Crypto VC Funding Surges 71% in September as Polymarket Hits $2.1B

Crypto venture funding jumped 71.1% month-on-month to roughly $1.269 billion in September 2026, up from $742 million in August, according to RootData statistics — even as the number of disclosed deals barely moved, falling 1.6% to 61 projects. The year-on-year picture is far darker. September's total sits 79.2% below the $6.096 billion raised in September 2025, and deal count is down 35.1% from 94 projects a year earlier. The gap between a flat deal count and a surging dollar total means a handful of large rounds carried the month. The sector mix, per RootData: DeFi led at approximately 22.6% of deals, CeFi took 19.4%, RWA/DePIN 14.5%, AI 12.9%, Tool/Wallet 3.2%, and Privacy 1.6%. Polymarket leads the table. The prediction market platform closed a round in early September 2026 led by 1789 Capital, the venture firm where Donald Trump Jr. is a partner. The deal valued Polymarket at $2.1 billion post-money, up roughly 40% from around $1.5 billion in its previous round. 1789 Capital invested approximately $200 million, bringing its cumulative commitment to around $500 million. Stablecoin payments drew the deepest capital. Félix, a WhatsApp remittance platform serving Latino immigrants in the U.S., completed a combined $200 million Series B to push stablecoin-settled cross-border remittances into lending and savings. Andreessen Horowitz led an $87 million equity tranche, with QED Investors, Castle Island Ventures, Switch Ventures, Contour Venture Partners and Endeavor Catalyst participating. General Catalyst's Customer Value Fund supplied a $113 million credit facility. Users send money inside WhatsApp; the rails settle in USDC and recipients get local fiat. Jeeves, a corporate stablecoin banking platform, raised a $110 million Series C led by CoinFund, with AllianceBernstein, Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, CRV, GIC, ParaFi, Vista, Wintermute and Y Combinator among the backers. Between 50% and 60% of Jeeves' international payments currently settle in stablecoins such as USDC and EURC, and the money will fund stablecoin wallet infrastructure. Exchange incumbents went shopping. Nasdaq Ventures made a strategic investment of $100 million into Payward, the parent company of Kraken, at a $2.1 billion valuation. The investment extends a partnership announced in March under which Kraken will distribute stocks of Nasdaq-listed companies representing RWAs on its platform, with the market infrastructure slated for the second quarter of 2027. MoonPay took a different route, acquiring U.S. private market infrastructure platform North Capital in an all-stock transaction valued at over $60 million rather than raising cash. The deal awaits regulatory approval. Once closed, North Capital becomes a wholly-owned subsidiary, adding SEC-registered broker-dealer, alternative trading system, transfer agent and investment advisory businesses to support RWAs and on-chain capital markets. Market data also won institutional money. Kaiko, a blockchain market data provider, raised $57 million led by S&P Global, expanding its Series B to $110 million. Coinbase Ventures, Nasdaq Ventures, BNP Paribas, Bpifrance, Broadridge, DRW, Royal Bank of Canada and Susquehanna participated. Kaiko will build out on-chain market data, indices and infrastructure, and will work with S&P Global on digital asset indices. Debt structures gained ground alongside equity. The World Foundation said its subsidiary, World Assets, Ltd., sold $49 million of WLD tokens in over-the-counter transactions over the past month, all subject to a one-year lock-up. Remaining deliveries and settlements were expected to close during the week of the announcement. On September 15, 2026, USD.AI secured a $40 million revolving stablecoin debt facility from crypto-native asset manager K3 Capital, collateralized by sUSDai. Developed by Permian Labs, the roughly three-year loan carries monthly repayments and can be drawn, repaid and reused to fund new products. It follows $100 million in stablecoin debt financing previously provided by Bullish. Series A rounds targeted stablecoin rails. HIFI, a stablecoin infrastructure company, closed a $37 million Series A on September 24, 2026, led by Left Lane Capital, whose Managing Partner Matthew Miller joined the board. HIFI serves more than 10,000 enterprises and 200,000 end users across roughly 87 countries, has participated in DTCC's repo pilot program, and will use the funds for licenses, team expansion in New York and overseas, and a product push into card issuance and RWA capital markets. On September 9, 2026, Latitude, a cross-border stablecoin payment infrastructure company, raised a $35 million Series A led by Oak HC/FT, with NEA, Coinbase Ventures, Lightspeed Faction and OpenFX participating. The round follows an $8 million seed earlier this year, bringing cumulative fundraising to $43 million. Latitude links stablecoin settlement to local bank accounts and mobile wallets, letting recipients collect fiat without holding a crypto wallet. RootData cautions that projects with undisclosed amounts count only toward deal totals, and figures may be revised as financings surface after month-end. Even so, September's concentration of nine-figure rounds — led by names like S&P Global, Nasdaq Ventures and General Catalyst — signals that institutional capital is now setting the pace in crypto's on-chain payments and RWA buildout.