DePIN early-stage fundraising has grown 296% YoY: Messari

The decentralized physical infrastructure network market continues to see significant growth, with funding for earliest-stage projects increasing 296% year-over-year.

According to details shared by crypto market intelligence platform Messari on X, early-stage DePIN projects had raised more than $246 million across 70 deals by Aug. 1, 2024. IoTeX (IOTX) is the platform that has so far registered one of the biggest funding rounds in this ecosystem.

In terms of volume, the figure represents a 296% year-over-year jump, Messari noted. Comparatively, the total market cap of the top DePIN projects grew 400% within the past year to currently put the sector at $20 billion.

DePIN sector seeing growth

The growth in the decentralized physical infrastructure network market has seen a number of new projects attracting the most attention from venture capital firms and other investors.

These emerging projects are also likely to challenge top artificial intelligence and DePIN platforms such as Filecoin (FIL), Helium (HNT) and The Graph (GRT). Some of the new players are in decentralized gaming infrastructure, AI data layer, and robotics.

Biggest DePIN funding deals so far

According to Messari, two of the top three largest deals for DePIN in 2024 as of Aug. 1 are investments into L1 projects IoTeX and peaq.

IoTeX is a modular infrastructure platform that raised $50 million in a strategic funding round in April. Investors included Borderless Capital, Amber Group, and Foresight Ventures among other VC firms. Meanwhile, peaq is a DePIN and machine real-world assets platform that has raised $30 million in a strategic funding round led by Borderless Capital and Generative Ventures.

Revenue still low

Despite the significant spike in funding and overall market cap growth, the DePIN sector has not recorded a substantial increase in revenue.

Only four of the industry’s largest DePIN-focused projects rank in the top eight protocols by revenue.

“The overall lackluster revenue growth reflects the DePIN sector continuing to be primarily demand-constrained,” Messari analysts wrote.

A lot of this is down to centralized platforms that have a bigger chunk of the market thanks to their widely integrated solutions.