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In 2017, ICOs raised over $5B across nearly 800 deals in 2017 while equity investors deployed $1B in 215 deals to the sector.
In Q1’17, 19 ICOs closed for about $21M. Three quarters later, in Q4’17, over 500 ICOs closed for almost $3B. According to CB Insights, 2017 saw over 5x more capital deployed in ICOs than in equity financings to blockchain startups. Q4’17 alone saw that number jump to 7x. The year’s biggest completed ICOs went to Tezos, for $230M, Filecoin for $200M+, and Sirin Labs, for $158M. Tezos, a blockchain governance project, remains embroiled in a legal battle over the funds it raised.. Filecoin is a tokenized storage platform — think: a decentralized Dropbox. Filecoin saw participation in its ICO pre-sale from VCs Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures, both long-time active investors in the blockchain space. This implies that the lines are blurring between equity and ICO financing.
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