2024 Q1 Sees Significant Surge in Crypto Fundraising; Startups Gain $2.4B

• PitchBook reveals 2024 Q1’s substantial increase in crypto fundraising, with startups accumulating $2.4 billion.
• Ethereum’s EigenLayer has raised $100 million in a Series B funding round.
• Together AI secures the largest deal of the quarter, raising a $106.0 million early-stage round.

According to the latest insights from market data aggregator PitchBook , the first quarter of 2024 has seen a substantial surge in crypto fundraising. The report unveiled that Ethereum’s restaking platform, EigenLayer , has led the charge, raising $100 million in Series B funding round.

PitchBook revealed that the $2.4 billion fund accumulated by startups across 518 deals marks a 40.3% increase from the previous quarter. In addition, the platform pointed out that the figure represents “a 44.7% increase in deal volume compared with the last quarter.”

The report further spotted the significant achievement of Together AI, “developer of an open-source, decentralized cloud platform for large foundation models.” As per the report, Together AI secured the largest deal of the quarter, raising a $106.0 million early-stage round “led by Salesforce Ventures at a $1.1 billion pre-money valuation.” The round follows a $102.5 million Series A at a pre-money valuation of $463.5 million in the last quarter.

Shedding light on the segment’s fast growth, PitchBook asserted that investment rounds became “highly competitive.” Highlighting the high spirit of investment rounds, especially at the early stages, the platform added, “Early-stage deals are earning higher valuations than late-stage deals, but the sample set is relatively small, so we will see if this trend holds in the coming quarters.”

Adding more insights into the matter, PitchBoook elaborated on the median pre-money valuations for all stages. While in the pre-seed/ seed stage, the valuation marked $21.8 million, it was a staggering $72 million in the early stage. In the late stage, the valuation went down to $51.1 million. These valuations were substantially up from 2023, “representing YoY increases of 85.5%, 148.3%, and 7.6%, respectively.”