Top institutional investors are piling into crypto startups to the tune of $22 billion in 2025.
And not even the record 43-day US government shutdown, $1 trillion of market value evaporating, and growing uncertainty about the global economy are discouraging them from ploughing even more into blockchain-based businesses.
That’s according to Eva Oberholzer, chief investment officer of venture capital firm Ajna Capital, who told DL News that sentiment is now shifting “from hype to proof” as core infrastructure “continues to attract institutional checks.”
“We are seeing a split,” Oberholzer said. “Traditional Series A rounds take longer, while community rounds fill quickly because the buyers actually use the product.”
And Oberholzer is not the only one seeing upside.
Despite turbulence, “we’re still seeing major startups like MegaETH, Polymarket or Kalshi go to market,” Shane Molidor, founder of crypto investment bank and advisory firm Forgd, told DL News.
Indeed, five crypto companies raised over $87 million in the second week of November, according to DefiLlama data.
That brings the total funding for crypto companies to over $22 billion so far in 2025, doubling 2024’s total. Codebase expects $25 billion to be doled out to crypto companies this year.
Big-name investors cutting cheques this week include Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, known for early backing of Palantir and SpaceX, Robinhood’s venture capital arm, which rarely makes frontier investments, and Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto division.
“Investor sentiment remains cautiously optimistic,” Ron Tarter, co-founder of stablecoin issuer MNEE told DL News. “We see VCs and family offices with capital to allocate.”
Here are the crypto companies that raised the most money this week.
Lighter, $68 million
This week, trading platform Lighter raised $68 million in a new round backed by Founders Fund, Ribbit Capital, Robinhood, and Haun Ventures, Fortune reported. The deal values Lighter at $1.5 billion, making it a so-called unicorn.
Lighter is a decentralised exchange and blockchain designed for perpetual futures trading, with plans to add spot markets. It runs on a custom Ethereum layer 2 and has rapidly climbed rankings for total value locked.
Already profitable, Lighter joins a new generation of DeFi exchanges like Hyperliquid aiming to unseat centralised giants such as Binance.
Founder Vladimir Novakovski said the firm’s goal “is to build the infrastructure that guarantees transparency, fairness and correctness in all financial transactions.”
Seismic, $10 million
Crypto infrastructure startup Seismic raised $10 million in a funding round led by a16z crypto, with support from Polychain, Amber Group, LayerZero, dao5, and TrueBridge, Fortune reported. The latest round brings Seismic’s total funding to $17 million.
