New research from investment platform Outlier Ventures reveals that 3,738 new blockchain enterprises have seen capital injections of $23.7bn since 2013.
The investments include initial coin offerings, debt financing, direct investments and crowd-funding. And the money invested in blockchain companies is increasing. Outlier Ventures noted that the frequency of investments was expected to be nine times greater in 2019 than in 2013.
In 2013, the sector had seen 91 deals whereas the first six months alone in 2019 had seen 398 deals. There were 1,515 blockchain deals in 2018.
Of the deals, 33.8 per cent had been in artificial intelligence, 14.7 per cent in banking, 10.9 per cent in analytics, 10.7 per cent in apps, 7.8 per cent in B2B, six per cent in big data, 4.1 per cent in advertising, 3.3 per cent in asset management, 2.5 per cent in augmented reality, 2.2 per cent in art and two per cent in biometrics.
Of the money invested, 75 per cent was invested in early rounds. This included pre-seed, angel and seed rounds. Most of these rounds were worth about $1m.
Outlier Ventures’ report noted that while investment in early-stage blockchain startups had increased, it had not been converted into follow on-rounds.
Analysing the results, Outlier Ventures suggested that the lack of later rounds meant many old school venture capital firms were waiting for proof of market fit and signs of revenue before investing.
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