“From the Top” is an ongoing series from the OV Portfolio Fundraising Team, providing research and insights into the Web3/crypto fundraising market.
The purpose of this series is for you to:
- Stay up-to-date on the latest trends in the Web3/crypto world with our 1Q23 fundraising report.
- Discover the staggering numbers behind early-stage companies, infrastructure projects, DeFi, NFT projects, and ICO token sales.
- Uncover insights on average round sizes, valuations, and capital raised.
Don’t miss out on this comprehensive analysis of the industry’s latest fundraising activity.
For those who are pressed for time, behold a glimpse of a snapshot!
- There were 153 early-stage (Pre-seed to Series A) Web3/crypto companies that fundraised in 1Q23, 28 more than 4Q22
- These companies raised over $986m, representing a 13% increase from the previous quarter but still considerably less than the same period the previous year (almost $3.77bn in 1Q22)
- All infrastructure projects raised 16% more in 1Q23 than 4Q22, but the average round size was smaller (more pre-seed deals, fewer Series A)
- DeFi saw a 63% increase in the number of projects fundraising, with many of them being pre-seed deals. This dampened the total amount raised for this category by 16% from last quarter
- Early-stage NFT projects are the ones that have suffered the most from 4Q22 to 1Q23, witnessing a 50+% decrease in the capital raised and over 30% decrease in the number of projects fundraising
- A total of $730m was raised across six funds, Whilst this represents some traction from the dismal 4Q22 fund activity of only $150m raised, it is still 94% less than all the capital raised in 1Q22 ($11.7bn)
- Across all early-stage deals, the average round size has declined by 8% from 4Q22 to 1Q23. The average round size for pre-seed deals declined from $2.4m to $1.6m and Series A deals also saw a downsizing of their average round sizes, contracting by 24%. By contrast, Seed stage deals increased by 9%, rising from $5.4m to $5.9m
- Valuations for pre-seed and seed deals have also continued to decline. Galaxy’s report shows that the average pre-money valuations for these stages were ‘at their lowest point since the beginning of 2021’ at $18.8m
- According to ICO Analytics, there were 13 public token sales in 1Q23. This is a marked increase from 4Q22, which saw only 4 public token sales but still much less than 31 sales that took place in 1Q22 during the bull market
