According to Root Data, 153 investment rounds for crypto startups were publicly disclosed in May 2024. This is 8.9% less compared to April (168) and 43% more compared to May 2023 (107). The statistics include only those funding rounds that were published in the press.

Investors showed the greatest interest in startups from the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, which attracted 23.5% of all investments. Companies from the CeFi industry received only 3.9% of the funds raised. Significant attention from venture capitalists was also drawn to the NFT/GameFi industries, which accounted for 17.6% of investments.

Analysts noted that 1st and 2nd layer blockchains (L1/L2) attracted 11.8% of the funds, RWA/DePIN startups — 11.1%, wallets and other tools — 5.9%, and AI projects — only 3.3%. The total amount of investments in crypto companies in May 2024 was $990 million, which is 3.9% less compared to April ($1.03 billion). Renowned reporter Colin Wu highlighted the largest investment rounds of the past month.

The leader was the Farcaster protocol, which attracted $150 million led by Paradigm with participation from a16z, Haun Ventures, USV, Variant Capital, Standard Crypto, and others. The company received a valuation of $1 billion and the status of a “crypto unicorn.” The company Bitdeer also completed a private placement of assets worth $150 million, signing a subscription agreement with Tether.

The startup Babylon, focused on Bitcoin staking, raised $70 million in its latest funding round led by Paradigm. The company Securitize, which launched a global tokenization platform for real-world assets (RWA), completed an investment round worth $47 million led by BlackRock. The decentralized betting protocol Polymarket raised $45 million in a series B round led by Founders Fund. Finally, developers from Humanity Protocol announced raising $30 million from investors, receiving a valuation of $1 billion. The round was led by Kingsway Capital with participation from Animoca Brands and others.