Pitchbook: Cryptocurrency Funding in Q1 Surges to $2.4 Billion, Anticipates Surge in M&A Activities

Pitchbook: Cryptocurrency Funding in Q1 Surges to $2.4 Billion, Anticipates Surge in M&A Activities

Pitchbook: Cryptocurrency Funding in Q1 Surges to $2.4 Billion, Anticipates Surge in M&A Activities

According to a report by Reuters, data from PitchBook shows that the funding amount for cryptocurrency startups has increased for the second consecutive quarter, reaching $2.4 billion in the first three months of 2024, due to the expectation of interest rate cuts and the launch of the first Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States, which has sparked investor interest.

According to PitchBook’s data, these funds were distributed across 518 transactions, representing a growth of 40.3% from the previous quarter. Meanwhile, global venture capital has reached its lowest point in nearly five years. This indicates that cryptocurrency and blockchain infrastructure startups focusing on construction have led in funding in the first quarter.

PitchBook analyst Robert Le stated, “The recovery of publicly traded tokens and the increasing adoption by institutions will drive an increase in venture capital funding.”

The largest transaction was completed by decentralized cloud platform Together AI, which raised $106 million in early-stage funding led by Salesforce Ventures, with a valuation of $1.1 billion. Together AI had previously announced a Series A funding round of $102.5 million in November 2023, led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from NVIDIA.

Le stated that the competition for investment rounds has become very intense, especially in early-stage funding, and “this situation is exacerbated by the higher valuations obtained in early-stage funding transactions compared to later-stage transactions.” He further added, “We will see if this trend continues in the coming quarters.”

However, exit cases are still rare. Le expects that as the market matures, merger activities will increase later this year, especially among cryptocurrency exchanges, custodian institutions, and infrastructure providers.

Related report: “Funding in the crypto market exceeds $1 billion for two consecutive months, the first time since the end of 2022.”