Crypto VC Funding Surges In November

November was a markedly bullish month for crypto fundraising, with 98 deals inked worth a combined $1.75B – a $1B jump compared to October.

More than half of the money raised went to two relatively unknown Bitcoin mining companies, according to a recent report by Messari. Northern Data (a firm that also does business outside of crypto) and Phoenix Group raised $600M and $370M, respectively.

Blockchain.com landed in third place, having raised $110 million in a Series E. The top 10 was rounded out by the controversial Layer 2 project, Blast, which recently announced a $20 million round led by Paradigm. In the five days post-launch, the protocol had attracted $500 million in TVL, although according to DefiLlama, that number sits now at $621 million.

However, excluding the two massive rounds closed by Northern Data and Phoenix Group lands crypto fundraising at around $750M, in line with the average monthly funding since the August bottom. Nevertheless, the average deal size was $7.5M, a 50% spike from last month's $5M.

Notably, with the Bitcoin halving on the horizon and fears of reduced block subsidies putting a dent in miners’ profitability, this month’s large-scale raises leave space for optimism. The aggressive financing of such companies, wrote Messari researcher Kel, suggests an expectation of higher BTC prices from venture capitalists close to the sector.

Messari reported that miners comprised 90% of the deals in the infrastructure sector, whereas exchanges (like Blockchain.com) and payments projects accounted for roughly 75% of rounds closed in the financial sector.

While the crypto industry has been enjoying a rise in token prices, the rally hasn’t translated into more significant private market flows, wrote Kel. “Investors are likely in a ramping-up stage, creating more activity that hasn’t yet translated into deals announced.”