Crypto and Blockchain Startups Raise $19 Billion in 2021

There is no denying the fact that the crypto space has enjoyed more mainstream adoption and acceptance this year than in previous times. This is more confirmed in recent data shared by data firm Pitchbook which showed that startups in the blockchain space have received around $19 billion from investors. To put this in perspective, the space was only able to attract $6.4 billion in the whole of 2020.

Just recently, two startups in NFT, Dapper Labs and Sorare, were able to raise almost $1 billion from investors within a week. According to our report, Dapper Labs, the team behind the popular NBA Top Shot was able to raise $250 million. Sorare, on the other hand, famous for its digital player cards, was able to generate $680 million from investors.

Interestingly, investors in the crypto and blockchain startups range from traditional financial institutions like Goldman Sachs, crypto investments ventures like Kraken Ventures and even football stars like Rio Ferdinand.

According to the CEO and co-founder of Sorare, Nicolas Julia, NFTs generally create more utility value than the average collectible in the physical world. In his words “when we think about the collectables in the physical world, most of them have no utility value. You put them in an album, and that’s nice, but it’s limiting. When you translate it to NFTs in the digital world, there are many more things that you can do, like using them in a game, for instance. But you also have provable scarcity, which is very appealing to collectors.”

This view is corroborated by Raj Bagadi, the CEO of Scallop who said “the NFT world is a flourishing new market, and with it comes incredible opportunity. The growth trajectory of NFTs has been exponential. It is driven by rarity to an extent. NFTs are no longer limited to art.”

Away from NFTs, we also reported that Blockdaemon, a blockchain infrastructure startup was able to raise $155 million from investors. Another crypto startup, One River Digital, attracted as much as $41 million in funding. Interestingly, these were reported just yesterday.

What this points to is that the blockchain and crypto industry is thriving and that digital assets have become increasingly mainstream.

Most of these startups also usually tend to push their new investment funding towards improving their marketing, infrastructure, staff, and services. This way, it is believed that they would be able to push crypto adoption beyond its current level whilst also improving the quality of services in the space.

“There is room for added growth and enhancement in the blockchain space. The general consensus is that the technology of the future will be decentralized. The groundbreaking and key protocols in development today will play a vital role in shaping that future,” our report reads in part.