Sequoia and a16z join $1.2bn pile-in for crypto projects as January marks ‘new era’

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VCs are backmost backing crypto projects.
Investors poured astir $1.2 cardinal into the assemblage successful January, a 63% summation from 2024.
Experts expect full investments to surge to $18 cardinal successful 2025.

Venture superior giants are seizing connected optimism that has sent crypto prices soaring.

Just weeks into 2025, investors including Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, and Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto portion person piled astir $1.2 cardinal into 79 projects successful the crypto and blockchain sectors.

That’s a 63% summation from January 2024, according to DefiLlama data.

“It’s a caller epoch for crypto, and VCs are excited by the adjacent procreation of startups being founded successful the space,” Justin Barlow, task spouse astatine Faction VC and an angel investor, told DL News.

The information comes arsenic PitchBook analysts told DL News they predicted that VCs volition determination immoderate $18 cardinal into the assemblage this year, up from the $9.9 cardinal yearly mean of 2023 and 2024.

“There is inactive country to spell successful early-stage markets,” Alex Botte, spouse astatine Hack VC, told DL News.

She noted that investments are inactive beneath the levels seen during the tallness of 2022 highs, but that investments whitethorn transcend those eventually.

This marks a alteration from erstwhile years.

Large generalist VCs firms “mostly avoided the space” amid scandals and blowups from 2022, but this twelvemonth volition spot investors instrumentality successful force, Galaxy Digital said successful a December report.

President Donald Trump’s pro-crypto stance is simply a cardinal driver.

The manufacture and its backers expect regulators to easiness up connected their crypto crackdown and instrumentality much sector-friendly laws.

“With a much favourable SEC, we expect to spot less enforcement actions, much regulatory clarity, and an accrued likelihood for blockchain businesses to beryllium capable to spell nationalist successful the US,” Mike Giampapa, wide spouse astatine Galaxy Ventures, told DL News successful December.

DefiLlama’s concern tracker doesn’t conscionable way accepted VC raises.

For example, token income similar Trump-linked World Liberty Financial completed a nationalist merchantability of 20% of its tokens — netting the task a sum of $300m million.

These were the 10 biggest raises successful January:

Phantom

Amount raised: $150 million

Investors: Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, a16z crypto and Variant.

Komainu

Amount raised: $75 million

Investors: Blockstream Capital Partners

Sygnum

Amount raised: $58 million

Investors: Fulgur Venture

VOOX

Amount raised: $50 million

Investors: Pinnacle Capital

D3 Global

Amount raised: $25 million

Investors: Paradigm

Irreducible

Amount raised: $24 million

Investors: Paradigm, Bain Capital Crypto, Fenbushi Capital, L2 Iterative Ventures, Robot Ventures, Anna Rose, Brendan Farmer, Daniel Lubarov, Sina Habibian, and Varun Srinivasan.

1Money Network

Amount raised: $20 million

Investors: F-Prime Capital, Galaxy Ventures, Hack VC, Tribe Capital, Portage, Ethereal Ventures, CMT Digital, Kraken Ventures, KuCoin Ventures, BitGo Ventures, Bing Ventures, MoonPay Ventures, CoinFlip, Bankless Ventures, Perry Creek Capital, A100x Ventures, VARIV, Anagram, Generative Ventures, Lvna Capital, Ambush Capital, Borderless Capital, Pharsalus Capital, Protagonist, gumi Cryptos Capital, Hexa Capital, Karman Ventures, and R3D3 Ventures.