DeFi Lending Attracts VC Backing Despite Sharp Drop in Crypto Fundraising

Despite heavy losses in VC funding across the crypto sector at large, DeFi lending firms saw a more than 50% increase in fundraising during April.

A report published by venture capital research firm, Ana.vc, has revealed a 57% decline in crypto funding from VCs over the month of April.

Despite the decline in overall investment, the decentralized lending sector appears to still be flourishing — raising 150% of its March total.

Crypto fundraising plummets during April

The report excludes Bakkt’s raise, identifying 32 disclosed deals valued at nearly $50 million in total, down from $117 million last month.

“Crypto winter isn’t over and is not entirely immune to macro economic trends as [the] majority of the deals are done in equity,” the report asserts.

Ava.vc found that decentralized finance and fintech, or DeFi, continues to dominate overall funding, garnering almost 40% of the monthly total raised by the crypto sector for the second consecutive month.

The second-largest segment of the crypto sector by total raise was firms building blockchain infrastructure with 12.9%, followed by enterprise with 9.7%, and marketplace with 6.5%.

Investment activity increases around DeFi lending

While most sectors within crypto saw heavy losses in overall fundraising during April, DeFi lending startups saw a 56% increase capital raised — up to $4.84 million from $3.1 million in March.

The gain in equity deals despite the total raised across the DeFi sector falling nearly 60% from $46.21 million to $19.35 million.

Within DeFi, Payment firms were the hardest hit in terms of percentage — falling from 82.6% from $9.24 million in March to $1.61 million.

However, exchanges saw the largest total drop in fundraising, falling from the largest DeFi segment with $12.34 million to just 3.23% — a drop of 73.8%.

Despite media hype, blockchain games close no deals in April

Nearly half of the fundraising took place in the United States, with over 80% of deals closing in the U.S., U.K., and Europe.

The report notes that despite significant hype surrounding blockchain-based gaming platforms from crypto media, no blockchain gaming companies were able to close funding deals during April.