Blockchain Venture Capital Funding Reaches $1.8 Billion in 2018 Surpassing Previous Records

Lawrence Lundy-Bryan, Head of Research at Outlier Ventures commented: “Record levels of capital continues to flow into blockchain startups, albeit from more traditional sources this year.” He continued: “This quarter has proven beyond doubt that interest in blockchain technology and crypto-assets goes beyond price and trading. Big consumer-facing businesses like Facebook, Baidu and LINE are entering the game and will on-board millions, if not billions of users.”

Blockchain M&A: an emerging macro-trend

Another notable trend in the industry is a growing number of M&A deals. Tron’s acquisition of BitTorrent marks the beginning of well capitalised blockchain companies acquiring more traditional Web 2.0 players to establish growth. Coinbase has acquired seven companies in the previous quarter alone.

Jamie Burke, CEO at Outlier Ventures commented: “We are seeing extremely well capitalised protocols launch venture funds and accelerators as well as acquire equity-backed companies and teams to scale development or buy network-market-fit.” He continued: “We are calling this 'The Hungry Protocol' and understanding what M&A looks like in a decentralised Web will be one of the most important things for investors and protocol foundations to understand and master. There are certainly some strange and varied approaches occurring already.”