Venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency space remained subdued in November, continuing a broader slowdown that has lingered into late 2025. Deal activity was again concentrated among a few significant raises from established companies.
As noted by Cointelegraph earlier, the third quarter exhibited a similar trend: total funding rose to $4.65 billion, according to Galaxy Digital, but deal counts fell short as capital predominantly flowed to larger, more mature firms.
November displayed a similar pattern. Data from RootData indicated only 57 disclosed crypto funding rounds for the month — one of the weakest counts of the year — despite noteworthy raises like Revolut’s $1 billion round and Kraken’s $800 million raise ahead of its expected initial public offering.
According to RootData, most of November’s deals were in the centralized finance, decentralized finance, and NFT–GameFi sectors.
While some of the decline in deal volume may be linked to broader market conditions, the trend presents long-term risks, stated Sarah Austin, co-founder of the real-world-asset gaming platform Titled. “Ultimately, this negatively impacts the entire industry because it’s during challenging times that the best deals are made,” she told Cointelegraph.
The latest edition of VC Roundup highlights just three funding deals across the decentralized perpetuals, onchain-yield, and Web3–AI sectors.
Ostium secures $24 million to scale onchain perpetuals protocol
Ostium, a decentralized perpetuals platform founded by former Harvard classmates, has secured $24 million in new funding to enhance its onchain perpetuals protocol across non-crypto markets such as stocks, commodities, indexes, and currencies.
The funding supports the company’s broader effort to position Ostium as a leading perpetuals protocol for real-world assets, expanding access to traditional markets through self-custodial infrastructure.
Ostium stated that the capital will be used to bolster its underlying systems, including smart contracts, pricing infrastructure, and liquidity engines, to facilitate higher trading volumes.
The company is backed by investors such as General Catalyst, Jump Crypto, Susquehanna International Group, and angel investors from Bridgewater, Two Sigma, and Brevan Howard.
Related: Decentralized exchange volumes increase on memecoin trading surge: CoinGecko
Axis raises $5 million for onchain yield protocol
Onchain revenue protocol Axis has raised $5 million in a private funding round led by Galaxy Ventures, as it prepares to launch an onchain yield protocol offering exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), gold, and the US dollar. Axis noted that the capital will aid in developing what it describes as a transparent, onchain yield infrastructure for digital assets.
The round also saw participation from OKX Ventures, Maven 11 Capital, CMS Holdings, and FalconX, among other investors.
Axis indicated that $100 million in private capital has already been deployed through its beta platform to stress-test the protocol’s engine.
Related: VC Roundup: Selective capital, shrinking rounds indicate crypto’s cautious reset
PoobahAI closes $2 million seed round for no-code platform
PoobahAI, a Texas-based startup that allows users to create tokenized Web3 networks and AI agents without coding, has secured $2 million in seed funding to expand its no-code development platform. The company’s tools aim to enable creators, developers, and businesses to launch onchain ecosystems and deploy AI agents without the need for technical expertise.
The emerging AI–Web3 ecosystem, blending artificial intelligence with decentralized infrastructure, is seen as a way to create more autonomous and user-controlled digital systems, allowing applications to function without centralized oversight.
The funding round was led by FourTwoAlpha, a venture firm recognized for early investments in Ethereum and Cosmos.
Related: AI hedge fund Numerai receives support from top university endowments, token skyrockets
