Samsung, a South Korean electronics giant, was the most active investor, having invested in 13 start-ups between September 2021 and mid-June 2022, according to research firm Blockdata’s review of investments in blockchain and cryptocurrency businesses by leading corporations. Following closely after United Overseas Bank, which made investments in seven businesses, are two of the biggest names in American finance: Citigroup (6) and Goldman Sachs.
According to the data, of the total number of businesses (65) that received funding from the 40 largest firms during the review period, nearly half (31) were cryptocurrency or blockchain start-ups. These start-ups were sponsored by Samsung, United Overseas Bank, Citigroup, and Goldman Sachs.
Blockdata’s research nonetheless provides an estimate of the total amount invested by all the corporations despite the lack of data on the precise amount invested by each corporation.
“The 40 companies invested approximately $6 billion into blockchain start-ups between September 2021 and June 2022. Because some rounds involve participation from multiple investors, it is unclear how much each company invested in a project,” reads Blockdata’s research report.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, comes out on top in the category of businesses that took part in the largest investment rounds after contributing to transactions that garnered just under $1.51 billion. Having taken part in three investment rounds totalling $1.17 billion, Blackrock is in second place.
With participation in two rounds totalling $1.1 billion, the American financial services behemoth Morgan Stanley is in third position, followed by Samsung in fourth with $979 million.
Blockdata found that 19 of the start-ups receiving money were involved in “some sort of non-fungible tokens (NFT) solutions and services,” which is in line with the use cases that major corporations are interested in. Eleven companies in the business of offering gaming services, while 12 are marketplaces.
