According to PitchBook’s report, despite the crypto sector being in a bear market, investment companies continued to operate.
Although the crypto industry is still in a bear market, venture capital firms have made many deals since the beginning of 2023. These deals have proven that even in the crypto winter, the industry is still alive. According to Pitchbook’s Crypto Report for the first quarter of 2023, crypto companies managed to raise $2.6 billion in 353 investment rounds.
It was reported in the report that valuation trends are mixed
The report reveals that while the industry is still on the move, it is not as strong as it used to be. The data in the report showed an 11 percent decrease in deal value and a 12.2 percent decrease in the total number of deals compared to the previous quarter. In addition, this quarter recorded the lowest amount of capital invested in the industry since 2020.
The report said valuation trends were mixed. Compared to the whole of 2022, seed rounds increased by 33.3 percent in this quarter, while other investment rounds increased by 209.2 percent. However, early stage rounds were down 16.7 percent. While acknowledging that the decline could potentially continue, the report also identified some positive outlooks for the industry. According to the data, layer-2 scaling solutions are still gaining momentum in 2022. The report states that Blockstream, which has raised $125 million to fund Bitcoin mining infrastructure, and Scroll, which develops EVM scaling solution, have raised $50 million in a late-stage investment round.
Alongside scaling solutions, storage solution providers Ledger and Taurus also received major investments in 2023. On March 30, Ledger raised $109 million as demand for individual custody increased. Taurus, on the other hand, raised $65 million in the series B tour held on February 14.