Moralis, which makes tools to build blockchain-based web apps, raises a $40M Series A from Coinbase Ventures and others, sources say at a $215M valuation
Hannah Miller / Bloomberg :
Context & Ripple Effects
Moralis sells the plumbing developers use to build blockchain-based apps, and its $40M Series A lands near the tail end of a funding run that included Chainalysis doubling its valuation to $2B+ on a $100M Series D and Blockchain.com raising $300M at $5.2B. What distinguishes this round is the lead investor profile: Coinbase Ventures typically writes seed checks of $50K–$250K with no full-time staff, so anchoring a $215M-valuation Series A marks a step up in check size for an arm that had backed over 150 companies across three years.
The timing matters because PitchBook data shows Coinbase Ventures completed 11 deals in Q3 2022, down from 65 in Q1, with Kraken Ventures and Binance Labs cutting similarly — meaning Moralis closed its round just before the exchange-affiliated venture arms collectively throttled back.
First-order effects
- Moralis gains a war chest to scale its blockchain development tooling at a $215M valuation, while Coinbase Ventures adds a mid-stage position far larger than its usual seed-sized checks.
Second-order effects
- As Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, and Binance Labs cut dealmaking after Q1 2022, crypto startups lose their most accessible strategic backers, pushing founders toward generalist funds — though security-focused infrastructure still drew capital, as when Halborn raised a $90M Series A led by Summit Partners months later.
Third-order effects
- If the exchange-VC retreat holds, the 2021 model of ecosystem funding — where platforms like Coinbase seeded hundreds of projects to grow their own networks — gives way to fewer, larger rounds concentrated in picks-and-shovels categories like analytics, security, and developer tooling.
The trend: Crypto infrastructure funding is rotating from broad, exchange-led seed spraying during the 2021 boom toward selective large rounds in developer and security tooling as market conditions tighten through 2022.