finance. EMC Protocol offers features like smart contracts, decentralized storage, and consensus mechanisms, aiming to create a decentralized computing network.
Space and Time with $5M raised from OKX Ventures and SamsungNext. Airstack streamlines and secures global financial transactions, integrating various financial services into a single platform.

CeFi

This month, CeFi raised $89M in 17 rounds, a substantial increase from last month's $15M in 5 rounds, indicating a strong upward trend. The largest projects include:

Airstack with $12.16M raised from Moonwalker Capital. Airstack aims to streamline and secure global financial transactions, integrating various financial services into a single platform.
Arch with $2.16M raised from Kenetic Capital and Tribe Capital. Arch provides financial services for crypto asset holders, offering safe, reliable, and simple financial products.

Chain

This month, the Chain category raised $45M in 15 rounds, up from last month's $19M in 7 rounds, showing a significant increase. The largest projects include:

Quai Network with $15M raised from Polychain Capital and Jets Capital. Quai is a scalable, EVM-compliant blockchain network for decentralized finance, leveraging blockchain sharding technologies.
Ark Labs with $2.5M raised from Fulgur Ventures. Ark is a Bitcoin Layer 2 payment network designed to simplify the user experience while maintaining self-custody.

Currency

This month, the Currency category raised $405M in 30 rounds, up from last month's $304M in 29 rounds, indicating a strong upward trend. The largest projects include:

XRP with $200M raised from Pantera Capital. XRP is an open payment system designed to minimize the participation of banks and other financial institutions in transactions.
Sentz with $64M raised from Coinbase Ventures and Blocktower Capital. Sentz's market capitalization is $33.88M with a daily trading volume of $205.04K, operating on its own blockchain.

DeFi

This month, DeFi raised $267M in 25 rounds, down from last month's $375M in 43 rounds, indicating a cooling off in this sector. The largest projects include:

Polymarket with $74M raised from Founders Fund, Strangelove Ventures Crypto Fund, and Piers Kicks. Polymarket is a decentralized information markets platform for trading on highly-debated topics.
Crestal with $25M raised from Brotherhood Crypto Fund, M31 Capital Crypto Fund, and Paradigm. Crestal is a platform for modular services, connecting decentralized providers to a verifiable Proof of Performance (PoPTM).

GameFi

This month, GameFi raised $215M in 17 rounds, up from last month's $115M in 10 rounds, indicating a growing interest in this sector. The largest projects include:

Double jump.tokyo with $64M raised from Circle. Double jump.tokyo helps game developers create blockchain games, providing smart contract APIs and various systems needed for development and marketing.
Nectar AI with $3.9M raised from Maelstrom and Synergis. Nectar is a generative AI platform for creating AI girlfriends or boyfriends, divided into “Image Creation” and “Roleplay”.

Meme

This month, the Meme category raised $45M in 8 rounds, up from last month's $30M in 15 rounds, showing an increased interest in this niche. The largest projects include:

SHIBA INU with $12M raised from Animoca Brands. Launched in August 2020, SHIB was created as an experiment in building a decentralized community, inspired by Dogecoin.
Milady Meme Coin with $6M raised from DWF Labs. Milady Coin is a meme token created by enthusiasts of the Milady Maker NFT collection.

NFT

This month, the NFT category raised $28M in 6 rounds, slightly down from last month's $30M in 7 rounds, indicating a stable interest. The largest projects include:

Kiosk with $7.1M raised from Sora Ventures and The Spartan Group Crypto Fund. Kiosk is an innovative NFT marketplace that emphasizes transparency and user empowerment.
Mintify with $5M raised from Amber Group. Mintify is an advanced trading platform for NFT trading, offering robust execution engines and extensive historical data for better trading analytics.

This month, the Social category raised $195M in 9 rounds, up from last month's $115M in 13 rounds, indicating a growing interest in this sector. The largest projects include:

Story Protocol with $124M raised from Balaji Srinivasan and Hashed Fund. Story Protocol provides a streamlined framework for managing the entire intellectual property development lifecycle.
Soulbound with $6M raised from Genblock Capital. Soulbound brings together social networks and GameFi, aiming to reimagine gamer reputation with a cross-game platform.

Stablecoin

This month, the Stablecoin category raised $15M in 5 rounds, up from last month's $10M in 3 rounds, indicating a growing interest. The largest projects include:

Level with $3.6M raised from Polychain Capital Crypto Fund. Tier is a stablecoin based on USD re-stake tokens, created when someone stakes a dollar-denominated token in re-staking protocols.
StablR with $1.1M raised from Global Coin Research. StablR issues EurR to provide liquidity to the DeFi and CeFi markets, attracting more users to the crypto ecosystem.

Most Active Investors

Coinbase Ventures participated in 6 rounds, making it the most active investor in this space. Their focus last week was on categories such as DeFi, CeFi, and Blockchain Infrastructure.

In second place is Pantera Capital with 4 rounds, focusing on DeFi and Blockchain Infrastructure.

Finally, Circle invested in 3 different rounds, focusing on CeFi and Blockchain Infrastructure.