Blockchain startups raised $822 million combined in H1 2019

Investments • July 2, 2019, 7:37AM EDT

UPDATED: July 2, 2019, 11:03AM EDT

Blockchain startups have raised a total of $822 million during the first half of this year, according to a report from venture capital firm Outlier Ventures.

The firm published its State of Blockchains Q2 report on Monday, saying that the amount was raised from 279 separate venture capital deals. Out of those 279, 159 deals were seed stage ones. “This indicates that entrepreneurial zeal in the ecosystem has not declined in spite of the bear market.”

Outlier further said that enterprises are no longer building proofs of concepts, but are rather launching fully developed open-source projects. For instance, EY, JP Morgan and Target have each released open-source code over the past six months, it said.

“Compared to the outsized performance of the 2018 bull market, large venture capital raises within the blockchain space have diminished in frequency," said Lawrence Lundy-Bryan, partner and research head at Outlier Ventures. "However, cryptocurrency exchanges despite increased regulatory activity continue to be a strong favourite for investors - Bithumb exchange alone raised $200 million."

Lundy-Bryan added that another macro-trend Outlier is witnessing is direct investments into protocols in exchange for both tokens and equity. "Exchange Listings in the form of Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) have begun capturing public attention over the first half of this year. They are a resurgence of the ICO model, with exchanges offering immediate liquidity to digital asset holders through a listing,” he said.

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