CHART: Web3 startup investment declined by 82% YoY in Q1 2023

Emmanuel Oyedeji -

Investment to venture capital (VC)-backed Web3 startups has plummeted to levels not seen since the industry's early days, as VCs pump the brakes on spending big in the space, based on data aggregated by Crunchbase.

This result underscores the woes of an industry that is still reeling from the dramatic collapse of FTX, as well as several other crypto lenders and even some of the banking issues that rattled the economy in general.

R.I.P Lazerpay 2021-2023
☕Techloy Weekly (formerly The Draft) is a data-focused newsletter providing news and insights into technology across the world’s largest emerging markets from trusted sources. If you’re not already a member, join today. As someone who has been following the journey of Lazerpay, a crypto startup fou…
TechloyEmmanuel Oyedeji

Venture funding to the industry nosedived by 82% YoY, from $9.1 billion in Q1 of 2022 to only $1.7 billion in Q1 of 2023. This number also marks a 30% decline from Q4 2022, and the lowest since Q4 2020, when Web3 was still new and only $1.1B was invested.

Deal flow also experienced a significant decline as seen on the Techloy Chart below, with only 333 deals being completed in Q1, a significant drop from the previous quarter's 369, and a much steeper decline from the more than 500 deals announced in Q1 2022.