(Rejected) Coinbase Ventures, AU21 Amongst Those Who Led Crypto Fundraising in 2021 - PWC

The year 2021 brought a historic milestone in the crypto fundraising ecosystem, as well as in Mergers & Acquisition (M&A) activities.

As reported by Bloomberg, citing data from PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), the most engaged Venture Capital (VC) firms in the ecosystem by deal counts includes Coinbase Ventures, AU21, Genesis Block Ventures, Genblock Capital, and Moonwhale amongst others.

The increasing funding activities last year resulted in a 4,846% surge in total M&A deal counts last year and the average deal size rounded up to $180 million, up from the $50 million in the prior year. In all, the PWC report showcased that crypto fundraising deal volumes surged 645% in 2021

PWC is one of the Big 4 auditing firms in the world that believes strongly in the potential of blockchain and its attendant technologies. The firm asserted that the digital asset industry was gaining “broader mainstream acceptance” in 2021, bolstering its claim that the entry of traditional financial players into the nascent blockchain and crypto world-changing the narrative remarkably. 

Despite the growth that has been seen thus far, PWC is not expecting fundraising or M&A to slow down this year.

“We expect a continued acceleration in crypto-related IPOs and acquisitions in 2022 across trading platforms, digital payment applications, and related products,” PwC wrote.

It is no news that beyond big-ticket transactions that are being inked in the space, retail or individual investors are also not sitting on their oars. In periods where the digital currency industry is experiencing a market downturn, retail investors help cushion the backing of startups and projects by Venture Capital firms.

With Polygon pulling over $450 million in funding this week, a tempo that has been sustained all-year long, the chances that crypto fundraising, as well as mergers and acquisition deals, will topple previous records is very high.