Sluggish Start to Q4
Weekly Recap
Q4 has represented the least funded quarter in each of the past two years, and two weeks into this year, the trend is on pace to remain intact. The first week of the fourth quarter was one of the least funded weeks all year, with just $11 million raised across eight deals. Although not overly impressive, funding rebounded this week to $120 million across 21 deals. Concentration in the Infrastructure category continues to present itself as a recurring theme, representing 74% of this week’s funding and 62% of the deal count. Gaming was the second most funded category, which included a $10 million Seed round completed by PiP World, which is aspiring to become the “Duolingo of crypto” through a gamified educational experience.
Seed rounds led fundraising and deal counts among disclosed deals, representing 29% of total funding and 33% of total deal count. Three strategic rounds were completed this week, including #TON raising $10 million from Gate.io. The crypto exchange plans to deepen its involvement and governance of the network and contribute to its ongoing development.
Funding by Category
Funding by Stage
Deal of the Week
Yala Finance raised $8 million i...Reports you may have missed
MARKET UPDATE Markets are selling off in the first day of Q4, fueled by geopolitical fears as tensions rise in the mid-east. The SPY -0.09% and QQQ -0.15% have dropped 1.14% and 1.92%, respectively, while the VIX has surged over 17%. XAU and DXY are gaining as investors move towards safe-havens. Crypto assets have also sold off, with BTC 4.29% briefly dropping below $62k and ETH 0.09% below $2.5k. Among altcoins, SUI -5.49% is showing...
WEEKLY RECAP Weekly funding increased 67% from $100 million to $167 million, while the deal count rose a modest 8% from 26 to 28. Infrastructure was the clear winner this week, raising $110 million across 14 deals, representing two-thirds of total funding and half of the total deal count. There were two CeFi deals totaling $9 million in funding, which remains a laggard category, tallying only 55 deals so far...
CRYPTO MARKET UPDATE The most notable market development over the past 24 hours has been the sharp increase in rate cut probabilities for next week’s FOMC meeting. After falling to just a 14% likelihood of a 50bps cut, the odds jumped to over 40% in after-hours trading following a large trade betting on two cuts. This shift may be linked to the optimism around the potential for two cuts conveyed...
MARKET UPDATE Equity indices are relatively flat in Tuesday’s trading, with the SPY -0.09% and QQQ -0.15% decreasing about 0.10%. Crypto is showing slight declines, with BTC 4.29% trading around $57k and ETH 0.09% trading in the mid $2,300s. TON 160.46% has been a top performer this week as founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been released from French authorities, and he delivered a statement addressing the situation. TON 160.46% has gained 9.17% so far this...