Key Takeaways

• In October, total Web3 funding reached $1.893 billion, soaring 211.79% year-over-year and 324.26% month-over-month.
• Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge marked the largest acquisition in the cryptocurrency industry to date.
• The infrastructure sector led in funding amounts, closely followed by DeFi, highlighting investor focus on foundational technology and financial innovation.
• Funding primarily concentrated on small and medium-sized projects, with those raising $1–3 million claiming the largest share at 26%.
• Seed and Pre-Seed stage projects held the highest proportion of funding rounds.
• Animoca Brands emerged as the most active investment firm in October.

Funding Overview

According to RootData, October 2024 witnessed a substantial increase in total Web3 funding, despite a slight decrease in the number of deals. Web3 companies secured 97 investments totaling $1.893 billion—a 211.79% year-over-year increase and a 324.26% month-over-month surge. This remarkable growth was primarily driven by Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, marking the largest acquisition in the cryptocurrency industry to date. [1]

Large-scale funding deals drove the substantial increase in October’s total funding. Stripe’s $1.1 billion acquisition of Bridge, which included the Web3 infrastructure platform Triangle, marked the largest funding project of the month. Additionally, Bitcoin infrastructure developer Blockstream completed a $210 million convertible debt financing round led by Fulgur Ventures. These two significant deals far exceeded September’s largest funding (Celestia’s $100 million), underscoring institutional interest in leading projects and Web3 infrastructure development. [2]

The top 10 projects by funding amount in October were:

According to RootData, infrastructure and DeFi remained the most attractive sectors for investors. Infrastructure led the pack, securing $240 million in funding. Among October’s top 10 large funding events, several blockchain infrastructure projects—including Blockstream, Glow, Nillion, Atlas, and Ithaca—stood out. This trend reflects investor confidence in blockchain’s foundational technology and infrastructure development. DeFi followed closely behind, securing $99.1 million in funding. Other sectors, such as gaming, CeFi, and social entertainment, also drew significant investments. Notably, the decentralized social media platform Bluesky raised $15 million, signaling a deeper exploration of blockchain technology in the social media space.

Based on data from 77 projects with disclosed funding sizes in October, 60% of the projects raised between $1 million and $10 million. Of these, projects securing between $1 million and $3 million represented the highest share at 26%, followed by those raising $5 million to $10 million at 23%. This suggests that the cryptocurrency funding market in October was still primarily focused on small to medium-sized projects.

In terms of funding stages, out of 60 projects with disclosed funding rounds, Seed and Pre-Seed stages accounted for the largest shares, at 33% and 15%, respectively. This indicates that the cryptocurrency funding market in October remained focused on early-stage projects, with many at the seed or angel funding stage.

According to RootData, Animoca Brands emerged as the most active investor in October, participating in 10 funding rounds. The company’s investment strategy showed remarkable diversity, extending beyond GameFi to encompass DeFi, infrastructure, AI, and other sectors. In contrast, other investment firms adopted a more cautious approach during the month, concentrating their efforts primarily on infrastructure projects.

Key Funded Projects in October

Bridge

Overview: Bridge is a global digital asset liquidity platform based on stablecoins. It provides developers with flexible integration tools through an open API, enabling innovative financial applications based on stablecoins. Bridge supports seamless conversion between fiat currencies and stablecoins while achieving interoperability of various crypto assets across different blockchain networks. With strong security measures and a rigorous compliance framework, Bridge offers secure, efficient, and convenient cross-border payment solutions, driving innovation in the global digital economy. [3]

On October 21, payment giant Stripe announced the acquisition of Bridge for $1.1 billion, marking the largest merger and acquisition deal in the Web3 industry to date. Before the acquisition, Bridge had raised $58 million in funding, attracting the interest of prominent venture capital firms such as Sequoia Capital. [4]

Investors/Angel Investors: Stripe, Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, Index Ventures, Haun Ventures

Highlights:

1. Bridge is seen as the “Web3 version of Stripe,” allowing developers to seamlessly convert between fiat currencies and stablecoins while enabling cross-chain asset flow. It provides global users with USD and EUR accounts and supports the transfer of various stablecoins across major blockchains. Additionally, Bridge invests reserve funds in U.S. Treasury bonds, with annual yields exceeding 5%. According to its website, the entire fund transfer process takes only a few minutes, costing just a few cents.
2. Bridge has actively pursued regulatory compliance globally, securing licenses in 48 U.S. states and a VASP license in Poland. It is also advancing regulatory approvals in New York and Europe. To expand its service reach, Bridge has partnered with local entities like Bitso in Latin America to jointly grow its market presence.
3. Bridge processes over $5 billion in annual payments, serving clients ranging from U.S. government departments (e.g., State Department and Treasury) to leading enterprises like SpaceX and Coinbase. Through collaborations with global partners such as Bitso, Chipper Cash, Dolar App, Stellar, and Strike, Bridge has successfully expanded into regions like Latin America and Africa, offering secure, efficient, and low-cost cross-border payment services.
4. Bridge was co-founded by Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, who previously worked at industry giants like Square and Coinbase. Many team members came from Coinbase and were deeply involved in developing and promoting USDC, Coinbase’s first compliant USD stablecoin. Their extensive experience in the stablecoin industry has positioned Bridge as a leader in the competitive stablecoin market.

Bluesky

Overview: Bluesky is a decentralized social application initiated by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, initially developed alongside Twitter. It employs the internally built, open-source AT Protocol, aiming to provide users with a more open, transparent, and decentralized social experience—free from centralized platform control. Like Twitter and Mastodon, Bluesky is a microblogging platform. However, it distinguishes itself by operating on the decentralized AT Protocol network, where various components can be independently run by individuals or organizations. Based on this view, Bluesky offers both an app view and a web application, equipping users with personal data storage (PDS) and relay services for decentralized data management and interaction. [5]

On October 24, Bluesky announced the completion of a $15 million Series A funding round led by Blockchain Capital. The funds will strengthen community building, enhance platform trust and security, and support the AT Protocol developer ecosystem. [6]

Investors: Blockchain Capital, SevenX Ventures, True Ventures, Alumni Ventures.

Highlights:

1. Bluesky, an innovative social platform spearheaded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has garnered substantial interest since its 2020 debut. It now boasts a user base of over 13 million.
2. Bluesky aims to craft a cohesive, user-friendly social media platform built collaboratively by diverse participants. Leveraging the AT Protocol, various system components can operate independently under different individuals or organizations yet interconnect seamlessly through a network. This approach enables true decentralization and ensures smooth operation and robust scalability to accommodate a vast user base.
3. Unlike traditional social platforms that centralize user data on single servers, Bluesky leverages the AT Protocol to distribute data across multiple nodes. This approach significantly enhances data security by making it harder for hackers to target. Moreover, the AT Protocol empowers users with data sovereignty, allowing them to seamlessly migrate their accounts between service providers and choose trusted platforms.

Azra Games

Overview: Azra Games is a blockchain gaming company focusing on game development and brand building. Their aim is to create mainstream collectible battle RPGs that offer an immersive experience rivaling console games. The company’s debut title,Project Arcanas, is an innovative RPG that blends fantasy elements, NFT collectibles, and multiplayer competition. In this game, players can amass unique NFT characters, construct their own armies, and vie with gamers worldwide for scarce resources and prestige. [7]

On October 15, Azra Games announced the completion of a $42.7 million Series A funding round led by Pantera Capital, bringing its total funding to $68.3 million. The company had previously secured multiple funding rounds from notable investors such as a16z and Coinbase Ventures. [8]

Investors: Pantera Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, NFX, a16z, Coinbase Ventures

Highlights:

1. Azra Games is pioneering the fourth generation of mobile RPGs by bringing console-level open worlds, real-time combat, and immersive experiences to mobile platforms, surpassing traditional mobile games. The team leverages AI through Azra Labs to accelerate content creation and enhance development efficiency, keeping pace with rapidly evolving market demands.
2. Azra Games boasts a team of industry veterans, many hailing from Electronic Arts (EA). CEO Mark Otero spearheaded the development of Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes, while Technical Art Director Michael Noriega also played a key role in the project. The team’s rich experience at EA—a global gaming powerhouse behind iconic franchises like Command & Conquer, The Sims, and FIFA—lays a robust foundation for crafting high-quality games.
3. To date, Azra Games has raised over $68 million in funding from renowned institutions. This substantial capital ensures robust support for the development of premium-quality games.

OpenGradient

Overview: OpenGradient is a decentralized AI infrastructure that provides developers with a secure and scalable platform for building and deploying cutting-edge AI applications. Through on-chain AI model hosting, permissionless composability, and secure inference execution, OpenGradient accelerates open-source AI development and offers developers seamless access to these advanced capabilities. [9]

On October 9, OpenGradient announced the completion of an $8.5 million seed funding round backed by renowned investors such as a16z Crypto and Coinbase Ventures. The funding will be used to accelerate open-source AI development, provide scalable on-chain AI computing capabilities, and ensure secure and verifiable AI deployments. The OpenGradient testnet is expected to launch by the end of the year, offering developers more tools and solutions. [10]

Investors/Angel Investors: a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (a16z CSX), Coinbase Ventures, SV Angel, Foresight Ventures, SALT Fund, Symbolic Capital, Celestia, former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan, NEAR founder Illia Polosukhin and Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal

Highlights:

1. OpenGradient’s breakthrough lies in achieving fully decentralized execution of AI tasks, enabling real-time predictions, analysis, and decision-making directly on any blockchain. OpenGradient allows AI models to operate seamlessly across different blockchain ecosystems by creating a trust-minimized environment. Furthermore, OpenGradient overcomes the limitations of traditional computing, providing robust AI support for decentralized applications and demonstrating extensive potential for application.
2. The OpenGradient team comprises AI/ML and blockchain experts from leading tech companies like Google, Coinbase, Ripple, Intel, and Palantir. Co-founder and CEO Matthew Wang has extensive experience in quantitative modeling and machine learning research, while CTO Adam Balogh previously led AI platform development at Palantir. Their deep technical expertise provides strong support for OpenGradient’s capabilities in AI model hosting, secure execution, and decentralized application development.
3. OpenGradient has attracted top-tier institutions and angel investors and has been selected for the a16z Crypto Fall Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX) program. This selection provides OpenGradient with professional guidance from the a16z operations team, as well as access to additional resources and opportunities to expand collaborations across the broader crypto ecosystem.

Glow

Overview: Glow is an Ethereum-based solar energy project that promotes global solar power generation through incentive mechanisms. Glow rewards solar power plants with tokens to encourage the production of clean energy and its integration into the power grid, gradually replacing traditional fossil fuel-based energy generation. The project has established a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) composed of solar farms in the United States and India. These farms generate dual revenue from clean energy production and carbon credits. Glow’s mission is to accelerate the transition to a 100% clean energy future through the widespread deployment of solar energy worldwide. [11]

At the end of October, Glow secured $30 million in funding, with $6.5 million allocated for operational expenses and $23.5 million earmarked for direct solar energy investments. These funds aim to expand power generation capacity from 5 MW to 600 MW within the next 18 months and support international market expansion. [12]

Investors: Framework, Union Square Ventures, Alliance DAO

Highlights:

1. As energy production costs decline, storage and transportation emerge as new challenges. Traditional centralized grids may struggle to adapt. Glow offers an innovative solution by creating a decentralized solar energy grid that seamlessly integrates energy production, storage, and consumption. The company has successfully deployed its DePIN network in the U.S. and India, providing a viable solution for the global transition to clean energy.
2. Glow employs a recursive subsidy model to incentivize clean energy production through token rewards. Revenue generated from the farms’ electricity sales is reinvested into an incentive pool to support more solar projects. To ensure consistent and efficient operation, Glow conducts regular audits to verify energy output and carbon reduction. The project prioritizes financially distressed solar farms, helping them resume operations while expanding the overall network.
3. As of today, the Glow network comprises 63 operational solar power farms with a cumulative energy output of 365 MWh. DePIN.Ninja data reveals that Glow has generated $1.74 million in revenue, significantly outperforming industry competitors. Notably, a single 1.3 MW solar farm in India contributed approximately $1.6 million to Glow’s total revenue—a staggering 92% of its income.

Summary

In October 2024, the Web3 industry maintained robust investment momentum, with individual funding deals hitting record highs. Stripe’s landmark acquisition of Bridge became the industry’s focal point, underscoring traditional financial giants’ enduring confidence in the Web3 ecosystem. Investment focus pivoted towards infrastructure development and the DeFi sector, while early-stage projects also captured substantial interest. The dynamic involvement of leading institutions like Animoca Brands, coupled with the entry of established financial powerhouses such as Stripe, has propelled the Web3 industry’s growth. This collaborative effort showcases the sector’s diverse and rapidly evolving landscape.


References:

1. Rootdata , https://www.rootdata.com/dashboard
2. Rootdata , https://www.rootdata.com/Fundraising
3. Bridge , https://www.bridge.xyz/
4. Coindesk , https://www.coindesk.com/business/2024/11/01/stripes-11b-acquisition-target-bridge-buys-web3-wallet-platform-triangle/
5. Bluesky , https://bsky.social/about/
6. Decrypt , https://decrypt.co/288157/bluesky-raises-15-million-no-crypto
7. Azra Games , https://azragames.com/
8. Medium ( @azragames ) , https://medium.com/
9. OpenGradient , https://opengradient.ai/
10. OpenGradient , https://opengradient.ai/blog/opengradient-raises-8-5m-to-decentralize-ai
11. Glow , https://glowlabs.org/
12. Fortune Crypto , https://fortune.com/crypto/2024/10/31/exclusive-glow-a-blockchain-solar-company-raises-30-million-from-framework-and-union-square-ventures/

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