Crypto companies raised $1.36 billion through 41 venture rounds in July, according to CryptoRank data cited by Cryptopolitan. The total was only 6.8% lower than in June, but the underlying picture was weaker: the number of rounds dropped 28.1% month over month to the lowest level in the past year.

The data suggest capital remained available for a smaller group of companies rather than improving across the market. A single $400 million strategic round for Crypto.com accounted for 29.4% of all July VC funding, while the ten biggest rounds made up 85% of the month’s total.

Headline funding held up, but breadth narrowed

July’s $1.36 billion in venture funding was roughly in the middle of the range seen since August 2025, even though market participation weakened. Round count fell to 41, down sharply from both June and the 111 rounds recorded in July 2025.

Average round size rose from $25.6 million in June to $33.2 million in July, but that increase was largely a result of the biggest deal in the dataset. Excluding Crypto.com’s $400 million raise, July venture funding would have totaled $960 million across 40 rounds, equal to about $24 million per round and down 34.2% from June.

CryptoRank also identified $2.13 billion in publicly disclosed investment across transaction types in July. Venture rounds represented 63.9% of that figure, while Strategy’s $466.7 million post-IPO raise contributed 21.9% and Alpaca’s $300 million debt facility added 14.1%.

Later-stage rounds expanded while early-stage funding stayed limited

Series A and later rounds were the only major stage segment to grow in July. Funding in that group climbed 94.4% from $340 million in June to $661 million.

That improvement was still concentrated in a handful of deals. Augustus, Prime Intellect and Gauntlet together accounted for $435 million, or 65.8% of all Series A and later funding for the month. Strategic investment, by contrast, slipped 8.8% to $542 million, while Seed and Pre-Seed funding fell about 18% to $100 million.

Taken together, later-stage and strategic financings represented 88.5% of total VC investment in July, leaving early-stage rounds with only a small portion of disclosed capital.

Exchanges drew the most capital, while AI led by number of deals

Exchange-related companies attracted the most money in July, bringing in $543 million across seven rounds. Crypto.com alone supplied 73.7% of that category’s total. Payments ranked second with $244 million across four rounds, and AI followed with $232 million.

AI was the busiest category by volume, recording eight rounds, but even there funding was concentrated. Prime Intellect and Venice AI raised a combined $195 million, equal to 84.1% of AI investment for the month.

Among the larger disclosed raises were Crypto.com’s $400 million strategic round, EDX Markets’ $76 million Series C, Augustus’ $180 million Series B, Prime Intellect’s $130 million Series A and Venice AI’s $65 million Series A.

Fewer investors took part as large rounds dominated

CryptoRank counted 140 unique institutional investors in July, down 30.7% from 202 in June and 66.1% from 413 in July 2024. That was the lowest reading in the corrected 25-month series and broadly mirrored the decline in completed deals.

Coinbase Ventures was the most active investor by participation, appearing in five rounds, or 12.2% of the month’s total, though it was not listed as lead investor on any of them. Nascent followed with three investments, while most other top funds took part in two rounds each. Hack VC and Dragonfly stood out for leading both of their recorded investments.

The concentration was pronounced at the top end of the market. The ten largest rounds brought in $1.16 billion, equivalent to 85% of July VC funding, and the four largest accounted for $835 million, or 61.4%.

M&A activity stayed steady, but values were not disclosed

CryptoRank identified 17 merger and acquisition transactions in July, unchanged from June and slightly above the 12-month average of 16.4. None of the deals had publicly disclosed values, so only transaction count can be used to gauge buyer activity.

Infrastructure led M&A with five targets, followed by exchanges with four and DeFi with three. Together, those three categories made up 12 of the 17 transactions. Examples included Kraken’s acquisition of Newton Labs, FalconX’s purchase of bloXroute and MoonPay’s deal for Glide.

For now, the clearest confirmed takeaway from July is that total funding remained relatively resilient only because of a small number of large rounds. Whether market conditions are broadening again will depend on a recovery in round count, investor participation and funding outside the biggest transactions.

Source: Cryptopolitan