Web3 startups pulled in $9.6 billion in venture capital during the second quarter of 2025, the second-highest quarterly total on record, even as the number of deals dropped to a multi-year low.
Key Takeaways:
- Web3 startups raised $9.6B in Q2 2025 despite deal volume hitting a multi-year low.
- Investors are favoring fewer, larger rounds in infrastructure-focused sectors like validator networks and compute.
- Private token sales surged while public sales plunged, reflecting a shift toward strategic, institutional-led fundraising.
According to Outlier Ventures’ latest report, just 306 deals were disclosed during Q2, the fewest since mid-2023.
However, median deal sizes rose across all stages, signaling a shift toward higher conviction, infrastructure-focused bets.
Web3 Funding Shifts to Fewer, Bigger Bets on Core Infrastructure
Outlier’s report suggests the market is maturing: investors are now favoring fewer, larger rounds for foundational projects over broad exposure to early-stage speculation.
Series A funding, long sluggish in the post-bear market environment, saw a sharp rebound. The median Series A round rose to $17.6 million across 27 deals totaling $420 million, the highest since early 2022.
Seed rounds also bounced back, with a $6.6 million median, while pre-seed held steady at $2.35 million.
Infrastructure led the charge in capital raised. Cryptocurrency infrastructure startups saw a median round of $112 million, followed by Mining & Validation at $83 million, and Compute Networks at $70 million.
These sectors attracted concentrated interest from funds prioritizing long-term scalability and backbone technologies, including validator networks, rollup layers, and compute primitives for AI-aligned consensus models.
By contrast, consumer-facing sectors such as marketplaces and entertainment posted moderate deal sizes and limited momentum.
Investor focus has shifted decisively toward infra-for-consumer plays, high-functionality platforms bridging tech depth and end-user experience.
Token fundraising showed a bifurcated trend. Private token sales raised $410 million across just 15 deals, the strongest private performance since 2021, driven by strategic treasury deals and rollup ecosystems.
Public token sales, however, fell 83% from the previous quarter to $134 million, as retail appetite waned.
Outlier Ventures described the trend as “capital consolidation around the rails of the next cycle.”
Pure Crypto’s First Fund Soars Nearly 1,000%
As reported, Pure Crypto, a relatively quiet player in the digital asset space based outside Chicago, has turned heads after revealing its flagship fund has surged nearly 1,000% since its inception in 2018.
What began as a crypto experiment within a traditional wealth management firm is now a $60 million fund, backed by a sharp strategy and family office capital.
Founded by Jeremy Boynton, who also runs Laureate Wealth Management, and managed alongside partner Zachary Lindquist, Pure Crypto has grown into a $100 million crypto-focused fund of funds.
The duo is now preparing to raise capital for their fourth fund, which they say will ride what they see as the final wave of venture-style returns in crypto.
“We think this is maybe the last hurrah in the venture capital-esque nature of crypto returns,” Boynton said.
As regulation solidifies, such as the recent stablecoin bill signed into law by former President Donald Trump, and major corporations explore integrating digital currencies, they see the wild west days of outsized gains coming to a close.
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