Author: RootData Research
Table of Contents
I. The total financing amount in Q1 2024 exceeded 26 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%; the DeFi track's financing amount increased by over 150% month-on-month
BTC price trend in Q1 2024 and the total financing amount in the Web3 industry
Top 3 financing amounts in Q1 2024
II. The number of early-stage financing projects in Q1 increased by 10.5% year-on-year, and there are still many unverified technologies and solutions in the market
Distribution of project financing amounts in Q1 2024
Top 5 financing amounts in Q1 2024
III. The total investment amount of the top ten institutions in Q1 increased by 120% month-on-month, with OKX Ventures making 30 investments and becoming the most active investment institution in Q1
IV. Characteristics and trend analysis of popular searches in the Web3 industry
Bitcoin, Solana, and Blast ecosystem projects are growing rapidly, and the developer atmosphere and wealth effect are still important factors attracting developers
The allocation of Web3 investors' attention is significantly influenced by financing events, secondary sector rotation, and project TGE events
Project hot searches and secondary prices show correlation, and public chain and DeFi projects are still the most searched asset types by users
Sam Altman tops the hot search and click rankings, and trading clues based on popular figures are attracting more investors' attention
Abstract
The total financing amount in the Web3 industry reached 25.45 billion US dollars in Q1 2024, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%. The DeFi track was driven by popular sectors such as RWA and LSD, with both year-on-year and month-on-month financing amounts increasing by over 100%. The total inflow of funds for Bitcoin spot ETFs exceeded 12.1 billion US dollars, pushing the price of Bitcoin to over 72,000 US dollars, reaching a historic high.
The number of projects receiving investment in Q1 2024 increased by 10.5% year-on-year, with infrastructure, DeFi, and GameFi tracks attracting attention from the capital market. The total investment amount of the top ten institutions increased by 120% month-on-month, with OKX Ventures being the most active.
The allocation of Web3 investors' attention is mainly influenced by large investments from well-known institutions, project TGE events, airdrops, and other factors. Sectors such as AI, RWA, LSD, and DePIN are rotating, and there is a higher demand from users to find popular investment targets. A total of 113 projects were selected for the RootData Top 20 project hot search weekly rankings, with 12 of them being token issuance projects, showing a high correlation between their search popularity on RootData and secondary market trends.
During Q1, the market saw significant attention on investment targets such as the "Sam Altman concept," and trading opportunities based on popular figures are attracting more investors' attention, as the Web3 industry becomes more mature and attracts more mainstream investors and entrepreneurs, trading opportunities based on figures/events will continue to emerge.
I. The total financing amount in Q1 2024 exceeded 26 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%; the DeFi track's financing amount increased by over 150% month-on-month**
1.1. BTC price trend in Q1 2024 and the total financing amount in the Web3 industry
Source: RootData
On January 10, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the trading and listing of 11 Bitcoin spot ETFs. As of March 31, the total inflow of funds for Bitcoin spot ETFs exceeded 12.1 billion US dollars, with a total asset under management of 58.341 billion US dollars. Under the strong buying pressure from BTC spot ETFs, the price of Bitcoin rose to over 72,000 US dollars, a surge of over 60%, reaching a historic high, with a market value of 1.4 trillion US dollars.
1.2. Top 3 financing amounts in Q1 2024
Source: RootData
With the outstanding performance of the Web3 secondary market, RootData's statistics show that Q1 of the primary market produced a total of 459 financing events, a year-on-year increase of 28.7%, with a total financing amount of 25.45 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 4.7%. Among them, infrastructure, DeFi, and CeFi were the top three tracks in terms of completed financing amounts in Q1.
The financing amounts for the DeFi track increased by over 100% year-on-year and month-on-month, while the CeFi track saw a year-on-year growth of 217.71%, with a smaller month-on-month increase of only 1.67%. The growth in the DeFi track is related to the popularity of projects in sectors such as RWA and LSD, while the infrastructure track saw a double decline year-on-year and month-on-month (by -24.31% and -5.05% respectively), due to the lack of new narratives in the Q1 infrastructure track, coupled with some fund managers allocating funds to the secondary market to increase short-term capital utilization.
II. The number of early-stage financing projects in Q1 increased by 10.5% year-on-year, and there are still many unverified technologies and solutions in the market**
2.1. Distribution of project financing amounts in Q1 2024
Source: RootData
In terms of financing amount intervals, the number of mid-to-late-stage investments (> $10M) in Q1 remained stable year-on-year, while early-stage investments (< $5M) increased by 16 projects year-on-year, indicating that the capital market may still be in a valuation correction phase, and that there are still many unverified technologies and solutions in the market.
According to RootData, the top five projects in terms of financing amounts in Q1 2024 collectively received over 400 million US dollars in financing. EigenLayer completed a $100 million financing round led by a16z Crypto, and re-staking was also one of the hottest trends in Q1 2024, with its TVL increasing by 1100% to $12 billion from $1 billion in Q1. After Ethereum 2.0's consensus transition to PoS (Proof of Stake), re-staking as a variant of staking has attracted more investors and projects.
2.2. Top 5 financing amounts in Q1 2024
Source: RootData
III. The total investment amount of the top ten institutions in Q1 increased by 120% month-on-month, with OKX Ventures making 30 investments and becoming the most active investment institution in Q1**
Source: RootData
According to RootData, the top ten investment institutions with the most investment activities in Q1 2024 participated in a total of 198 investments, an 85% year-on-year increase and a 120% month-on-month increase. Among these investments, infrastructure was the most popular track, with the top ten institutions making 96 investments, accounting for 48% of all their Q1 investments. This data saw a 300% month-on-month increase and a 153% year-on-year increase.
It is worth mentioning that in Q1, the top ten investment institutions made a total of 40 moves in the DeFi track, with a year-on-year and month-on-month increase of 54%; the top ten institutions made a total of 31 moves in the GameFi track, with a year-on-year and month-on-month increase of 210%. In contrast, the CeFi and DAO tracks in Q1 2024 almost did not receive favor from the top ten active investment institutions, perhaps due to compliance, commercialization challenges, and the size of the funding gap in these two tracks.
IV. Characteristics and trend analysis of popular searches in the Web3 industry
4.1 Bitcoin, Solana, and Blast ecosystem projects are growing rapidly, and the developer atmosphere and wealth effect are still important factors attracting developers
The number of projects in most L1/L2 ecosystems shows a "V" shape trend, with a sharp decrease in new projects in February, possibly due to the Lunar New Year holiday in East Asia, and reaching a peak in March for the first quarter.
Ethereum remains the preferred ecosystem for Web3 projects, and the Bitcoin, Solana, and Blast ecosystems are growing rapidly. The Bitcoin ecosystem has evolved from Inscriptions to Runes, and the narrative is still strengthening. SOL saw a surge of over 129% in the first quarter, making Solana one of the most eye-catching public chains. In the Blast ecosystem, 20 native projects completed financing, leading the way among other Layer2 projects.
The number of popular L1/L2 ecosystem projects not listed is in single digits, such as ZkSync, StarkNet, Aptos, Sui, Near, etc., which is related to the niche nature of the technical language, lack of effective guidance from foundations, or short mainnet operation cycles.
4.2 The allocation of Web3 investors' attention is significantly influenced by financing events, secondary sector rotation, and project TGE events
The RootData hot search rankings comprehensively consider the click volume, search volume, and collection volume of projects during the period, reflecting the market's trend of project popularity. Currently, this ranking has become an important reference for the heat of cryptocurrency projects.
Most of the projects on the list received large investments from well-known institutions, such as EigenLayer completing a $100 million Series B financing on February 22, which was the largest single financing in the first quarter. io.net completed a Series A financing with a valuation of $1 billion on March 5.
The outstanding performance of the secondary market has attracted investors' attention to "veteran" L1/L2 projects such as Solana and Metis. At the same time, emerging public chains like Aptos and Sui have also benefited from the rotation of L1/L2 sectors.
Project TGE events are an important factor in gaining market attention. Projects such as StarkNet, Manta, and ZetaChain announced airdrop plans in January.
The rotation of sectors such as AI, RWA, LSD, and DePIN has increased the demand from users to find popular investment targets, leading to a surge in the number of projects.
4.3 Project hot searches show correlation with secondary prices, and public chains and DeFi projects are still the most searched types by users.
RootData's popular projects and their secondary market performance (partial) Source: RootData
RootData released a total of 12 Top 20 project hot search weekly rankings in the first quarter, with a total of 113 projects making the list. Overall, search volume shows a close correlation with market performance, with influencing factors mainly including narratives, project TGE events, and market performance.
Public chains and DeFi searches account for the majority of asset types. New asset categories are most likely to attract investor attention, such as Layer3, modular networks, re-staking protocols…
Among the 12 projects with completed TGE events, RootData's search popularity shows correlation with secondary market performance, even demonstrating foresight in the secondary market performance of projects such as Pyth Network, Manta Network, and Jupiter.
4.4 Sam Altman tops the hot search and click rankings, and trading clues based on popular figures are attracting more investors' attention
Source: RootData
In the first quarter of 2024, 12 individuals consistently appeared on the hot search rankings, with Sam Altman being the most searched individual, he is the founder and CEO of OpenAI, and co-founder of Worldcoin. Following closely is Jack Lu, a partner at NGC Ventures, and co-founder of several popular blockchain projects such as BounceBit, Bitune, Bounce, Chainswap, etc. Additionally, Balaji Srinivasan, Jia Yaoqi, and Anatoly Yakovenko also maintain high popularity.
It is worth noting that during Q1, the market saw significant attention on investment targets such as the "Sam Altman concept," which aligns with the current Web3 industry's trading structure, mainly driven by retail investors, with WLD, ARKM, and FET becoming popular investment targets for the quarter. As the Web3 industry becomes more mature and attracts more mainstream investors/entrepreneurs, trading opportunities based on figures/events will continue to emerge.
Source: RootData
When a project completes a TGE event, there are usually significant personnel changes. Irene Wu, former Director of Strategy at LayerZero, has joined Bain Capital Crypto as a risk partner; Sebastien, former head of DeFi at zkSync, has left his position to become a co-founder of the modular blockchain Sophon at zkSync.
About RootData
RootData is a data platform for Web3 asset discovery and tracking, pioneering the encapsulation of on-chain and off-chain data for Web3 assets, with higher data structuring and readability, dedicated to becoming a productivity tool for Web3 enthusiasts and investors.
Website: https://www.rootdata.com/en
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RootDataLabs
Discord: https://discord.gg/AeKsqq9738
Note: This report was produced by RootData Research, and the information or opinions expressed in this report do not constitute investment strategies or advice for any individual. The information, opinions, and speculations in this report only reflect the judgment of RootData Research on the day of publication, and past performance should not be used as a basis for future performance. At different times, RootData Research may issue reports that are inconsistent with the information, opinions, and speculations contained in this report. RootData Research does not guarantee that the information contained in this report remains up to date, and the reliance on the information in this material is at the reader's discretion. This material is for reference only.
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