DeFi was the sector with the most funding projects in Q3, with a total of 68 deals.
Fundraising efforts in the crypto industry have taken a considerable hit due to the ongoing crypto winter, and the third quarter was no exception.
The latest data shows that both the total amount of funding and the number of deals in this period hit a new low, reaching the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2020. The quarterly data fell below $2.1 billion, with a total of 297 deals, down 36 deals year-on-year. Both categories fell by % compared with the previous quarter.
DeFi is one of the well-funded sectors
According to Messari’s report, decentralized finance (DeFi) led the way in terms of the number of funding deals, with 67, while chain infrastructure received the highest percentage of funding, accounting for 18% of the total. The gaming industry also posted strong quarterly results, with nearly $250 million in cumulative investment.
In the third quarter, DeFi became the sector with the largest number of financing projects, with a total of 68 transactions. Investment in this sector is clearly concentrated, with the exchange category accounting for 38% of all investment capital in 33 transactions. Overall, DeFi projects raised a total of US$210 million, with an average transaction size of US$3 million.
Binance Labs has been active in the DeFi space, completing 7 deals this quarter. These include strategic investments of $10 million each in Helio Protocol (a liquidity staking platform on the BNB chain) and Radiant Capital (a money market built on LayerZero). The largest DeFi deal this quarter involved a $16.5 million Series A round for Brine, an order book DEX built on Starkware.
Additionally, three of the top four DeFi investors by transaction volume are closely tied to the ecosystem. Binance Labs, Base Ecosystem Fund, and Polygon made a total of 16 transactions during this period.
Binance Labs, the most active investor to date
Despite being embroiled in legal proceedings, Binance Labs emerged as the most active investor in the third quarter.
Binance’s venture capital and incubator arm has completed 23 deals, more than doubling the number of investments made, surpassing the second-ranked investor Robot Ventures. Throughout 2023, Binance Labs maintained an active investment strategy, focusing on the DeFi and gaming sectors, in addition to showing interest in projects developing zero-knowledge and privacy technologies.
Interestingly, 12 of these deals involved projects that participated in its accelerator program. Excluding these accelerator-related investments, the firm’s remaining 11 investments remain on par with Robot Ventures in terms of deal activity in Q3. #DeFi #Messari
