What happened?
During the second quarter of 2025, Web3 startups raised a whopping $9.6 billion in venture capital. This was the second-highest quarterly total on record. Interestingly, this happened even as the number of deals dropped to a multi-year low. Investors seemed to prefer fewer but larger rounds, mainly focusing on infrastructure sectors like validator networks and compute.
Who does this affect?
This shift affects a range of stakeholders, including Web3 startups, investors, and other entities involved in the venture capital space. Startups seeking funding might have to adjust their strategies, focusing more on showcasing their infrastructure capabilities to attract more significant investment rounds. On the other hand, investors are redirecting their attention towards entities that promise long-term scalability such as validator networks and compute primitives for AI-aligned consensus models.
Why does this matter?
The trend signifies a maturing market where investors are taking calculated risks, favoring foundational projects over broad exposure to early-stage speculation. It highlights the market’s changing dynamics, indicating a shift towards strategic, institutional-led fundraising. The trend could also affect marketplaces and entertainment sectors, which currently show moderate deal sizes and limited momentum. In the long-run, this could reshape how fundraising for Web3 startups is approached, potentially leading to increased focus on the robustness of technology over just the novelty factor.