The third quarter (Q3) of 2024 witnessed a total of 600 crypto venture deals, amounting to $3.8 billion in capital raised. Although the number of deals dropped by 36% compared to the previous quarter, the overall investment levels have remained stable throughout the year.
Q3 2024 saw 600 crypto venture deals, totaling $3.8B in capital.
Although deal count dropped 36% QoQ, total investment remained consistent across quarters for 2024.@MessariCrypto's new AI Copilot lets us analyze the data in minutes—let’s dive in 🧵 pic.twitter.com/5zuHPdRXeq
— Mike Furci (@fursigh) October 9, 2024
Crypto venture deals involve investors providing funds to early-stage blockchain and cryptocurrency projects with high growth potential. In return, these investors receive equity stakes or tokens from the projects, aiming for substantial returns if these ventures succeed.
Crypto Venture Deals in Q3
Celestia raised $100 million in a funding round led by Bain Capital Crypto, marking one of the larger investments of the period. Sentient, ID Planet, and Story Protocol each raised $80 million, indicating continued investor interest in the sector.
Beyond raising capital, Celestia also introduced a new roadmap aimed at achieving 1-gigabyte block sizes to improve blockchain scalability and data processing. Additionally, it launched the Lemongrass upgrade, which made changes to the network’s Data Availability (DA) layer, focusing on security, functionality, and user experience enhancements.
In Q3, Celestia expanded its presence in the data availability sector, increasing its market share from 20% to roughly 40% by the end of July, gaining ground on Ethereum.
Animoca emerged as the top investor for the quarter, deploying capital in 23 deals, which brings their 2024 total to 85 disclosed investments, making them the industry leader. They were followed by Robot Ventures (21 deals), Binance Labs (18 deals), and OKX Ventures (15 deals), all of whom have maintained a strong investment pace this year.
Animoca has focused on the gaming sector, making ten investments, including popular ones like Soulbound and Fanton Fantasy Football. Additionally, Animoca announced a strategic partnership with LayerZero to establish it as the default interoperability solution across its brands and subsidiaries.
Mergers and Acquisitions
In the third quarter, the crypto sector saw 46 mergers and acquisitions. Key deals included Riot Platforms’ $92.5 million acquisition of Blockware Mining and Bitfarms’ $125 million purchase of Stronghold Digital Mining, indicating ongoing investment in the mining industry.
Furthermore, in Q3, accelerator rounds—funding opportunities that help startups grow by providing mentorship and resources—made up 23% of all deals, with 139 rounds announced.
Lucky Ebosele | December 26, 2024
Mishael Nwani | December 26, 2024
