RootData April data summary: The number of fundraising in primary market hits a new low, mining and listed companies' financing has become the mainstream

Author: RootData

1. Financing data

In April, the total financing amount in the crypto primary market was US$685 million, a year-on-year decrease of 37.7%, and the number of financing projects was 65, continuing to set a new low since February 2021. Although the overall market financing amount approached US$3 billion due to Binance's US$2 billion financing in March, this still cannot change the overall decline of the market.

In terms of primary market financing, the largest financing (US$153 million) comes from blockchain and artificial intelligence infrastructure [Auradine](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Auradine?k=Nzg3NA== "Network infrastructure solutions") , one of the company's main businesses is the production of diversified Bitcoin mining, including air-cooled, immersed and water-cooled mining machines. The second ones are Layerzero ($55 million), Blackbird ($50 million) and Nous Research ($50 million).

However, if the nature of the financing is expanded to all financings, including debt financing and Post-IPO financing, the overall financing amount in April will exceed US$1.5 billion. For example, Sol Strategies completed a $500 million Post-IPO financing, Upexi completed a $100 million Post-IPO financing, and Bitdeer completed a $60 million debt financing.

These financings are mainly initiated by listed companies and are carried out in the form of convertible bonds. They are mainly used to purchase Bitcoin mining machines or directly invest in Bitcoin. The exit path of investment is clearer or the cash flow is more stable, which makes more and more funds flow to this field.

Based on this trend, many companies are also actively promoting IPO plans. In the past one or two months, Circle, Galaxy Digital, Bithumb, Kraken, Antalpha, Gemini and other companies have disclosed clear listing plans.

In terms of mergers and acquisitions, the number of mergers and acquisitions in April was 7, down more than 40% month-on-month. Ripple acquired cryptocurrency-friendly broker Hidden Road for US$1.25 billion, creating a historical record of the value of crypto projects being acquired.

2. VC dynamics

In April, the most active investors in the crypto primary market werea16z , Coinbase Ventures , and Hack VCs. The number of investments was more than 5, while there were less than 30 VC funds with 2 or more investments. This reflects the overall dissatisfaction of crypto VCs in the primary market, and many well-known funds have stopped investing.

On April 19, ABCDE co-founder Du Jun said that the fund has officially stopped investing in new projects and suspended the fundraising plan of the second phase of the fund. The original team will continue to be responsible for the post-investment support and exit arrangements for existing projects to ensure that commitments to entrepreneurs and LPs can be fulfilled conscientiously. His personal work focus will also gradually shift from financial investment in the primary market to a direction dominated by strategic investment and combined with in-depth incubation, and focus more on industrial collaboration and long-term value creation.

Of course, many funds have disclosed the progress of fundraising this month. According to Bloomberg, Galaxy Ventures Fund I LP, a subsidiary of Galaxy Digital, has exceeded its original fundraising target of US$150 million and is expected to complete its final closure at the end of June of 175 million to US$180 million. The fund focuses on early-stage startup projects with a focus on payments and stablecoins.

Re7 Capital announced the establishment of a $10 million SocialFi special fund aimed at investing in about 30 early stage projects. The first round of funds has completed 60% subscription.

At the end of the month, ether.fi announced the launch of the crypto- native venture fund ether.fi Ventures, a crypto-native venture fund, with a size of US$40 million, and is partnered by David Hsu, former investor of Breed VC. Previously, ether.fi has invested in Resolv, Rise Chain, and Symbiotic.

In early April, Mantra also announced the launch of a $108 million ecological fund, planning to screen investment opportunities through its partner network and deploy funds to "high-potential blockchain projects" worldwide. The fund's backers include Laser Digital, Shorooq, Brevan Howard Digital, Valor Capital, Three Point Capital and Amber Group. But as its token OM price collapses in the middle and late quarters, the size and future sustainability of the fund are questionable.

On April 22, Astra Fintech, a global blockchain payment service provider, announced the establishment of a $100 million fund to support the development of the Solana ecosystem in Asia. The fund will operate in South Korea and will mainly invest in projects developing payment finance (PayFi) solutions and promote collaboration with developers, businesses and regulators.

The overall decline in encryption VC has also led to the exit of more and more VC investors. This month, RootData recorded the departures of dozens of senior executives at VC organizations, including BlockTower Capital partner David Burke, Pantera Capital research partner Matthew Stephenson, Paradigm research partner samczsun, Polychain investor relations director Nicole Zahrah Civitello, Galaxy general partner Dan Zuller, Dragonfly partner Ani Pai, and others.

Meanwhile, VC organizations such as ParaFi Capital, Systemic Ventures, Franklin Templeton, 1kx, and 1confirmation have recruited new executives to join.

3. Project dynamics

In April, the 10 most searched projects on RootData were Huma Finance, Babylon, Initia, Sui, Monad, Gensyn, StakeStone, Hyperlane, Axiom, and Towns. Popular projects are mainly distributed in PayFi, Layer1, AI and other tracks.

At the same time, projects that go online to the main network include Initia, [Immutable Ratings](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Immutable%20Ratings?k=MTczMDY= "Decentralized comment platform") , [Loopscale](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Loopscale?k=MzE1NA== "Solana Capital Markets Agreement") , [subs.fun](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/subs.fun?k=MTY5MDQ= "Tokenization forum using AI proxy") , [Hive Intelligence](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Hive%20Intelligence?k=MTU1NjE= "Infrastructure of artificial intelligence agents") , [Felix](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Felix?k=MTU0Njc= "Synthetic Dollar Agreement on Hyperliquid") , [Glow Finance](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Glow%20Finance?k=MTczMDE= "Decentralized margin trading agreement") , [Haven1](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Haven1?k=MTA4NzU= "EVM L1 Blockchain") and other projects. Projects that go online to the test network include [Soul](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Soul?k=MTI4NjM= "Cross-chain lending solutions") , [R2 Protocol](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/R2%20Protocol?k=MTYzNDY= "RWAFi Platform") , etc.

New items worth noting this month include:

[Ethereum R1](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Ethereum%20R1?k=MTc0MzY= "A new Rollup based on Ethereum's core value") : A new Rollup based on Ethereum’s core values

[ZAMM](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/ZAMM?k=MTc0NTY= "Decentralized transaction agreement") : Decentralized Transaction Agreement

[Antifun](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Antifun?k=MTc0NjQ= "Token startup platform") : Designed to eliminate sniper and MEV token launch platform

[Hold.Money](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Hold.Money?k=MTc0NDQ= "Privacy-oriented encryption card") : Privacy-protecting encryption card

[SolFi](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/SolFi?k=MTc0Mzc= "Solana Liquidity Agreement") : Solana Liquidity Agreement

[Rescue.meme](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Rescue.meme?k=MTc0NDM= "MEME launch platform focused on stray pet rescue") : Manta Network launches a MEME launch platform focused on stray pet rescue

[Rhythm](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Rhythm?k=MTc0NTc= "Quantitative trading platform") : Encrypted quantitative trading platform

[Senpi](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Senpi?k=MTczOTg= "GPT for on-chain transactions") : Artificial intelligence for on-chain transactions

[MyCryptoProtocol](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/MyCryptoProtocol?k=MTczNTE= "AI Intelligent Coordination Layer") : AI Intelligent Coordination Layer

[Politiswap](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Politiswap?k=MTczMzc= "Political Trading App") : Political Transaction App

[o1.exchange](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/o1.exchange?k=MTczNzY= "AI-driven DEX trading") : AI-driven DEX trading

[Communa.world](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Communa.world?k=MTczNTU= "Platform for RWA ecosystem") : A platform for the RWA ecosystem

[babbleOS](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/babbleOS?k=MTcyOTQ= "Artificial Intelligence System") : Artificial Intelligence System

[Buzzing Club](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/Buzzing%20Club?k=MTcyODg= "AI-driven forecasting market") : A protocol to convert viral content into predictive markets using AI

[weeb.fun](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/weeb.fun?k=MTcyNDM= "memecoins trading and publishing platform") : A platform to launch and trade memecoin with friends

[MyStonks](https://www.rootdata.com/zh/Projects/detail/MyStonks?k=MTcyNTA= "Digital Asset Trading Platform") : a decentralized digital asset trading platform