Payments Shine as Funding Cools

May Recap

After April saw a multi-year high in monthly funding, May’s total funding cooled significantly to $553 million, while deal count held relatively steady at 77 deals. Despite lower funding, stablecoin/payments related companies were a bright spot in May, with companies such as Plasma (DotM), Conduit, and Beam all raising capital. Infrastructure accounted for nearly three-quarters of total funding and about half of all deals. DeFi was the second leading category, totaling $88 million across 18 deals. Funding was well dispersed across deal stages, with five stages having over $75 million in funding. Token Sale was the leading stage at $135 million due to Worldcoin’s (WLD) $135 million private sale to a16z and Bain Capital Crypto. The Sam Altman backed digital identity protocol went live in the U.S. this month and allows users to verify their identity via iris scans in return for WLD tokens. News of an Altman and Jony Ive (infamous Apple device designer) partnership has raised speculation about Worldcoin’s integration into an OpenAI-powered consumer device.

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