Crypto VC Investments Drop 26% in First Half of 2022

Venture capital (VC) investments in crypto companies were down 26% in the first half of the year, a period hit by cryptocurrency price drops, the collapse of the terraUSD stablecoin and liquidity crises faced by crypto lender Celsius and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.

• Investments in crypto companies totaled $9.3 billion in the first six months of 2022, down from the record $12.5 billion in the first half of last year, according to Crunchbase data.
• Deal flow actually increased year-over-year from 456 deals to 534 deals, indicating that smaller deal sizes helped drive the lower overall investments.
• Second quarter deals totaled more than $4.2 billion, roughly flat compared to the same period last year and only down $1 billion from the first quarter.
• Venture capital investments are down across multiple industries due to the global bear market. Overall VC deals in the U.S. were down 22% year-over-year to $123.1 billion in the first half of the year, according to GlobalData.
• Crypto investments faced particularly difficult comparisons due to their strength last year, which included a record $6.1 billion in investments during the fourth quarter.
• The broader pullback didn’t stop Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) from launching a record-breaking $4.5 billion crypto fund in May.

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