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Crypto funding 2023: 261 rounds, $2.31B, HashKey backed 17

By NAUT Research · · 8 min read

$2.31B Crypto funding 2023 disclosed by 246 of the 261 crypto venture rounds NAUT dates to 2023. Logos: Wormhole, LayerZero, World, QuickNode, Scroll Network, EigenCloud, Gensyn, Berachain, tomiNet, Fetch.ai.

For crypto funding 2023, NAUT tracks 261 crypto venture rounds dated 2023 (seed, private, strategic and Series rounds, token sales excluded) at 229 companies, and the 246 that disclosed an amount raised $2.31B, with a median round of $4.15M. On NAUT's record the most active backer was HashKey Group, in 17 of those rounds, ahead of Coinbase Ventures, Big Brain Holdings and DWF Labs on 16 each.

Data as of 14 November 2026, read from NAUT's funding records. Each round is dated by its closed date, or its announce date where no close is stored, and only live project rows count. NAUT holds 719 rows of every type dated 2023; 419 are token sales or other non-venture types (IDO, ICO, IEO and the like) and are out. Of the 300 venture-type rows left, 35 came out on reading each company's own description: 17 rows at AI, biotech or hardware companies with no crypto product, 3 launchpad token sales, 3 grant rounds, 5 ChainGPT token private sales run through launchpads, 4 small same-month ivendPay rows sold like a token sale, and 3 duplicates of a round already counted. 4 more came out after that. Injective's $150M row, because the source check found the January 2023 coverage describes an ecosystem fund. Vaulta's $60M row, because the check found no report of a 2023 round of that size. Code4rena and Aether Games, because both rows are labelled Token Round. The 10 largest rounds on NAUT's record before those 2 drops were put through a source check; the other 253 rounds in this report are NAUT's record as stored. NAUT lists Animoca Brands under 2 rows, Animoca Brands and Animoca Brands (Ventures), and the backer counts below take the union of the 2. Written by the NAUT research desk.

Crypto funding 2023 by month: how much did startups raise?

The 246 crypto venture rounds that disclosed an amount raised $2.31B in 2023, and the first half carried 61% of it: 133 rounds and $1.41B from January to June, against 128 rounds and $898.2M from July to December. Crypto startups 2023 funding peaked in April, with 29 rounds and $386.4M. November came second on $316.6M, and Wormhole's $225M round sits in it. In the tables below, "Sized" counts the rounds with an amount and "Total" is what they disclosed.

Month Rounds Sized Total Median
Jan 19 18 $168.3M $5.0M
Feb 26 24 $158.4M $5.3M
Mar 23 22 $304.2M $6.0M
Apr 29 27 $386.4M $10.0M
May 21 19 $244.3M $3.0M
Jun 15 14 $146.3M $5.25M
Jul 25 25 $101.1M $3.5M
Aug 19 17 $95.7M $5.0M
Sep 15 15 $133.1M $4.0M
Oct 20 19 $155.3M $5.4M
Nov 23 22 $316.6M $2.25M
Dec 26 24 $96.3M $2.55M

By quarter that is 68 rounds and $630.9M in Q1, 65 and $777.1M in Q2, 59 and $329.9M in Q3, and 69 and $568.3M in Q4. 15 of the 261 rounds carry no amount on NAUT's record, and 48 disclosed less than $1M.

Which were the largest crypto funding rounds of 2023?

The 10 largest crypto venture rounds of 2023 on NAUT's record add up to $785M, 34% of the year's $2.31B. The table ranks them by the amount NAUT stores and shows what the source check found for each.

Company Closed Round Backers Check
29 Nov $225M, Funding Round 8 Confirmed
4 Apr $120M, Series B 16 Confirmed
25 May $115M, Series C 2 Confirmed
24 Jan $60M, Private B 5 Disputed
6 Mar $50M, Series B 8 Incomplete
28 Mar $50M, Series A 6 Confirmed
12 Jun $43M, Series A 8 Confirmed
20 Apr $42M, Series A 9 Confirmed
21 Mar $40M, Funding Round 0 Not checked
29 Mar $40M, Funding Round 1 Not checked
  • 6 of the 10 rounds in the table passed the check against an outside report. SiliconANGLE reported Wormhole's $225M at a $2.5B valuation, LayerZero Labs' own release announced its $120M Series B at a $3B valuation, and Berachain disclosed its $42M Series A at a $420.69M valuation.
  • 's round was raised by Tools for Humanity, the company that builds it, and SiliconANGLE reported the $115M raise as "led by Blockchain Capital".
  • The cited reports name a lead on 4 of the 6 confirmed rounds: Blockchain Capital for World and for EigenCloud's Series A, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) for Gensyn, and Polychain Capital for Berachain. For LayerZero the reports differ on whether the round had a lead, and the check's note on Wormhole lists investors with no lead.
  • 's check came back disputed on timing: it did not confirm the 24 January date NAUT stores, so treat the month as open. Scroll's check could not be completed: the runner could not fetch its report page, and the check found no second report.
  • and entered the 10 after 2 drops, so neither was in the check sample. NAUT holds no backer for tomiNet's round, and DWF Labs for Fetch.ai's.

How much did each startup raise?

The 10 largest crypto venture rounds of 2023 on NAUT's record
  1. Wormhole$225M
  2. LayerZero$120M
  3. World$115M
  4. QuickNode$60M
  5. Scroll Network$50M
  6. EigenCloud$50M
  7. Gensyn$43M
  8. Berachain$42M
  9. tomiNet$40M
  10. Fetch.ai$40M

Wormhole's $225M is almost 2 times the next round, LayerZero's $120M, and 6 of the 10 rounds are $50M or more.

Which crypto funding 2023 stages raised the most?

Seed was the most common stage in 2023, with 87 of the 261 rounds, but the 47 rounds that state no stage raised the most money, $755.9M. The stage groups below come from each round's label on NAUT, and "No stage" is the generic Funding Round label.

Stage Rounds Sized Total Median
Seed 87 81 $401.0M $4.0M
Private 54 52 $272.4M $0.91M
No stage 47 47 $755.9M $10.0M
Series A 23 21 $397.3M $17.5M
Pre-Seed 21 20 $33.8M $1.5M
Strategic 19 16 $69.8M $3.0M
Pre-Series A 5 4 $32.0M $6.5M
Series B 3 3 $192.0M $50.0M
Series C 2 2 $152.0M $76.0M

The 5 Series B and Series C rounds raised $344M between them, close to the $401.0M of all 87 seed rounds. Mythical Games' $37M Series C extension is the other Series C beside World's.

Who were the most active crypto investors in 2023?

HashKey Group backed the most 2023 crypto rounds on NAUT's record, 17 at 17 companies. The table ranks the 12 most active backers by the number of 2023 rounds they are in; "Total" is the disclosed amount of those rounds on NAUT's record and "Cos" the companies, which the backer shared with other investors.

# Backer Rounds Cos Total
1 17 17 $151.8M
2 16 15 $408.2M
2 16 13 $68.0M
2 16 16 $163.5M
5 12 12 $119.7M
6 11 11 $112.6M
7 10 10 $185.4M
7 10 9 $97.3M
7 10 10 $56.1M
10 9 9 $87.3M
10 9 8 $159.7M
10 9 9 $32.0M
  • Of the 12 in the table, sat in the most money. Its 16 rounds total $408.2M, because it is in both Wormhole's $225M round and EigenCloud's $50M Series A on NAUT's record.
  • 196 of the 261 rounds list at least 1 backer on NAUT's record, across 380 backer rows. 151 of those rows appear in 2 or more rounds and 37 in 5 or more.
  • 's 8 backers on NAUT include Multicoin Capital, Jump Trading, Brevan Howard Digital and Coinbase Ventures, the 4 names the check's note lists from the coverage.
  • Lead text also sits on company pages. Ritual's NAUT page says its $25M Series A was led by Archetype, and NAUT dates that round 9 November 2023.

What this tells a BD team

  • 229 companies took crypto VC funding in 2023 on NAUT's record. 28 of them raised 2 or more rounds that year, so their pages carry the longest 2023 backer lists to work through.
  • Chains and cross-chain protocols took the largest checks. Wormhole, LayerZero, Scroll Network, EigenCloud and Berachain hold 5 of the 10 largest rounds, $487M between them.
  • The busiest backers sit across many portfolios. HashKey Group, DWF Labs and Coinbase Ventures each reach 15 to 17 companies through their 2023 rounds alone.
How a BD team can work the 2023 list
  1. Pick the roundsStart from the 10 largest, $785M between them, from Wormhole to Fetch.ai.
  2. Open each company pageEach NAUT company page lists its team and every backer on record.
  3. Map shared backersCoinbase Ventures sits in 16 rounds; its page shows the companies it shares.
  4. Ask for the introReach the backer's partner who sits closest to the company you want.

What this tells a crypto founder raising now

  • These are the crypto investors 2023 founders met. The 12 firms in the backer table each joined 9 to 17 rounds that year, so each has a 2023 portfolio you can read before a pitch.
  • Check sizes differ by stage. The seed median was $4.0M, Series A $17.5M, and the 54 private rounds $0.91M.
  • Look past the stage label. 47 rounds on NAUT state no stage, and their median of $10.0M sits above seed.
How a founder can use the 2023 backers
  1. Find your stageSeed rounds in 2023 had a $4.0M median across 81 rounds with an amount.
  2. Shortlist backersStart with Shima Capital, dao5 and Polychain Capital, all in Berachain's $42M Series A.
  3. Read their 2023 roundsEach investor page lists its portfolio rows with round, amount and date.
  4. Reach the partnerEach fund page lists its team, and each person page says which channels NAUT has on file.

How to reach the decision makers

Every company and investor above links to its NAUT page, which lists the team, the backers and the people to contact. Each person page says which channels NAUT has on file. Anyone listed can ask NAUT to remove their page at https://naut.so/legal/data-deletion.

Related reading on NAUT: Crypto funding statistics 2026: 327 rounds, $11.45B, 30 numbers and Crypto funding stages: 85 rounds, medians $1.85M to $60M.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes. GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors/coinbase-ventures returns 1 fund with its team and its portfolio rows, each carrying company, roundType, amountUsd, announceDate and isLead, which is the record behind its 16 rounds in 2023, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/wormhole returns 1 company with its team. Every call is a GET with Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY and costs 5 credits, documented at https://naut.so/docs/api with plans at https://naut.so/pricing. The verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn of the people behind these rounds unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so you can start a 7-day trial.

Crypto funding 2023 FAQ

How much did crypto startups raise in 2023?

NAUT tracks 261 crypto venture rounds dated 2023, and the 246 that disclosed an amount raised $2.31B, with a median of $4.15M. April 2023 was the biggest month, at $386.4M across 29 rounds.

What was the largest crypto funding round of 2023?

Wormhole's $225M round on 29 November 2023 is the largest of the 261 on NAUT's record, ahead of LayerZero's $120M Series B on 4 April and World's $115M Series C on 25 May.

Which crypto VCs backed the most rounds in 2023?

On NAUT's record, HashKey Group backed 17 crypto venture rounds in 2023, and Coinbase Ventures, Big Brain Holdings and DWF Labs backed 16 each. Animoca Brands followed with 12, counted across its 2 NAUT rows.

Where can I find the 2023 crypto backers and their teams' contact channels?

On NAUT. Each of the 12 most active 2023 backers in this report has a NAUT page, from HashKey Group to Cogitent Ventures, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors/coinbase-ventures returns 1 fund with its team and portfolio rows. Their verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so you can start a 7-day trial and reveal them.

Sources

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