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Crypto funding August 2026: 33 rounds, $1.18B, Polymarket 85%

By NAUT Research · · 7 min read

$1.18B Crypto funding August disclosed by 27 of 33 crypto rounds announced 1 to 31 August 2026. Logos: Polymarket, USD.AI, Yellow Card, Beldex, City Protocol, GAEA, Open Check, letsCatapult, Concrete.

In its crypto funding August 2026 data, NAUT tracks 33 crypto rounds announced between 1 and 31 August, and the 27 that disclosed an amount add up to $1.18B. The biggest was Polymarket's reported $1B raise led by 1789 Capital, 85% of the month's disclosed total on its own.

Data note. NAUT's data as of 13 November 2026. NAUT holds 63 non-launchpad funding rows with an August 2026 announce date. 33 count here: their sector tag, stored description or name carries a crypto term. The other 30 are left out: 17 have no stored description and no crypto term in their sector tag, and 13 have a description with no crypto term in it. 3 of those 13 describe an AI business (ZeroStack, NYDIG and NeoSoul), and the largest left out are OpenRouter at $7B (an LLM router, typed M&A), Strategy's post-IPO raise at $2B and ZeroStack at $1B (an AI asset manager), plus Strategy's second post-IPO raise at $333.7M. Some of the 17 bare rows may be crypto firms with thin records; they stay out until their records say so. The 33 rounds belong to 32 companies, because FinTax has 2. 5 of the 33 rounds were checked against a news report: 4 matched and 1 did not (JPY Coin, below). The other 28 were not checked against a source. Sector is the first tag on each NAUT row. Written by the NAUT data desk.

Crypto funding August 2026: how many rounds, and which were the top 5?

33 crypto rounds, with 27 disclosing $1.18B in total; the top 5 by disclosed amount are below. Ranked by amount raised, with JPY Coin's row left out of the ranking because a source check found its $6.35M does not match the reported size of JPYC's extended Series B round.

Company Round Raised Backer Source
Undisclosed $1B (lead) Reported (Bloomberg)
Debt financing $100M None Matched ( facility)
Strategic $40M Matched
Undisclosed $8M (lead) Matched
Pre-series A $4M None Not checked
  • . Bloomberg reported on 31 August that Polymarket is raising $1B in a round led by 1789 Capital, at a $21B post-money valuation. No company announcement was found, so treat it as a reported raise.
  • . Bullish provided the synthetic dollar protocol from Permian Labs with a $100M stablecoin-based debt facility. Bullish is the lender, and NAUT holds no equity backer for the round.
  • . Its release announced the close of a $40M strategic equity round. Outlets name SC Ventures plus other investors, among them Polychain Capital and Blockchain Capital, and date it 4 or 5 August.
  • . Decrypt reported an $8M round to build privacy infrastructure for Web3 and AI, led by Sigma Capital.

How was crypto funding August 2026 split by sector?

DeFi took $1,003.1M of the $1.18B because Polymarket's first NAUT tag is DeFi. Without Polymarket, the other 32 rounds disclosed $176.55M, and stablecoins and payments carried most of it.

Sector (first tag) Rounds Disclosed Largest round
DeFi 6 $1,003.1M , $1B
Stablecoins 3 $106.85M , $100M
Payment 4 $41.5M , $40M
Privacy 1 $8M , $8M
Infrastructure 4 $5.5M , $4M
AI 2 $4.1M , $3.6M
RWA 1 $3M , $3M
L1/2/3 1 $1M , $1M
No tag 4 $1M and , $500K each
7 others 7 $2.5M 5 rounds at $500K, 2 undisclosed

The 7 others are Funds, DeFAI, DEX, SocialFi, Intelligence, Money Market and Tools, 1 round each. The Money Market round (Saturn) and the Tools round (Zignaly) disclosed no amount.

Which crypto startups raised in August 2026, and who backed them?

All 33 crypto funding rounds, largest first. 8 of the 33 have a backer on NAUT's record and 3 have a lead; A None on record cell means NAUT holds no backer for that round yet; a news report may still name one.

Date Company Round Raised Backer
31 Aug Undisclosed $1B (lead)
28 Aug Debt financing $100M None on record
4 Aug Strategic $40M
20 Aug Undisclosed $8M (lead), plus 2
5 Aug Extended Series B Flagged, see note None on record
26 Aug Pre-series A $4M None on record
31 Aug Strategic $3.6M None on record
18 Aug Seed $3M
28 Aug Private token sale $2.1M None on record
28 Aug Strategic $1M None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
25 Aug Incubation $500K None on record
19 Aug Strategic Not disclosed (lead), plus 8
27 Aug Seed Not disclosed
3 Aug Pre-series A Not disclosed None on record
24 Aug Angel Not disclosed 1 angel
13 Aug Strategic Not disclosed
5 Aug Strategic Not disclosed None on record

note. NAUT's JPY Coin row holds $6.35M, and that figure is inside the $1.18B total. A source check found that the reported total for JPYC's extended Series B does not match this figure, so the row is flagged for correction and left out of the top 5 and the chart.

17 of the 33 rounds are $500K incubation deals dated 25 August, $8.5M between them. The stored descriptions of ElfomoFi and Facto name YZi Labs as a backer; NAUT's round records for the 17 hold no backer yet.

How much did each crypto startup raise in August 2026?

Raised per round, the 9 largest disclosed (JPY Coin's flagged row left out)
  1. Polymarket$1000M
  2. USD.AI$100M
  3. Yellow Card$40M
  4. Beldex$8M
  5. City Protocol$4M
  6. GAEA$3.6M
  7. Open Check$3M
  8. letsCatapult$2.1M
  9. DAC Quantum Chain$1M

The median disclosed round was $500K, because 17 of the 27 disclosed rounds sit at that figure; 6 rounds, among them Concrete and Saturn, disclosed no amount.

What this tells a BD team

  • 3 teams hold fresh money at scale. Polymarket (reported $1B), USD.AI ($100M facility) and Yellow Card ($40M) account for $1.14B of the $1.18B.
  • 17 incubation teams are early buyers. Each took $500K on 25 August, so each holds new budget from the same week.
  • Stablecoins and payments are the second cluster. 7 rounds across the 2 tags disclosed $148.35M.
How a BD team can work the August list
  1. Start with the large 3Open Polymarket, USD.AI and Yellow Card on NAUT for their teams.
  2. Batch the 17 incubation teamsSame date, same $500K: 1 pitch fits Kravata, Nexroute, Surgepay and the rest.
  3. Pick by sector4 payment and 3 stablecoin rounds sit in the table above.
  4. Reach the founderEach company page lists who runs it and which channels NAUT holds.

What this tells a crypto founder raising

  • wrote 2 of the 33 checks on NAUT's record. Of the crypto investors on NAUT's record for August, it is the only one on 2 of the 33 rounds: Amber Group backed Open Check ($3M seed) and FinTax (seed, undisclosed).
  • Some strategic rounds drew wide syndicates. Polychain Capital led Concrete with 8 more backers on record, and Ondo Finance backed Saturn.
  • Incubation sets a $500K entry point. 17 August rounds sit at that figure.
How a founder can use the August rounds
  1. Find a leadSigma Capital led Beldex at $8M; Polychain Capital led Concrete.
  2. Check the portfolioEach investor page on NAUT lists its rounds with dates.
  3. Ask for an introUse a founder from the same portfolio as the warm path.

How to reach the decision makers

NAUT's data shows these people on the teams behind the top 4 rounds, with current titles:

Anyone listed can ask NAUT to remove their page at https://naut.so/legal/data-deletion.

Related reading on NAUT: Crypto funding October 2026: 60 rounds, $1.78B, Strive took 47% and Prediction market funding: 43 teams, $2.95B, 40 split $246M.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes: GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/polymarket with Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY returns 1 company with its team, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors/amber-group returns a fund with its portfolio rows, each with company, roundType, amountUsd, announceDate and isLead. Each data call costs 5 credits; the docs are at naut.so/docs/api and plans at naut.so/pricing. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn for these teams unlock on any paid NAUT plan: start a 7-day trial.

Crypto funding August 2026 FAQ

How much did crypto startups raise in August 2026?

NAUT tracks 33 crypto rounds announced from 1 to 31 August 2026, and the 27 that disclosed an amount total $1.18B. Polymarket's reported $1B raise is 85% of that.

What was the biggest crypto funding round in August 2026?

Polymarket's $1B raise led by 1789 Capital, reported by Bloomberg on 31 August 2026 at a $21B post-money valuation. The next largest was a $100M debt facility from Bullish to USD.AI on 28 August 2026.

Which sectors raised the most crypto funding in August 2026?

By first NAUT tag, DeFi raised $1,003.1M across 6 rounds, stablecoins $106.85M across 3 and payments $41.5M across 4. Without Polymarket, the other 32 August rounds disclosed $176.55M.

Where can I find the founders of August 2026's funded crypto startups and their contact channels?

Each of the 32 companies behind the 33 August 2026 rounds has a NAUT page listing its team, and GET https://api.naut.so/v1/projects/<slug> returns the same team by API. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan: start a 7-day trial.

Sources

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