August crypto VC roundup: Funding hits 15-month low

This article is part of a monthly series from The Block that takes a closer look at where the most recent venture capital investments have been flowing.

Crypto funding kept shrinking in August, both in terms of the total number of deals and the dollar figure.

There were about 145 deals during the month, attracting $1.8 billion. That's the lowest amount since April 2021 and the lowest number since August 2021. August is the fifth consecutive month crypto funding has declined. 

The two most popular investment categories in August were NFT/blockchain gaming and infrastructure, drawing more than $1.2 billion in funding. The DeFi and trading verticals drew the least investment.

Below is a roundup of all the VC fund-raises worth more than $25 million announced in August, organized by category.

Trading and payments 

There were only two raises larger than $25 million by firms specifically focused on crypto trading and payment services.

Crypto options trading platform Bitlevex said it received a $50 million investment facility from GEM Digital Limited. It is unclear whether GEM actually invested or just committed capital. GEM usually commits capital based on milestones.

Lightnet Group, a blockchain-based cross-border payment infrastructure provider based in Singapore, said it secured a $50 million capital commitment from LDA Capital. Lightnet said it will have the option to increase the $50 million to a total commitment as much as $100 million over the next three years. Lightnet was co-founded by Chatchaval Jiaravanon, a member of the billionaire family that controls Thai conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group. 

NFTs, and gaming and the metaverse

August saw eight raises bigger than $25 million for firms focused on NFTs, blockchain gaming and the metaverse. 

Web3 game developer Limit Break raised $200 million. Josh Buckley, the chair of mobile gaming firm Mino Games and investments firms Paradigm and Standard Crypto, co-led the funding. Additional participants included FTX, Coinbase and Positive Sum.  

Barca Studios, Spanish soccer giant FC Barcelona's web3 arm, raised $100 million from Chiliz, the owner of blockchain-based fan rewards platform Socios.com. Barca Studios is leading FC Barcelona's creation of NFTs and metaverse projects and spearheading the club's digital strategy. 

Digital content producer Terapin Studios raised $93 million from Affirma Capital and NPX Private Equity. Terapin Studios produces digital content including web fiction and webtoon, a new type of media in Korea. It also aims to create immersive experiences in the form of games, metaverse and NFTs.

Ready Player Me, a platform that allows people to create metaverse avatars, raised $56 million in a Series B funding round. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led the round, with Konvoy Ventures, Collab Currency, Taavet Hinrikus and Sten Tamkivi's Plural Platform as well as comedian Kevin Hart's Hartbeat Ventures participating. Angel investors including Roblox co-founder David Baszucki, Twitch co-founder Justin Kan and Punk6529 also backed the round.

Kevin Rose's NFT collective Proof raised $50 million in a Series A funding round led by a16z. Other investors included Seven Seven Six, True Ventures, Collab+Currency, Flamingo DAO, SV Angel and VaynerFund.

Web3 game developer Gunzilla Games raised $46 million in funding led by Republic Capital. Other investors included Griffin Gaming Partners, Animoca Brands, Jump Crypto, CoinFund, Shima Capital, GSR and Huobi Group. 

Animoca Brands Japan raised $45 million from Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) and Animoca Brands. The funding brings Animoca Brands Japan's pre-money valuation to $500 million. 

Web3 game developer Xterio raised $40 million in a funding round co-led FunPlus, Makers Fund, FTX Ventures and XPLA. Other investors in the round included Animoca Brands, HashKey, Foresight Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto and Matrix Partners.

Tools of the trade

The remaining three fundraises above $25 million from August were from the infrastructure category. They include firms developing Layer 1 blockchain networks and crypto management tools.

IC Network, the developer of the Shariah-compliant blockchain Haqq, reportedly raised $200 million in a private token sale of its Islamic Coin. It did not disclose investors. IC Network says Haqq is a proof-of-stake blockchain and serves the international Muslim community by providing a financial and technological tool that allows for independent financial interaction. 

Layer 1 blockchain network developer Injective Protocol raised $40 million in a funding round led by Jump Crypto. BH Digital,  the crypto division of hedge fund Brevan Howard, also participated in the round.

Blockchain developer Geeq said it secured up to $25 million in capital commitment from GEM Digital. Geeq said it will issue warrants to GEM to purchase up to 5.4 million GEEQ tokens over three years. The exercise of these warrants will act as another funding exercise for Geeq, it added.

New crypto VC funds

Venture capital firms have to raise funds, too. In August, there were 20 VC fund launches and the largest came from Insignia Ventures Partners, DBA Crypto and CoinFund.

Singapore-based Insignia Ventures Partners, an investor in crypto payments firm TripleA, raised a total of $516 million for its three funds. The funds will focus on early-stage tech investments in Southeast Asia and aim to be aggressive in the web3 space, among other industries.

A new crypto-focused venture capital firm DBA Crypto debuted and plans to raise $500 million for its first fund. The firm is founded by former executives from crypto firms Galaxy Digital and Genesis — Galaxy's Michael Jordan and Genesis's Joshua Lim, Roshun Patel and Shane Barratt.  

Crypto-focused venture capital firm CoinFund launched a new $300 million fund to back early-stage startups. The CoinFund Ventures I fund will focus on investing in web3 projects "demonstrating early traction and large potential market sizes."

Crypto-focused venture capital firm Shima Capital launched its debut fund worth $200 million. Investors included Dragonfly Capital, Bill Ackman, Animoca Brands, OKX, Mirana Ventures, Republic and Andrew Yang. Shima Capital plans to continue backing web3 startups in their earliest stages, i.e., pre-seed and seed rounds. 

Singapore-based crypto-focused investment firm LD Capital launched a new $200 million fund called  LD Capital X. Since its inception in 2016, LD Capital has invested in more than 300 startups, including Aave, Compound and Polkadot, 

Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm led by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, reportedly plans to raise a new $177.6 million crypto fund to invest in tokens. The fund, dubbed Kryptós, will target tokens that are available at a discount amid the crypto market downturn. 

Aglaé Ventures, the venture capital firm backed by LVMH Chairman and CEO Bernard Arnault, is set to launch a dedicated crypto fund. The fund’s size is expected to be between $100 million and $110 million.

Singapore-based investment firm LongHash Ventures launched its second fund to raise $100 million. The fund will invest in pre-seed to Series A rounds of web3 startups across areas, including DeFi, NFTs, gaming and the metaverse. 

Canada-based BitValue Capital launched a $100 million web3 fund to invest across verticals, including gaming studios, metaverse, NFTs, DAOs and DeFi.

Orange DAO, an investment DAO of 1,300 founders of Y Combinator-backed companies in crypto, raised $80 million to back web3 startups. Since January, the DAO has backed  90 startups, writing $100,000 checks to each firm.

Crypto-focused venture capital firm Lattice raised $60 million for its second fund. The fund will invest in early-stage web3 startups across areas, including DeFi, blockchain infrastructure and consumer-focused protocols. 

Cyberstarts, an Israeli venture capital firm focused on cybersecurity, raised $60 million to continue investing in cybersecurity companies. Cyberstarts is currently an investor in the crypto custody technology company Fireblocks. 

Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal and Cere Network co-founder Kenzi Wang launched a new crypto-focused venture capital firm called Symbolic Capital. They raised $50 million to primarily back startups building consumer-facing decentralized apps. 

Brazil-based Fuse Capital launched its second web3-focused fund. The fund is targeting $50 million in capital to invest across crypto verticals in Latin America, including DeFi and NFTs. 

A new crypto-focused venture capital firm named Portal Ventures debuted with $35 million in capital to make pre-seed investments. Portal is founded by former Insight Partners investor Evan Fisher. 

US-based Agya Ventures, an early-stage focused venture capital firm, launched its first fund worth $32 million. The fund plans to invest in projects building real estate and the metaverse.

Web3 venture studio SuperLayer raised a $25 million fund led by Polygon. Other investors included Animoca Brand’s founder Yat Siu, celebrity Paris Hilton and a16z partner Chris Dixon. SuperLayer plans to support the development of web3 startups across verticals.

Microtraction, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Africa, announced the first close of its second fund, Microtraction Community Limited, at $15 million. Microtraction also ventured into the web3 space by setting up a community vehicle (akin to a DAO) with community tokens for its members. Those tokens will be used to incentivize and gamify the experience of members who will provide added value and support to the fund and founders.

Nasdaq-listed game developer Playstudios launched its new blockchain division called Playblocks and a $10 million fund to invest in companies at the intersection of gaming, loyalty marketing and blockchain rewards. The fund's initial investments include Forte and The Kryptomon Company.

Indian crypto exchange operator CoinSwitch launched a $10 million fund to invest in and incubate early-stage web3 startups. 

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