Sign up here to get a roundup of TechCrunch's biggest and biggest crypto stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12:00pm PT .
Welcome back to Chain Reaction.
Looking ahead to the first half of 2023, funding for crypto startups is becoming increasingly scarce. In the second quarter, VC inflows into the industry fell to $2.34 billion globally for the fifth consecutive quarter compared with the first quarter of 2022, as investors clung to their checkbooks amid fear of risk. of tighter regulation and an uncertain economy.
According to Pitchbook data, the second quarter report of $2.34 billion increased to 382 deals, but it was a significant drop from the industry peak of $12.14 billion in the first quarter of 2022. The biggest increases came in Q2 2023: LayerZero's $120 million Series B round and Worldcoin's $115 million Series C Round.
"It's a numbers game," says Lydia Chew, Ava Labs' vice president of business development. In general, investors see low valuations, so they write "little checks," she told TechCrunch+.
Regardless, it seems that the old business adage “big companies can always generate income” applies to cryptocurrencies, regardless of how the US regulatory system feels about the sector. "Many projects will always be competitive with superstar teams and great use cases," Chew said. “The overdrafts that everyone wants will continue to be in demand.”
“This bear market is long lasting and psychologically it is not easy,” said Las Clausen, a founding partner of cryptocurrency investment firm 1kx. “We sit down with entrepreneurs who want to build, regardless of whether they raise money or not. There aren't many people out there so defy all odds and take risks.
But in the long run, the determination of these few founders will pay off, Clausen believes.
the youngest pod
For last week's episode, Jacqueline interviewed Jack Lu, Co-Founder and CEO of NFT Magic Eden Marketplace. This is his second time on Chain Reaction, but the market has improved a lot since it last appeared in August 2022, so we're excited to have him back with us!
Before founding Magic Eden in 2021, Lu worked as a product manager at Google and as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
Magic Eden originally started as a Solana-based NFT trading platform, but has expanded its support to other blockchain networks such as Polygon, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. Today it is the largest NFT marketplace with over 8,000 collections, nearly $3 billion in NFT transactions, and 22 million unique monthly visitors. In June 2022, Magic Eden raised $130 million in a Series B round, earning it unicorn status.
We discuss why Magic Eden expanded its support to other blockchains, added BRC-20 token support to its secondary platform, and how the company plans to remain competitive in an ever-changing market.
We also talk about:
NFT Market Volatility
legal fees
Web Game Extension 3
NFT Community Council
Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the latest episodes, and leave us a comment if you want to hear it!
follow the money
CryptoQuant has raised $6.5 million in a Series A round
Privacy-focused platform Ola has raised $3 million in a seed round
Mind Network raised $2.5 million to bring data, smart contracts and AI to Web3
DeFi protocol AlloyX has raised $2 million in a pre-seed round
Outdid has raised $2.5 million in a seed round to improve privacy authentication
This list was compiled using information from Messari as well as TechCrunch's own reports.
Follow me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for the latest crypto news, memes, and more.