July crypto VC roundup: Funding declined for the fourth consecutive month

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 venture funding continued to decline in July as markets kept moving sideways.

There were around 190 deals in July, with investors pouring around $2 billion into crypto startups — 9% less than in June. This is the fourth consecutive month crypto funding has declined.

There were hardly any deals for startups at the mid-to-late stages of growth. Early-stage startups dominated, accounting for roughly half of the total deals in July.  

The most popular investment categories were infrastructure and NFT/ blockchain gaming, drawing more than $800 million and $500 million in funding, respectively.

Thanks to the so-called "crypto winter," the trading and DeFi categories received the lowest funding with a total combined value of around $350 million.

Below is the July roundup, organized by category, of all the VC fundraises worth more than $25 million announced last month.

Trading and brokerage 

There was only one raise larger than $25 million by a firm specifically focused on crypto trading, brokerage and credit services.

Hidden Road Partners raised $50 million in Series A funding led by Castle Island Ventures. Other investors included Citadel Securities, FTX Ventures, Wintermute and Coinbase Ventures. Hidden Road provides credit financing and prime brokerage services to institutional investors to enable them to participate in traditional finance as well as crypto markets.

NFTs, and gaming and the metaverse

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

Gaming and metaverse-focused company Animoca Brands raised $75.32 million in additional funding. Investors included Liberty City Ventures, Kingsway Capital, 10T Holdings and Generation Highway. 

Web3 digital identity platform Unstoppable Domains raised $65 million in Series A funding at a $1 billion valuation. Pantera Capital led the round, with Alchemy Ventures, Spartan Group, Polygon, CoinDCX, CoinGecko and others participating. Unstoppable Domains offers NFT domains that give people ownership and control of their digital identity.

Gary Vaynerchuk's NFT project VeeFriends raised $50 million in a seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). VeeFriends offers "access tokens" that are built around characters with traits. The tokens provide access to "Vee con" — a conference Vaynerchuk will put on every year around entrepreneurship, creativity and competition as well as to other events and activities. 

Vegas One, a web3 casino game distribution platform, said it raised $50 million in a seed funding round co-led by XSGames and Game Sparcs. Other investors included 15 "listed" casino companies and investment institutions. 

Planetarium Labs, a web3 game company, raised $32 million in a Series A funding round led by Animoca Brands. Other investors included Krust Universe, Wemade and Samsung Next. 

Crypto project Meta World said it raised $30 million from billionaire investor Mai Vu Minh. Meta World plans to build its blockchain ecosystem for different areas, including financial services, play-to-earn games, supply chains and health care. 

Nigeria-based web3 sports gaming platform Scorefam said it secured a $25 million capital commitment from GEM Digital. Scorefam plans to launch Scorefam NFTs and an NFT marketplace.

Aftermath Islands, a blockchain-based virtual reality platform, said it secured a $25 million commitment from LDA Capital. The firm is building "theme-based islands, communities and estates." It claims that its islands are divided into unique virtual land parcels, with land owners having autonomy over the content published on their land.  

Don't forget DeFi and web3

There were six raises that surpassed $25 million for DeFi and web3 projects in July. Three of those, however, are commitments and not actual investments.

H20 Securities, a firm that claims to solve water scarcity through its blockchain network and token, reportedly raised $150 million from Global Emerging Markets (GEM) Digital Limited. It is unclear whether GEM actually invested or just committed capital. GEM usually commits capital based on certain milestones a company could reach. H20 Securities says its blockchain network helps modernize financing, deployment and operation of water plants. 

Reltime, which is building "Layer 1, Web3 financial ecosystem," raised $50 million in capital commitment from GEM Digital Limited. Reltime's stated goal is to make 100 million people and enterprises "financially free and doing more with money by sending, receiving, borrowing, lending, earning, swapping, interacting and transacting on the Metaverses and the real world by 2025."

Romanian crypto startup Travel Coin said it secured an investment commitment worth up to $35 million from GEM Digital. Travel Coin offers a worldwide crypto reward system based on its token, TCOIN.

Former Coinbase executive Dan Romero's crypto startup Merkle Manufactory, which is building a "sufficiently decentralized" protocol called Farcaster for building social networks, raised $30 million in funding led by a16z. The Farcaster protocol will allow users to have direct relationships with their audiences.

0xSifu, the pseudonymous Wonderland co-founder who was ousted from his position as treasury manager earlier this year after he was doxxed as Michael Patryn, a co-founder of defunct Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX, managed to raise $25 million for his new startup Sifu's Vision. Wonderland passed a vote to buy $25 million worth of Sifu Vision tokens. Patryn plans to invest in the crypto space with the funds. In his words: "The idea is that we trade and invest together, and share in the profits."

DeFi trading platform Hashflow raised $25 million in a Series A funding round and is now valued at $400 million. Investors included Jump Crypto, Wintermute, GSR, Dragonfly Capital, Electric Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Kraken Ventures.

Tools of the trade

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

Layer 1 blockchain developer Aptos Labs raised $150 million in a Series A funding round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto. Other investors included Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Multicoin Capital and Circle Ventures.

Layer1 blockchain developer Rubix said it raised $100 million from LDA Capital to grow its operations. Rubix claims that its blockchain is "100% carbon free​" and that every laptop can turn into a full node validator, making it "truly decentralized​."  

Crypto assets management platform Gnosis Safe rebranded to Safe and raised $100 million in funding led by 1kx. Other investors included Tiger Global, Blockchain Capital, Digital Currency Group, ParaFi and Lightspeed.

Layer 1 blockchain developer 5ire said it raised $100 million in Series A funding from UK-based conglomerate Sram and Mram, adding that the funding makes it valued at $1.5 billion. 

Nasdaq-listed bitcoin miner Core Scientific said investor B. Riley Principal Capital committed $100 million in investment to it. As part of the deal, Core Scientific has the right without obligation to sell and issue up to $100 million of shares of its common stock to B. Riley over 24 months, subject to certain limitations and satisfaction of certain conditions. 

Blockchain security firm Halborn raised  $90 million in Series A funding led by Summit Partners. Other investors included Castle Island, Digital Currency Group, Brevan Howard, Third Prime, Sky Vision Capital and Fenwick.  

Zamp, a crypto startup founded by former Sequoia Capital India and Uber executive Amit Jain, raised $25 million from Sequoia, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, SoftBank COO Marcelo Claure, Polygon founder Sandeep Naliwal, Coinbase board member Gokul Rajaram and others. Zamp is building a platform to provide banking and payment services for the crypto industry.

New crypto VC funds

Venture capital firms have to raise funds, too. In July, there were more than 20 VC fundraises and the largest came from Sequoia China, Lightspeed and Qiming.

Sequoia China reportedly raised about $9 billion for investing in the technology and healthcare sectors. The money will be allocated to its four funds: Sequoia Capital China Expansion Fund I, Sequoia Capital China Seed Fund III, Sequoia Capital China Venture Fund IX and Sequoia Capital China Growth Fund VII.

Lightspeed Venture Partners raised over $7 billion across its various funds to back early and growth-stage startups. The firm also launched Lightspeed Faction — a new independent crypto native team focused on continuing to invest in the web3 space. 

China-based venture capital firm Qiming Venture Partners, an investor in crypto firm Matrixport, raised a total of $3.2 billion for its various funds. The firm will continue to invest in technology and consumer (T&C) and healthcare firms.

Headline, an investor in crypto firms such as Sorare and Tokensoft, raised $954 million across its early-stage funds. The firm's goal is to invest in founders that are "designing companies that don't yet make sense to most, and then commit to them until their vision becomes a reality the whole world can see."

German conglomerate Bertelsmann's Chinese venture capital arm, BAI Capital, reportedly launched a $700 million. BAI Capital is an investor in Babel Finance. 

Peter Thiel's venture capital firm Valar Ventures reportedly raised $665 million in new capital for its eighth fund. The firm is an investor in crypto companies such as BlockFi and Bitpanda. 

Crypto-focused venture capital firm Variant raised $450 million across two new funds — $300 million for its opportunity fund to double down on projects with demonstrated traction and $150 million for investing in early-stage projects.

Crypto-focused venture capital firm Multicoin Capital announced its third fund worth $430 million. The firm plans to continue investing in startups that would increase web3's adoption.  

European venture capital firm XAnge, an investor in crypto companies like Ledger, Coinhouse and Request Finance, raised its fourth fund worth €220 million. The firm is also raising a dedicated web3 fund worth €80 million to invest in both in equity and token deals.

B Capital Group, an investor in crypto companies such as FalconX, TRM Labs and Figment, launched a $250 million fund to invest in early-stage startups across various industries. 

Early-stage Chinese venture capital firm Sky9 Capital reportedly raised a total of $239 million for its two new funds to continue investing in the technology sector. Sky9 Capital is an investor in crypto companies such as Amber Group and Blockchain.com.

MaC Venture Capital, a seed-stage focused venture capital firm, raised $203 million for its second fund. The firm invests across sectors, including web3. Its current investments in the web3 space include blockchain-based video entertainment platform AMP Global Technologies and blockchain data startup Transpose.

Gaming-focused venture capital firm Konvoy Ventures launched its third fund worth $150 million. The fund will invest in early-stage gaming firms across different verticals, including web3 gaming. 

Saber Labs co-founders Dylan Macalinao and Ian Macalinao launched a new crypto venture capital firm called Protagonist with $100 million in funds. The firm plans to invest in and incubate early-stage web3 projects across verticals, including gaming, infrastructure, security and privacy. 

Venture capital firm NFX reportedly added $62.61 million to its second fund for follow-on investments. The fund, now worth $337.61 million, plans to increase investments in high-conviction companies in its portfolio.

Indian venture capital firm Audacity, an investor in Polygon, launched a new $60 million fund to invest in early-stage media-tech startups bridging the gap from web2 to web3.

Mask Network, a Binance-backed crypto startup, reportedly launched its venture unit called Bonfire Union with $42 million. The firm plans to invest in the web3 space. 

Tribe Capital, an investor in crypto companies like Kraken and FTX, reportedly launched a crypto incubator program with $25 million. The program, dubbed Tribe Crypto Labs, to form partnerships through the Cosmos, Avalanche and Solana ecosystems. As the program scales, it plans to raise $5 million to $10 million for each additional project.

Crypto investment firm named Modular Capital debuted with $20 million in capital from Multicoin Capital, ParaFi Capital and others. The firm plans to invest across the crypto ecosystem, including in token and equity deals.  

Crypto-focused investment firm AC Capital raised $20 million for its second fund. The firm will invest in early-stage web3 projects in areas such as infrastructure, GameFi, NFTs and metaverse.  

Crypto newsletter writer Mario Gabriele launched a new venture capital firm called Generalist Capital with a $12.5 million fund. The fund's limited partners include a16z, Paradigm and Multicoin Capital executives. Generalist Capital plans to invest in approximately 20 startups over the next 18 months in crypto as well as fintech.

Auction house Christie's launched an investment unit called Christie's Ventures. The unit will invest in three broad categories: web3 innovation, art-related financial products and technologies that enable the consumption of art. Its first portfolio company is LayerZero Labs, a cross-chain interoperability project. 

Jason Choi (formerly of Spartan Group) and Darryl Wang (formerly of DeFiance Capital) launched a new venture capital firm named Tangent Ventures. The firm will invest in up to 5 startups using its undisclosed amount of proprietary capital. 

Solana NFT marketplace creator Magic Eden launched an investment arm Magic Ventures. The unit will invest in web3 game developers and infrastructure builders. 

Asset manager Valkyrie announced its investment unit Valkyrie Ventures. The firm will focus on investing in early-stage "web 2.5" startups — which aim to provide web2 user experience with an underlying crypto native infrastructure of web3. Valkyrie Ventures will geographically focus on startups in the US and Israel. 

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