Crypto Startups Funding Drops 56%

The early March crypto funding figure represents one of the slowest weekly totals of 2026, with total venture capital investment in the sector remaining below $1 billion for the year to date. This follows a 2024 where crypto funding, despite a 28% year-over-year increase to $13.7 billion, failed to approach the highs of $33.3 billion seen in 2022. Venture capital is decisively flowing towards Artificial Intelligence, which captured nearly a third of all startup funding in 2024. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, AI startups globally raised $59.6 billion, accounting for more than half of all venture funding during that period. This shift is driven by investors prioritizing sectors with more predictable revenue streams. The week-over-week drop in Indian startup funding is part of a broader cooling trend. While total tech funding in India rose slightly to $11.3 billion in 2024, that figure was a steep 56% decline from the capital raised in 2022. The fourth quarter of 2024 was the lowest in the last three years for the region. Despite the downturn, India remained the third-largest country for tech funding in 2024, trailing only the United States and the United Kingdom. The notable exception, TBD, is a prediction market protocol built on the Solana blockchain. Its recent $3 million seed round was co-led by institutional investors CMT Digital and ParaFi, with participation from Jump Crypto. The backing from a Solana co-founder refers to an earlier, separate $800,000 angel investment from Raj Gokal. The other Solana co-founder, Anatoly Yakovenko, is also an active angel investor in the ecosystem, with a personal net worth estimated to be between $500 million and $1.2 billion.