May crypto VC roundup: Lowest funding total in last six months 

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.

After a stellar show for six months, crypto funding declined in May even though overall investment remained strong.

May saw 220 funding deals, with venture capital firms pouring nearly $3.5 billion into crypto startups. That is the lowest amount since last October, when $3 billion was invested. The highest-ever funding monthly total came in January of this year, when VCs invested nearly $5 billion into crypto startups.

Despite the decline, it can't be said yet that the funding spree has cooled off. The next few months could provide a better picture given the current challenging market conditions and the continued fallout from Terra's collapse last month.

The most popular investment category in May was infrastructure and NFT/ blockchain gaming startups, which drew nearly $1.7 billion in funding. The DeFi vertical received the lowest amount of funding with just over $175 million. 

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

Trading platforms and wallets

There were nine raises larger than $25 million by firms specifically focused on crypto trading, lending and wallet services. 

Crypto exchange KuCoin raised $150 million in a pre-Series B funding round and is now valued at $10 billion. The round was led by Jump Crypto and saw participation from firms including Circle Ventures, IDG Capital and Matrix Partners.

Crypto trading infrastructure firm Talos raised $105 million in a Series B round led by General Atlantic. Other high-profile investors included Citigroup, Wells Fargo Strategic Capital, BNY Mellon, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), PayPal Ventures and Fidelity Investments. Talos is now valued at $1.25 billion. 

Hong Kong-based Babel Finance, which provides crypto trading and lending services to institutional investors, raised $80 million in a Series B funding round and is now valued at $2 billion. Investors included Jeneration Capital, Dan Tapiero's 10T Holdings, Dragonfly Capital and Circle Ventures. 

Alan Howard-owned crypto firm Elwood Technologies raised $70 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Goldman Sachs and Dawn Capital. Other investors included Barclays, BlockFi Ventures, Digital Currency Group and Flow Traders. Elwood provides crypto trading infrastructure to institutional investors such as fintech firms and asset managers.

Crypto trading platform Voyager Digital raised approximately $60 million in a private placement led by Alameda Research. The share placement also included participation from Galaxy Digital, Blockdaemon and Digital Currency Group.

ADDX, a Singapore-based trading platform for digital securities, raised $58 million in a pre-Series B funding round. Investors included SET Venture Holding, a subsidiary of the Stock Exchange of Thailand; UOB; Hamilton Lane; and Krungsri Finnovate. 

Crypto exchange and wallet services provider Bitcoin.com raised $33.6 million in a private sale of its VERSE token. Investors included KuCoin Ventures, Blockchain.com, ViaBTC Capital, Roger Ver and Jihan Wu.

Philippines-based crypto exchange Coins.ph raised $30 million in Series C funding led by Ribbit Capital and joined by other unnamed investors. 

Oasis Pro, an alternative assets trading platform supporting crypto, raised $27 million in a Series A funding round. Investors included UDHC Finance, Blizzard the Avalanche Fund, Redwood Trust, TrustLabs (creators of TrueFi), Mirae Asset Venture Investment and LedgerPrime.

NFTs, and gaming and the metaverse

May saw ten raises larger than $25 million for firms specifically focused on NFTs, blockchain gaming and the metaverse. 

NFT marketplace protocol Zora raised $50 million and is now valued at $600 million. Katie Haun's Haun Ventures led the funding, with Coinbase Ventures, Kindred Ventures and others participating.

Web3 e-sports platform GEMS said it received a $50 million investment commitment from Global Emerging Markets (GEM) Digital. Hong Kong-based GEMS claims to have more than 80 blockchain and esports firms as partners and says it will further expand its GameFi, Esports, Metaverse and SocialFi platform in Asia. 

NFT-focused blockchain developer Energi said it secured a $50 million investment commitment from GEM Digital. Energi said it will also launch its own NFT marketplace and collections.  

N3TWORK Studios, a developer and publisher of blockchain games, raised $46 million in a Series A funding round led by Griffin Gaming Partners. Other investors included Kleiner Perkins, Galaxy Interactive Floodgate and LLL Capital.

Blockchain gaming firm Irreverent Labs raised $40 million in funding led by a16z. Other investors included Solana Ventures, Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor and Infinity Ventures Crypto founder Brian Lu. 

South Korean gaming firm Haegin reportedly raised 50 billion won (around $40 million) from SK Square and SK Telecom, part of South Korean conglomerate SK Group. Haegin plans to strengthen its competitiveness in the AI and Metaverse arena.

Gaming platform BUD raised $36.8 million in a Series B round led by Sequoia Capital India. Other investors included ClearVue Partners, NetEase, Northern Light Venture Capital and GGV Capital. 

Augmented reality (AR) startup Jadu raised $36 million in Series A funding led by Bain Capital Crypto. General Catalyst Partners, LG Tech Ventures and Alumni Ventures also participated. Jadu says it is building a gaming platform that will allow players to connect their Ethereum wallets and access AR gameplay for their favorite NFT avatar.

NFT infrastructure project Co:Create raised $25 million in a seed round led by a16z. Other investors included Tom Brady's NFT platform Autograph, Packy McCormick's Not Boring Capital, FTX Ventures' Amy Wu, Gary Vaynerchuk's VaynerFund and the teams behind NFT fractionalization platform Fractional.art and Nike-acquired NFT studio RTFKT.

NFT marketplace QUINT raised $25 million from Galaxy Racer in a token sale. Quint says it bridges the metaverse with the real world by offering real-world benefits such as Bored Ape NFTs, limited-edition Hublot Big Bang timepieces and fractional ownership of high-yield real-world assets.

Don't forget DeFi and Web3

There were five raises that surpassed $25 million for DeFi and web3 projects in May, with Naetion and Flowcarbon raising the biggest rounds. 

Naetion, a Denmark-based web3 startup building an on-chain career network, raised $150 million from GEM Digital Limited. Naetion says its core product, HAELP, is a decentralized network of creators to show and sell their skills and retain 100% of their earnings.

Flowcarbon, a startup co-founded by former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, raised $70 million to develop its blockchain-based carbon trading tools. A16z led the funding, with General Catalyst, Samsung Next, the Celo Foundation and others participating.

D-ETF, a startup that claims to offer a decentralized crypto ETF, reportedly received a $50 million capital commitment from GEM Digital. D-ETF on its website says its ETF offers access to multiple cryptocurrencies through a token called DETF.  

African web3 startup Jambo raised $30 million in a Series A funding round led by Paradigm. Jambo says it is building web3 "super app" that will enable Africans to trade crypto, buy and sell NFTs, experience play-to-earn crypto games and access web3 applications. 

SingularityNET and SingularityDAO secured a $25 million commitment from LDA Capital Limited. SingularityDAO provides diversified baskets of cryptocurrencies rebalanced by artificial intelligence and curated by the protocol. 

Tools of the trade

The remaining nine fundraises above $25 million from May were from the infrastructure category. They include firms developing blockchain networks, mining infrastructure and data analytics platforms. 

KaJ Labs, which is building a cross-chain interoperability network called Lithosphere, raised $400 million in a private token sale. The firm sold its LITHO tokens to GEM Digital and four unnamed "capital and individual investors."

Blockchain analytics company Chainalysis raised $170 million in Series F funding led by GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. Other investors in the round included Accel, Blackstone and Bank of New York Mellon. Chainalysis is now valued at $8.6 billion, worth more than double its last valuation of $4.2 billion in June 2021. 

BVNK, a banking and payment services provider for crypto businesses, raised $40 million in a Series A funding round. Tiger Global led the round, with Anchorage Digital, CoinlList and TrueLayer CEO Francesco Simoneschi participating. 

Crypto market surveillance firm Solidus Labs raised $45 million in a Series B funding round led by Liberty City Ventures. Other investors included Evolution Equity Partners, Declaration Partners Brian Brooks and Christopher Giancarlo. 

Web3 development platform Moralis raised $40 million in a Series A funding round. Investors included Coinbase Ventures, Fabric Ventures, EQT Ventures and Dispersion Capital. 

Smart contract security firm Certora raised $36 million in a Series B round led by Jump Crypto. Other investors included Tiger Global, Galaxy Digital, Electric Capital, Framework Ventures, CoinFund and Coinbase Ventures.

Nasdaq-listed Soluna Holdings, which is building data centers for crypto mining and other purposes, raised $35 million from private equity firm Spring Lane Capital.

Crypto data provider Amberdata raised $30 million in a Series B round. Knollwood Investment Advisory led the round, with Susquehanna International Group, Nasdaq Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Chicago Trading Company and others participating. 

Blockchain-based data sharing platform Vendia raised $30 million in Series B funding led by NewView Capital. Other backers included Neythri Futures Fund, Operator Partners and Lux Capital. 

New crypto VC funds

Venture capital firms have to raise funds, too. In May, the largest rounds came from a16z, Standard Crypto and SPiCE VC. Overall, the month saw 20 new fund launches by both existing and new VC and other firms.

A16z raised a new massive $4.5 billion crypto fund, the industry's large to date. This is a16z's fourth crypto-dedicated fund and is divided into two parts: $3 billion is dedicated for venture investments and $1.5 billion for seed investments. Separately, a16z also launched a new gaming-focused fund worth $600 million to invest in studios, gaming application developers and metaverse infrastructure builders.

VC firm Standard Crypto reportedly raised a new $500 million fund to invest in both equity and token deals.

SPiCE VC launched its second fund worth $250 million. The new fund is five times larger than the firm's first fund. It will invest in startups that are building blockchain infrastructure for various industries. 

Korean conglomerate Shinhan Financial Group launched a 300 billion won (around $240 million) fund to invest in technology startups, including blockchain, web3 and the metaverse. The group wants to expand the digital ecosystem of financial and non-financial sectors through strategic investments.

Blockchain investment firm Blockchain Coinvestors reportedly launched a $200 million fund to invest in 20 to 30 projects with "attractive return profiles and visible paths to liquidity." Blockchain Coinvestors has previously invested in companies like Bitwise, Securitize and Wyre.

American music publisher Matt Pincus's investment firm MUSIC raised $200 million to invest in three areas of the music business: the technology sector, record labels and music publishers, and companies "dedicated to Web3 innovation".

Crypto-focused VC firm Archetype raised $150 million for its second fund. The Archetype II fund plans to invest in early-stage web3 startups, writing checks in the average range of $500,000 and $5 million.

6th Man Ventures, a crypto venture capital firm founded by The Block's founder Mike Dudas, raised $140 million for its second fund and is looking to amass another $5 million to close the fund. The fund will invest in play-to-earn gaming and metaverse projects, web3 networks and DAOs, and infrastructure. (Dudas no longer has a financial interest in The Block).

Tusk Venture Partners, which was an investor in Coinbase and now in Circle, raised $140 million for its third fund. The new fund will invest in various industries, including fintech and crypto. 

VC firm Inventus India was renamed to Athera Venture Partners and raised a new $120 million fund. The fund will invest in early-tech tech startups, including blockchain and crypto firms. 

Crypto-focused investment firm NGC Ventures raised $100 million for its third fund focused on investing in early-stage web3 projects, including in areas such as GameFi and NFTs. The fund, dubbed NGC Metaverse Ventures, is backed by investors such as Babel Finance, Huobi Ventures and Nexo Ventures. 

 London-based investment firm Fasanara Capital raised around $100 million to back crypto and fintech startups. The fund is still open for subscription and looking to raise another $250 million. This is the first time Fasanara will invest in crypto startups. The firm's previous two venture funds, with a combined worth of $550 million, focused purely on fintech startups. 

Former Binance executives Ling Zhang and Wayne Fu revealed their $100 million fund focused on crypto investments. The fund, named Old Fashion Research, was founded in late 2021 and has already backed over 50 projects, including Woo Network, Genopets and ZetaChain.

Ryan Watkins, a former analyst at crypto research firm Messari, launched his own crypto hedge fund startup Pangea with $85 million in investor capital. According to Watkins, Pangea will invest in "3 - 7 high conviction liquid tokens" and be an active participant in protocol governance. Pangea's backers include Bain Capital, ParaFi Capital and Alameda Research. 

Canadian venture capital firm Round13, with around $700 million in assets under management, launched a new crypto- dedicated fund. The fund has raised $70 million of an initial target of $100 million. 

Crypto-focused VC Volt Capital raised $50 million for its second fund to invest in early-stage startups. The fund is five times larger than its first and includes investors such as a16z's Chris Dixon and Marc Andreessen, Tiger Global Management and Brevan Howard.

Japan-based Skyland Ventures launched its fourth fund and, this time, focused on crypto investments. The SV4 fund is worth $40 million and looks to invest in various early-stage startups backing both equity and token deals. 

Crypto asset manager Ikigai Asset Management launched its first venture fund, the Ikigai Trust Revolution Opportunities Fund, worth $30 million. The fund looks to invest in early-stage web3 projects across areas such as metaverse, gaming, DeFi, DAOs and NFTs.

Japanese entertainment and gaming firm Akatsuki raised a $20 million fund focused on investing in web3 projects. The fund, dubbed Emoote, will look to back startups working on projects in GameFi, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse. 

Indian crypto exchange CoinDCX formally launched its investment arm, CoinDCX Ventures, with an INR 100 crore (around $12 million) fund. The fund focuses on investing in early-stage startups across areas such as blockchain infrastructure and DeFi protocol builders.