Is a decentralised

future possible?
Going beyond crypto,
why blockchain matters

29 JULY 2021
 Global data platform for intelligence on startups,
innovation, ecosystems and venture capital.
Created by Dealroom and Sifted, and supported by the
European Commission and European Parliament,
European Startups is a two-year project aimed at

x facilitating informed conversation and collaboration

among European tech ecosystem stakeholders, to take
Europe’s startup economy to the next level.

At the centre of the initiative is the European Startups

database, a definitive platform providing macro-level
trends. We also publish several research reports and
Financial Times-backed new media site organise a few events each year.
telling the untold Stories of European Tech.

Page / 2 EuropeanStartups.co
 Previous reports:

» Startup cities (July ‘8)

» Corporate innovation (June ‘21)

» Deep Tech (Jan ‘21)

» Index Ventures / Not Optional (Oct ‘20)

» Covid-19 Startup Survey (July ‘20)

» Europe stepping up (June ‘20)

» Launch report (April ‘20)

Page / 3
 Why this Blockchain report. Event participants
On 15th July 2021, Dealroom and Sifted co-hosted an expert panel
on the future of blockchain. While blockchain-related headlines
often focus on the wild west of volatile crypto prices, high-profile
memecoin adoption, scams and token crazes, we wanted to explore
the diverse applications of burgeoning blockchain technology,
beyond crypto.

Éanna Kelly Jessi Baker

Watch again for the full discussion.
Contributing Editor Founder & CEO
Sifted Provenance
As the European Union itself is a largely decentralized community,
the European Commission understands more than many the
potential of blockchain technology for our future. The European
Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) has applications for
notorization, educational qualifications, self-sovereign identity and
trusted data sharing.

Startup investment and innovation in blockchain is undergoing a

step change in Europe and around the world. The ecosystems that
Peteris Zilgalvis Nicolas Brand
can successfully connect public and private realms, as well and
Head of Unit Partner
digital and physical worlds, will be the first to capitalize on the
DG Connect, EC Lakestar
freedoms, efficiency and transparency of a decentralized future.

Page / 4 EuropeanStartups.co
“Blockchain is the ideal technology for the EU because it
is multilevel, and enables multilevel distributed
governance”

“Sometimes it's said that Blockchain is a team sport. Connecting up nodes is

relatively straightforward. Bringing forward lots of different actors, organising how
they interact and getting them to work together for real world applications, that's
the hard part. Just like in the real world!”

“That is why the European Blockchain Partnership of EU Member States, Norway

and Liechtenstein is building together the European Blockchain Services
Infrastructure and deploying on it use cases on self-sovereign identity, the
publishing of audited documents for transparency, access to finance for SMEs,
education diploma portability and regtech application for reporting among others.“

Peteris Zilgalvis
Head of Unit,
Digital Innovation and
Blockchain DG CONNECT
 Blockchain startups are now worth a combined €237B, an 18x increase
since 2016.
Global combined enterprise value of blockchain startups » view online
Most valuable blockchain startups
€250B
€237B

€200B
18x €45B €16B
Public Private
▊ €8.0B+
€150B Decacorns

€100B
€14B €9B
Private Private
▊ €800M-€8.0B
Unicorns
€50B
▊ €200M-€800M
€8B €5.5B
€13B Future unicorns
▊ €0M-€200M
Public* Public
10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20
Page / 6 Source: Dealroom.co. *Going public through SPAC. Deal only announced, not completed
US and Asian investors are most active when it comes to cross-border
investment in the space.
% of investment by source of capital » view online
100%
Notable investors in blockchain
▊Unknown HQ
▊ RoW

▊Asia
80%

▊ USA
60%

▊ Europe

40%

▊ Domestic
20%

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

YTD
 VC funding in blockchain grew 5.9x to €7.1B in the first half of 2021,
crushing previous records from 2018.
Global VC investment in blockchain » view online Top rounds in 2021
€8B

€7.1B

2.7x
€6B ▊ Megarounds plus €250M+ $900M $532M $440M
Series B Series B Growth Equity

5.9x
▊ Megarounds €100M–
€4B €250M
$400M $380M $350M
Early VC Series C Series D

€2.6B
▊ Series C €40M–€100M

€2B

€1.2B ▊ Series B €15M-€40M $310M $305M $300M

Series D Late VC Series C
▊ Series A €4M-€15M
▊ Seed €1M-€4M
▊ Pre-seed €0M-€1M
H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Page / 8 Source: Dealroom.co

 In Europe, VC investment in blockchain is also booming, up 6x year on year.

VC investment in European blockchain » view online Top rounds in 2021

€8B

€1.5B
€6B $532M $380M $300M
Series B Series C Series C

6.0x ▊ Megarounds plus €250M+

€4B
$170M $50M CHF50M
Series B Series B Early VC
▊ Megarounds €100M–€250M

▊ Series C €40M–€100M
€2B
▊ Series B €15M-€40M
€0.3B $40M $29M $25M
▊ Series A €4M-€15M Early VC Early VC Series A

▊ Seed €1M-€4M
▊ Pre-seed €0M-€1M
H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Page / 9 Source: Dealroom.co

“Where Blockchain is currently causing the most
amount of havoc is around the question “What is
money?”.
“Most of our societies work with the idea of a central bank and
commercial banks. That is over 100 years old, and we would expect some
change in a 100 year period.

"Especially in fintech, there is this narrative of DeFi as the new world and
CeFi as the traditional old way. I think going forward we will see a lot of
interaction between centralized and decentralized networks, just like the
mesh of networks of the Internet. This will bring efficiency to our costly and
inefficient financial system made of legacy system over legacy system."

Nicolas Brand
Partner
Lakestar
 Fintech has attracted 3.5x more blockchain investment than all other
industries combined in H1 2021.

Global VC investment in blockchain for fintech » view online Global VC funding in blockchain for other industries » view online

€8B €2.0B
€1.8B
€6.5B

€6B €1.5B

€4B €1B

€2B €0.5B

H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1 H1
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021

Page / 11 Source: Dealroom.co

But blockchain is increasingly finding applications in many other industries.

» Investment by industries

» investment by sub-industries

» investment by business model

More ...

Page / 12 Source: Dealroom.co

“Everything is going to be tokenized, but the we have to
think beyond just the digital world.

“One of the most important imperatives we have to think about right now is how do
we protect our natural world. It’s difficult, since connecting digital and physical is still
nigh on impossible, but we have to think about how tokens can incentivize
preservation of natural ecological systems.

“I see in blockchain a chance to recalibrate capitalism. We have destroyed the planet

and we need increasing big step change innovation to align as humanity and tackle
the problems we have ahead of us. But will blockchain really be a force for good? Still
this is ahead of us to see”

Jessi Baker
Founder & CEO
Provenance
 The most valuable blockchain applications have been built in fintech, but
other huge value is being created also in other verticals.

Fintech €206B

Enterprise software €25B

Gaming €9.2B

Security €6.4B

Media €3.5B

Impact €0.9B

Page / 14 Source: Dealroom.co

There are 38 blockchain unicorn startups. 80% of them are finance/crypto,
while gaming is also capitalizing through the rise of NFTs.

Cumulative number of blockchain unicorns

38

16
13
8

2018 2019 2020 2021

» Blockchain unicorns
“One of the areas we are most excited is the
intersection of blockchain and virtual worlds, such as
with Non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
“The pandemic has shown that actually people hang out a lot more in virtual
spaces, and the pandemic has been a tailwind of that. If you talk to Gen Z about
when are you online and when are you offline, they don't understand the
question. The same ways that we curate ourselves offline with clothes and
handbags etc, the same laws and behaviours apply online too.

“NFTs are mainly a way to bring technological functionality and create digital
scarcity. Apart from a small fraction of NFTs creators, popular artists and rock
stars that can actually monetize it, they are going to be technology in the
background, powerful but people won't recognize they are using it.”

Nicolas Brand
Partner
Lakestar
Investment into non-fungible tokens (NTFs) is already up 30x this year

Global VC funding into

NFTs startups

€1.5B

30x

€50M

2020 2021

»NFT startups
Rewatch the event