The first quarter of 2024 saw cryptocurrency startups raise $2.4 billion in funding, marking a 40% increase YoY and reflecting a positive sentiment amongst investors, as per a report by PitchBook published on Monday. The report states the expectation of this trend's continuation, barring a significant market downturn.
One of the significant deals this week comes from Web3 social media platform, Farcaster, which successfully closed a $150 million Series A funding round led by Paradigm. Other investors include Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z crypto, Haun Ventures, Variant, and Standard Crypto. The platform has reportedly seen a 50x growth in network activity and 350,000 paid user sign-ups since October, according to a statement by Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero.
Another startup, Plume, a layer-2 for Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) which facilitates the on-chain integration of real-world assets, raised $10 million in a seed round led by Haun Ventures. Galaxy Ventures, Superscrypt, and Portal Ventures also participated in the funding round. According to reports, Plume already hosts more than 80 Real-World Asset (RWA) and DeFi projects on its private testnet.