TLDR:
- Venture capital funds invested $485 million in crypto startups in February, representing a 5.3% month-to-month growth.
- Infrastructure-related startups received the most capital, with $387 million directed towards those projects.
In February 2024, venture capital (VC) funds invested a total of $485 million in crypto startups, marking a 5.3% increase from the previous month and the highest investment volume in the last three months. Infrastructure-related startups emerged as the top receivers of capital, with $387 million allocated to these projects. Notable investments included EigenLayer securing a $100 million investment from a16z in a private round, making it the largest VC allocation in crypto startups for the month. EtherFi, a liquid staking platform, also attracted a significant investment of $27 million in a series A round led by Bullish and CoinFund. Furthermore, the payments platform Oobit successfully completed a series A funding round with a $25 million allocation led by Tether and CMCC Global.
Investors also showed interest in teams developing decentralized finance (DeFi) products, with over $48 million directed towards these projects in February. Superform Labs, aiming to build a universal yield marketplace, received $6.5 million in a seed round led by Polychain Capital. Similarly, Omega’s plans to create a DeFi ecosystem on top of Bitcoin led to a $6 million private round, with the participation of Borderless Capital and Blockchain.com.
Web3-focused applications received nearly $18 million in VC investments in February. Beoble, a Web3 messaging app and social platform, secured $7 million in funding from backers like Samsung Next and Hashkey Capital, representing the largest investment round in this crypto sector. Additionally, gaming projects attracted $33 million, with new game studios receiving notable investments. Pantera Capital led an $8 million series A round for gaming studio Helika, while another $8 million was invested in the Web3 game Pixelmon with the participation of Animoca Ventures and Delphi Ventures.
