Deal Flow Digest October 2022
Gm.
Please enjoy the October Deal Flow Digest, a monthly newsletter recapping recent web3 funding rounds.
It may be a bear market, but it’s not a crypto winter. There’s still significant funds waiting to deploy into web3, and we’re tracking it.
VC funding becoming hesitant…
Our numbers suggest that Web3 funding fell by 58% in 3Q22 from 2Q22, falling from $15.4B to $6.5B.
These numbers aren’t just indicative of lower bear market valuations, VCs have been more selective with their choices too, with total number of investments falling 30% from ~650 in 2Q22 to 445 in 3Q22.
Even though total funding activity has decreased by a significant amount, it seems to have stabilized somewhat. Web3 related projects raised 2.45 billion in October, putting 4Q22 on the same trajectory we saw last quarter. This trend indicates that a lasting fallout from the events of Luna, Celsius, and Blockfi has indeed occurred, as VCs remain hesitant to deploy their massive funds into current projects.
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Top Five Crypto Funding Rounds
Translucia | $300 Million | Equity Financing | 10/4/22
Sygnum, a Switzerland-based digital asset bank, has partnered with Thai media giant T&B Media Global to facilitate a US$300 million round through a structure that hybridizes equity and NFTs. The amount will go toward T&B Media Global's new interconnected metaverse platform Translucia.
Step | $300 Million | 10/10/22
Step, the banking service aimed at bringing young adults into the investment world, secured $300 million in debt funding. Step said it will expand into crypto investment services, and launched a financial literacy program to improve consumer education on banking and crypto. Triplepoint Capital and Evolve Bank & Trust led the funding round.
Copper | $196 Milion | Series C | 10/12/22
Copper is a cryptocurrency custody firm that provides a secure infrastructure for the institutional digital asset investment community. Copper raised $181 million from new and existing shareholders as of June, in addition to a convertible loan note of $15 million. The document did not name the investors.
Uniswap Labs | $165 Million | Series B | 10/12/22
Uniswap Labs raised $165 million in Series B funding, led by Polychain Capital and with participation from longtime investors a16z crypto, Paradigm, SV Angel, and Variant.
Stability AI | $101 Million | 10/16/22
Stability AI Ltd. raised $101 million in a seed round led by Coatue Management and Lightspeed Venture Partners. The round values London-based Stability AI at around $1 billion.
Note: I’m a member of Seed Club Ventures where we were pre-seed investors.
Click to see all of Octobers’s funding rounds here:
Hackathons
ETH San Fransisco — Nov 4-6
Over $300K in Prizes. Hackathon by ETHGlobal in San Fransisco.
Chainlink Fall 2022 Hackathon — Oct 18 - Nov 19
From October 18 - November 19, Chainlink is holding a hackathon with $525,500 in prizes for projects that utilize their oracle network.
TRON Grand Hackathon — Nov 14
The TRON ecosystem if awarding $1.2 million in USDD for various bounties. There are currently 253 participants, with submissions open until November 14th.
Near MetaBUILD III Hackathon — Nov 21
Near is awarding $1 million for various bounties that advance the Near ecosystem by November 21st.
ETH India — Dec 2-4
Asia’s Biggest Ethereum Hackathon hosted by ETHGlobal & Devfolio. This one is going to be massive expecting >1500 Hackers and large prizes.
Recent Finalists
ETHGlobal Bogota Results — Oct 9 — the most hackathon submissions ever for ETH global. 1000 hackers and >$500K in prizes (my team was a finalist!)
ETHLisbon — October 30 — From Lisbon, PT
Upcoming Demo Days
Kernel Block VII Expo Week — Nov 1-4 — Register here
LongHashX Accelerator Cohort 9 Demo Day — Nov 8 — Register here
Alliance Cohort 9 (ALL9) Demo Day — Nov 9 — Private (videos to YouTube after)
LeCryptoFellowship Demo Day — Nov 10 — Register here
Flori Ventures Web3 x Climate Showcase — Nov 16 — Register here
Seed Club SC05 Demo Day — Dec 16 — Register here
What’d you think? Send me your comments / feedback and otherwise - See you next month!
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Good luck out there!
Ben