Crypto Projects Raise Over $600M in September 2024

In total, crypto startups raised $668 million from various venture funds. However, with several rounds not publicly disclosed, the actual fundraising for September could well surpass $1 billion!

In this report:

• The crypto projects that secured the largest investments in September;
• The top crypto narratives and sectors that captured VC interest;
• The most active crypto venture funds on the market.

We also cover September’s fundraising activities, analyzing investment distribution across regions, funding rounds, capital raised, and more. 

Why Analyze VC Fund Activity?

In addition to studying project whitepapers, identifying early-stage platform opportunities, and analyzing trade notes, tracking fund activity is one of the most critical strategies for cryptocurrency investors. Venture capital (VC) actions in specific projects, sectors, or ecosystems can serve as strong indicators of future potential.

For example, this approach proved effective in 2019 for investors in the GameFi sector, where significant VC activity was noted. Venture capital not only signals high potential for future growth but can also act as a catalyst, often resembling a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A prime example is the success of leading gaming projects like The Sandbox and Axie Infinity, which attracted major investors even before their public token sales. If you had noticed this interest early on, you would have had a solid chance of benefiting from their success.

The Sandbox raised $1.86 million in a pre-sale round, $600,000 in a private round, and $2.5 million in an undisclosed funding round. While the dates for the first two rounds remain unknown, the last took place on May 23, 2019.

At that point, the SAND token hadn’t launched yet, meaning it couldn’t be bought or sold. However, even tracking this early fund activity could have tipped you off to purchase the token during its IEO (Initial Exchange Offering) or after its exchange listing.

Looking further, the Series B funding round after the TGE (Token Generation Event) on November 2, 2021, saw the project raise $93 million. This event marked the beginning of a massive price surge, with SAND tripling in value.

From the chart, it’s clear that investors who acted on price movement alone, without considering fund activity, may still be in the red.

Following the Series B announcement, SAND briefly dipped before tripling. Source: tradingview.com

Axie Infinity raised $1.5 million in a seed round on November 7, 2019, and $7.5 million during its Series A round on May 11, 2021. By the time of the latter, AXS had already held its IEO and was trading on major exchanges.

If you had purchased $100 worth of AXS tokens at the time of the Series A announcement, your investment could have grown to $2,200.

AXS dropped by 75% shortly after the Series A announcement, only to surge 22 times higher. Source: tradingview.com

While increased VC activity doesn’t guarantee a token's success or ecosystem growth, closely monitoring fund involvement significantly improves an investor’s chances of being in the right place at the right time.

September Fundraising Overview

According to data from CryptoRank, $668 million was raised between September 1st and 30th across 107 funding rounds. Of these, 69 disclosed their investment amounts, while the rest remained confidential.

Here’s how the funds were distributed across 10 key categories:

• DeFi (Decentralized Finance) – $172.7M: This category includes staking solutions, cross-chain protocols, dApp platforms, and various other crypto finance products.
• Blockchains – $164.7M: Projects focused on building or expanding decentralized networks, including Layer 1, Layer 2, and Layer 3 blockchains.
• Blockchain Services – $145.04M: Solutions built on blockchain technology, such as AI-driven platforms, analytics tools, crypto wallets, and security products.
• GameFi (Decentralized Gaming) – $80.35M: Blockchain-based games or projects in the Play-to-Earn, Learn-to-Earn, and other X-to-Earn sectors.
• SocialFi – $55M: Decentralized social networks built on Web 3.0, offering freedom of speech and censorship resistance. Typically, users only need a crypto wallet to register.
• CeFi (Centralized Finance) – $18.8M: Centralized projects within the crypto industry, mainly represented by cryptocurrency exchanges.
• Blockchain Infrastructure – $14.64M: Projects aimed at improving blockchain infrastructure and enhancing user experience within blockchain networks.
• NFT – $8M: Applications that enhance the NFT space, including NFT collections, marketplaces, and technical solutions for NFT creation.
• Stablecoins – $6M: Cryptocurrencies backed by traditional assets (like gold, the US dollar, or other cryptocurrencies), along with solutions for their proper functioning.
• Currency – $3M: Projects that focus on facilitating crypto transactions, including transfers and payments for goods and services.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) emerged as the top-funded category in September. Interestingly, in August, it held second place behind blockchain services. This shift could be attributed to the growing popularity of airdrops.

On the other hand, blockchain infrastructure projects hit a record low in funding for September, ranking 7th. Throughout the summer of 2024, this category consistently ranked in the top 3.

September Funding Distribution by Category. Source: cryptorank.io

Among the September funding rounds, only two exceeded $50 million: Celestia and Infinex. By comparison, there were five such rounds in the previous month.

Here's how the remaining rounds were distributed:

• $20–$50 million – 6 rounds
• $10–$20 million – 6 rounds
• $3–$10 million – 32 rounds
• $1–$3 million – 19 rounds
• Under $1 million – 4 rounds

Compared to August, September's funding patterns are largely consistent. Most of August's rounds also fell in the $3–$10 million range, followed by rounds in the $1–$3 million and $10–$20 million categories.

The top 5 funds by the number of funding rounds in September were Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) (11 rounds), Animoca Brands (7 rounds), Robot Ventures (6 rounds), Hack VC (4 rounds), and Aptos (5 rounds). Others in the top 10 include Borderless Capital, Anagram Crypto, Framework Ventures, Solana Ventures, and Folius Ventures. 

September 2024 Funding Rounds by Top Venture Funds. Source: cryptorank.io

Andreessen Horowitz led the list, participating in 11 rounds. Of these, 5 were in blockchain services, 3 in GameFi, 2 in blockchain infrastructure, and 1 in DeFi.

Celestia Foundation Raises $100 Million in Latest Funding Round

On September 23, 2024, Celestia Foundation, the team behind the modular blockchain Celestia, secured $100 million in its fourth funding round. Notable venture capital firms involved include Bain Capital Crypto, Robot Ventures, 1kx, Syncracy Capital, and Placeholder Ventures.

With this round, Celestia’s total funding has reached an impressive $155 million.

Celestia Funding Overview. Source: cryptorank.io

Following the announcement, Celestia’s native token, TIA, saw a spike of over 30%. Earlier in the year, Celestia executed one of the largest airdrops, distributing tokens to 580,000 users. TIA stakers also have opportunities to earn rewards from ecosystem projects like Movement Labs, Eclipse, and Hyperlane.

Related: “Top 3 Staking Coins with Potential Airdrops”

Celestia Mainnet launched on October 31, 2023, and within a year, the blockchain has emerged as a leader in the modular blockchain sector. However, competition in this space remains strong, with key rivals including EigenDA from EigenLayer and Avail from Polygon.

Recently, Celestia published its scaling roadmap, and the recent $100 million funding is seen by many in the community as a critical step toward realizing the ambitious goals laid out in the roadmap.

Celestia’s Roadmap. Source: celestia.org

The long-term vision for Celestia is to scale its block size to 1 GB, which the team believes will dramatically speed up transaction processing. This would position Celestia as a serious competitor to traditional payment systems like Visa, which handles 24,000 TPS.

Infinex Raises $65 Million Through Patron NFT Sale

DeFi platform Infinex has secured $65 million through an innovative method—selling Patron NFTs. This approach resembles an ICO token sale, but instead of purchasing native tokens, users acquire non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

According to project founder Kain Warwick, traditional venture capital models often favor large investors, allowing them to enter projects early and reap significantly larger profits compared to retail investors.

Related: “What Are Investment DAOs and How Do They Work?”

The Patron NFT sale took place over four waves, lasting a total of 14 days. Investors included both retail participants and major crypto companies, such as Wintermute Ventures, Wormhole, and prominent figures like Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko and Ethereum Foundation researcher Tim Beiko.

Drift Protocol Raises $25 Million to Advance DeFi Trading

The DeFi derivatives platform Drift Protocol raised $25 million in a Series B funding round led by Multicoin Capital, a Tier-1 venture fund. Additional participants in the round included Blockchain Capital, Folius Ventures, Maelstrom, and Primitive.

Built on the Solana blockchain, Drift Protocol offers a diverse range of trading pairs and supports cross-margin trading. According to representatives from Multicoin Capital, Drift is positioned to evolve into a “SuperApp” within the DeFi space.

Drift allows the creation of any DeFi derivative instrument, enabling traders to hedge positions across a variety of markets, including cryptocurrencies, forex, prediction markets, and commodities—all on the Drift platform.

As of this writing, Drift ranks 4th among DeFi derivatives platforms with a Total Value Locked (TVL) of $385 million, following GMX, Hyperliquid, and Jupiter.

Drift’s TVL Ranking Among Top DeFi Derivatives Platforms. Source: defillama.com

The project is governed by a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), using its native DRIFT token. Following the announcement of the fundraising, the DRIFT token saw a modest price increase of 7.6%.

Final Thoughts

In addition to major fundraising rounds from Tune.FM ($50 million), Huma Finance ($38 million), and Balance ($30 million), The Open Network, supported by Telegram, raised $30 million in a round led by Tier 3 fund Foresight Ventures.

September saw the highest VC activity in the United States, where 215 crypto funds are registered, collectively investing $97.8 million.

Top Crypto Jurisdictions by VC Activity. Source: cryptorank.io

As autumn begins, venture capitalists are returning from their summer break, possibly signaling a renewed interest in the crypto market. It will be interesting to see how this trend develops in October.

Want to stay ahead of the curve? Subscribe to our Telegram to be the first to read our October VC Recap and never miss an update!