Over $6 billion was invested in blockchain startups by 40 public companies from September 2021 to June 2022, according to CB Insights.
Available data indicates that Google’s parent company Alphabet took the highest bet of $1.5 billion into 4 startups, including DapperLabs.
Institutional hedge fund manager BlackRock followed suit with $1.17 billion, while Wall Street giants Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs invested $1.1 billion and $698 million, respectively.
Samsung was the most active investor during the period, having participated in 13 investment rounds. United Overseas Bank (UOB) led 7 rounds, while Citibank closed 6 deals.
Concentrated vs diversified bets
Many of the companies under review chose to make concentrated bets, while a few, like Samsung, adopted a diversified approach to their investments.
Out of the $477 million committed by Microsoft to two startups during the period, 94% ($450 million) went in for the ConsenSys deal. Alphabet on its part took a bet on 4 startups with $550 million invested in Fireblocks.
On the other end, a more diversified company like Samsung shared its $979 million across 13 blockchain startups. UOB, with an investment of $204 million, funded 7 startups, including Yield Guild Games.
NFT solutions getting more attention
A look into the use cases investors were interested in showed that Non-fungible tokens (NFT) services received more funding.
61 blockchain startups were considered for investment, of which 19 were focused on building NFT solutions. About 63% of the solutions were marketplaces, supporting the buying and selling of NFTs.
Custody solution providers received a total of $1.4 billion. Fire blocks, Circle and Anchorage Digital were named to have received $550 million, $550 million, and $350 million, respectively.
Venture capital also investing
A similar report published by Pitchbook indicated that $17.5 billion was invested in crypto startups during the first half of 2022. Venture capital poured $9.85 billion into crypto during the first quarter, while the second quarter recorded $6.75 billion.
More recently, venture capital firm Pantera led a $65 million Series A funding round to help NFT domain provider Unstoppable Domain reach a $1 billion valuation.
