Venture capital funding in the crypto space saw a slight dip in the second quarter of the year, totaling $4.5 billion. This represented a 22% decrease compared to the previous quarter. The breakdown of funding for the quarter showed monthly flows of approximately $1.29 billion in April, $624 million in May, and a significant jump to $2.5 billion in June.
June’s funding figure was particularly noteworthy, as it was over 4 times larger than May’s funding and ranked as the second-largest month of the year so far. The surge in June was primarily driven by a $2 billion investment from Binance into MGX. Despite the late-quarter rebound, the total funding for the second quarter was unable to match the nearly $6 billion that was invested in crypto startups in the first quarter of the year.
However, the total funding for the second quarter still marked a significant increase compared to the same period last year, with double the amount of venture capital money flowing into the crypto space. Standout transactions in the second quarter included a $585 million investment in Twenty One Capital, the largest funding round of the quarter. Eigen Labs also received $70 million from Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z, along with additional EIGEN tokens.
Other notable funding rounds in the second quarter included Hypernative’s $40 million round and Symbiotic’s $29 million. While the deal count decreased in May, the quarter’s median round size remained above $10 million, indicating continued investor interest in later-stage and infrastructure projects.
In terms of sector mix, DeFi infrastructure, restaking, and AI-linked middleware attracted the largest investments, reflecting a narrative rotation seen in the public market. North American companies received the majority of funding last quarter, particularly in larger Series B and later rounds. Meanwhile, early-stage activity in Asia and the Middle East saw an increase in token-focused seed deals.
Despite the slight slowdown in funding in the second quarter, the year-to-date total of approximately $10.3 billion already exceeds the full-year figure for 2024, which was $9.6 billion. This indicates a strong and growing interest from venture capital investors in the crypto space.