Despite a promising start, 2022 was a challenging year for the cryptocurrency sector due to the collapse of Terra in May, which analysts have labelled the latest cryptocurrency winter.
As the temperature dropped, VC companies pulled in their funds. Crunchbase reports that during the first and third quarters of 2022, global financing for VC-backed crypto businesses fell from $8.8 billion to $6.2 billion and then to roughly $3.4 billion. With barely a few days remaining in the quarter, crypto companies have only raised roughly $2.4 million.
Take a look at the year 2022’s most significant crypto financing rounds:
Yuga Labs; $ 450M
Bored Ape Yacht Club is a popular game with a solid fan base. Its developer announced that Andreessen Horowitz would lead a $450 million funding round for the game. The NFT market has now dried up, and reports say that the SEC is looking into Yuga Labs for trading unregistered securities, even though the financing made the business worth $4 billion.
ConsenSys; $ 450M
Joe Lubin, who helped create Ethereum, started the company ConsenSys, which makes Ethereum apps like the DeFi wallet MetaMask, which has more than 30 million users every month. ConsenSys, a blockchain technology firm, raised $450 million in March from ParaFi Capital. The value was $7 billion. Since then, the company’s software suite has had privacy problems, which Lubin promised to fix.
Polygon; $450M
Polygon is a Layer-2 blockchain technology built on Ethereum to help the growth of digital entertainment and financial (DeFi) ecosystems. Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global, and SoftBank led a $450m fundraising round in February. MATIC, Polygon’s native coin, was valued at $13 billion but is now around $7 billion.
Circle: $ 400M
USDC, issued by Circle, is the second-largest stablecoin after Tether. It disclosed a $400 million capital round in April, including participation from well-known investors like BlackRock and Fidelity. SPAC integration plans to take the firm public at a $9 billion value went through in December due to concerns over receiving SEC permission.
FTX US; $400M
In January, FTX US, the American outpost of the FTX exchange, secured $400 million in Series A financing at an $8 billion value. Everyone reading this is undoubtedly aware that the fund’s Paradigm, Multicoin Capital, Temasek, and Softbank invested in made a bad choice.
FTX; $400M
Offshores FTX exchange raised $400M in January to reach $32 billion. “Meme round” investors gave FTX $420,690,000 in October 2021.
Animoca Brands; $358.8M
Animoca Brands raised $358.8M in January, backed by Liberty City Ventures. Following Axie Infinity’s incident, “play-to-earn” games are no longer called GameFi.
NEAR Protocol; $350M
NEAR is a blockchain competing with Ethereum that lets developers construct decentralised apps. After starting in October 2020, it secured considerable finance, including a $350M round in April 2022 headed by Tiger Global. After reaching $12.5 billion in April, its cryptocurrency has dropped to $1 billion.
Amber Group; $300M
Amber Group, a crypto trading startup, raised $300M in December, headed by Fenbushi Capital US. Bloomberg said the Singapore-based corporation dropped a sponsorship arrangement with Chelsea FC and laid off 40% of its workers.
Mysten Labs; $300M
In September, Mysten Labs secured a Series B funding round of $300 million headed by FTX Ventures for $2 billion. Sui, developed by Mysten, is a forthcoming Layer-1 proof-of-stake blockchain managed by a former member of the Meta crew.
