The AI VC Hype Train
Following ChatGPT’s meteoric launch into the public consciousness, generalist funds appear to have a new favorite category: AI.
The shift makes sense: given the demonstrated widespread appeal of AI, VCs are asking themselves if funding projects in the hopes of future communities and ecosystems is a smarter bet than the now tangible possibilities of AI. Even crypto is getting jealous, with Tron launching a $100M AI fund targeting developer tools.
Though a new trend is emerging at the intersection of AI and crypto. The “AI token market” has a market cap of over $3 billion. Some of the largest raises over the last few months have occurred at this intersection; in April, Coreweave, which started as an Ethereum mining service, raised at a $2 billion valuation as they transition into AI and more general-purpose cloud GPU computing. Pinecone, which raised at a $750M valuation, is building out vector databases to make AI software development easier for engineers.
While a lot of the purported use cases feel like the frothy brainchild of a blogger who spends waaaay too much time on twitter, there is no denying that significant funding is getting deployed in search of ways to leverage AI hype into developments for web3 and crypto. Even though crypto doesn’t have the same funding magnetism as AI (at the moment), the space stands to potentially benefit from the crossover and combination of these two emerging technologies.
Top Five Crypto Funding Rounds
Coreweave | $221.0M | Series B | 4/19/23
CoreWeave announced that it raised $221 million in a Series B funding round led by Magnetar Capital with participation from Nvidia, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and ex-Apple exec Daniel Gross.
Pinecone | $100.0M | Series B | 4/26/23
Pinecone raised $100 million in Series B funding, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from ICONIQ Growth, and the existing investors Menlo Ventures and Wing Venture Capital. This funding brings the valuation to $750 million, hitting another milestone in the journey to revolutionize how AI applications are built.
Unchained | $60.0M | Series B | 4/17/23
Unchained has raised $60 million in Series B funding round led by Valor Equity Partners. Other investors include NYDIG, Trammell Venture Partners, Ecliptic Capital and Highland Capital Partners.
Sei Labs | $50.0M | Stategic | 4/11/23
Sei has raised an additional $50 million for its ecosystem fund. The investment comes from Bitget, a Seychelles-based crypto exchange focused on derivatives, and the venture firm Foresight. The newly announced $50 million commitment to the ecosystem fund will further attract projects to Sei, bringing the total size of the fund to $120 million.
Berachain | $42.0M | Series A | 4/19/23
Berachain, a layer 1 blockchain focused on decentralized finance (DeFi), disclosed its $42 million Series A at a valuation of $420.69 million. The fundraise, finalized in December, was led by Polychain Capital and included investors Hack VC, dao5, Tribe Capital, Shima Capital, CitizenX and Robot Ventures, as well as several undisclosed centralized crypto exchanges.
Click to see all of April’s funding rounds here:
Hackathons
Upcoming
Delphi Labs Cosmos Hackathon May 1-8
Pitch your idea and team for a chance to win prizes and a spot in the upcoming Delphi Labs Accelerator with $150,000 in prizes
ETHGlobal Lisbon May 12-23
$225K in prizes in Lisbon.
Recently Completed
ETH Taipei Apr 21-23
Focus on DeFi, Zk, and building within the Ethereum ecosystem
ETH Global Tokyo Hackathon Apr 14-16
$175,000 in prizes from prominent Dapps and DAOs
ZK Hack Lisbon Mar 31- Apr 2
Hackathon focused on zero-knowledge applications
Demo Days
Upcoming Demo Days
a16z Crypto Startup School Demo Day May 24
Recently Completed Demo Days
Sui Demo Day in Hong Kong Apr 22
Flori Ventures Web3 X Credit Demo Day Apr 18
LongHash Axelerator Demo Day Apr 4
Deep Tech (BoostVC) Demo Day Apr 4
YCombinator Demo Day Apr 5
That’s a wrap for April.
In case you missed it, we’ve officially announced Bankless Ventures a $30M early-stage web3 Venture Fund. We’ll continue publishing this newsletter every month!
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Good luck out there!
Ben & Brady