💰 Web3 Funding Is Picking Up Again

According to Galaxy, more than $20B was invested in crypto and blockchain startups in 2025.

That’s the largest annual amount since 2022 and more than double the 2023 figure.

Investor sentiment is gradually improving. Deal activity is picking up again.

For founders, this means one important thing: capital is still out there.

The real challenge isn’t the lack of investors — it’s finding the right ones and reaching them directly.

To help founders speed up fundraising, we prepared several ready-to-use investor databases in the InnMind Knowledge Base 👇

These databases help founders skip weeks of investor research and start outreach immediately.

🔌 150+ DePIN Investors Database
VCs actively funding decentralized infrastructure: AI compute, IoT, mapping, connectivity, energy, and more.

🤖 200+ AI Angel Investors
Hard-to-find angels investing in AI startups at Pre-Seed and Seed stages.

🏛 100+ DAO Investors List
Active investment DAOs supporting crypto and Web3 projects.

💰 600 Web3 VC Investors List
Direct contacts of decision-makers in leading crypto venture funds.

👼 200+ Web3 Angel Investors
Verified angels investing in DeFi, infrastructure, gaming, NFTs, and more.

All investor lists — along with fundraising templates, guides, and startup tools — are available with an InnMind membership.

👉 Learn more

2026 founder meta:

This market doesn’t reward the smartest.
It rewards the ones too stubborn to give up.

Be unkillable & keep pinging until they regret ignoring you.

PS: are you pinging all those investors on InnMind?

⚠️ War, Oil, and Crypto: What the US–Iran Conflict Means for Web3 Founders

When geopolitics escalates, markets react instantly. Oil jumps. Gold rallies. Crypto struggles.

The recent US–Iran escalation is more than a headline — it’s a macro shock that could influence capital flows and Web3 investment dynamics in 2026.

Here’s what founders should keep in mind:

1️⃣ Liquidity may tighten

Rising oil and gas prices push inflation higher.
Higher inflation means central banks are less likely to cut rates.

Less liquidity → lower risk appetite from investors.

And Web3 startups sit at the highest end of the risk spectrum.

2️⃣ Crypto becomes more volatile

During global uncertainty, capital tends to rotate into safer assets like gold or government bonds.

Crypto usually reacts with higher volatility, because risk exposure is the first thing investors reduce.

3️⃣ Token sales face tougher scrutiny

In uncertain markets, hype stops working.

Investors start asking harder questions about real demand, actual users and metrics.

Follower counts alone won’t convince anyone.

4️⃣ What founders should focus on

Instead of trying to predict geopolitics, focus on resilience:
• build real product usage
• maintain runway
• design sustainable tokenomics
• grow a high-signal community

💭 Final thought

Macro shocks always filter the market.
Projects with real traction, strong tokenomics, and active communities will still attract capital.

For founders, the priority remains the same: build something real 🚀

💰 How Web3 Founders Stack Up to $1M in Non-Dilutive Funding

In the current market, runway is everything.
But raising equity at a lower valuation isn’t the only option.

Many Web3, AI, and fintech startups extend their runway through non-dilutive funding (grants) — and some teams stack $1M+ over time without giving up equity 🤩

So what separates founders who actually win grants from those who keep getting rejected?

They don’t treat grants like a lottery. They treat them like a pipeline.

In our new article, we break down the playbook used by successful teams:

🔹 Why most grant applications fail
🔹 How to turn your roadmap into fundable milestones
🔹 How to build a repeatable grant pipeline (like a sales funnel)
🔹 What reviewers actually look for in applications
🔹 A realistic 90-day plan to start stacking non-dilutive funding

We also explain how XFounders helps Web3 startups improve their grant success by working closely with ecosystem operators and mentors — including leaders from the Starknet Foundation.

📖 Read the full article

If you're a product-stage Seed or Series A startup ready to ship measurable milestones in the next 8–12 weeks, you can also apply to the next XFounders cohort.

👉 Apply here (takes ~5 minutes)

Build momentum. Stack wins. Keep shipping. 🚀

⚠️ Startup founders: how many tools are you actually using right now?

Be honest. 5? 10? 20+? 👀

Many founders believe that adding more tools = more productivity. In reality, it often becomes the opposite.

Switching between 10+ apps drains your focus, burns cash, creates messy integrations, and increases security risks.

So how do you fix the “tool overload” trap? - 🛠 5 simple rules:

1️⃣ Audit monthly — cancel tools that don’t have a clear owner.
2️⃣ Consolidate — aim for max 3 core tools per function.
3️⃣ Track ROI for 90 days — if it doesn’t move a key metric, drop it.
4️⃣ Automate first — before buying another SaaS.
5️⃣ Buy tools only when milestones demand it.

Used correctly, tools can save huge amounts of time — especially with AI now automating marketing, analytics, and customer interactions.

If you’re building your startup’s marketing stack, this guide might help.

But now we’re curious:
💬 Founders: what’s ONE tool your startup absolutely can’t live without?

Drop it in the comments — let's build a community stack 👇

Market-Maker Insider #1

Your token can dump 56% - not because of the market or a hack, but because of the very market maker you hired.

A new weekly rubric in InnMind telegram: raw, unfiltered insights from inside the market-making industry for founders who want to see the traps before they sign. Use #MarketMakerInsider for navigating.

🧵 Founders are getting quietly wrecked by their own market makers. Here's what's actually happening — and how to protect yourself.

A project recently watched helplessly as their token dumped 56% in days.
From $1.85 → $0.82.

The team didn't rug.
There was no hack.

Their market maker did it.

Here's how the loan-based MM model works — and why it's a trap:

The MM borrows a large chunk of your tokens at TGE.
They're supposed to "provide liquidity."

But they now hold YOUR tokens with zero downside risk.
They can sell whenever it's profitable for THEM.

In this case?

One of the largest LPs (DWF Labs) in crypto — visible enough that their ads dominate major events and their portfolio is on CoinMarketCap.

The founder did not even know that instead of liquidity he would be a slave to DWF Labs for 2 years.

Selling started shortly after.
Chart speaks for itself.

This isn't rare.
It's the default model.

And most founders sign it because they don't know there's another option.

There is.

Retainer-based MM means:
→ The MM never holds your tokens
→ The job is to serve YOUR liquidity needs — not the MM’s own P&L

No loans.
No hidden dump incentive.
No surprises on the chart.

If your MM borrowed your tokens, they are not on your side.

Before you sign anything, ask your MM one question:

“Are you taking a loan of our tokens?”

If yes — or if they dodge the answer — walk away.

Your community deserves better than that.

(c) Contributed by Eugen from EasyMM, a market-maker, trusted by many founders on InnMind.
💬 Connect with him on InnMind or X.

Views expressed are the author’s own.

💡 Web3 Founders: A Practical Path to Non-Dilutive Funding

Many founders still treat grants like random luck. But the teams that consistently win funding treat them like a pipeline — structured, repeatable, and tied to real milestones.

We recently published a practical guide explaining how Web3 startups stack up to $1M+ in non-dilutive funding over time, and how programs like XFounders help founders improve their success rate by working directly with ecosystem operators and mentors.

📖 Read the full article

If you're a product-stage Web3, AI, or fintech startup, you can also apply to the XFounders accelerator.

Eligibility criteria:
• $300K+ raised externally or $10K+ monthly revenue
• Complementary founder skillsets within the team
• Interest in integrating with ecosystems such as Starknet Foundation

📝 Apply here (takes ~5 minutes)

Build real traction. Stack wins. Let momentum compound. 🚀

🚀 What Crypto Users Really Want from Your Token Launch

FOLIO just dropped a new report based on 11,770 votes from 2,000+ users.

And the key takeaway is simple:

👉 Founders often build for what they think users want… not what users actually value.

Here’s where expectations break:

• Staking ≠ real utility → users prefer product access
• Complex incentives → users want simplicity
• Weekly updates → too slow, 24h feedback is expected
• Equal distribution → per-wallet caps win
• Speed → less important than clear rules

💡 If your tokenomics is based on assumptions, you risk missing real demand.

📖 Read the full report

📈 What is FOLIO?

FOLIO is a gamified research platform (50K+ users) that helps Web3 projects test ideas through prediction-based polls.

Instead of surveys, you get real behaviour signals — revealing the gap between perceived consensus and actual user preference.

InnMind startups can get a free trial to test engagement & growth loops here.

Turn community attention into real user behaviour 🚀

🚀 AI Tools Are Everywhere. Useful Ones Are Rare

In 2026, every founder’s feed looks the same:
new AI tools dropping daily, bold promises, shiny demos… and then silence.

The real problem is no longer access. It’s selection.

We just published a no-BS guide on what AI tools are actually worth using for startups 👇

Here’s the reality most founders are starting to realize:

💡 You don’t need more tools
💡 You need a stack that saves time every single week

What actually moves the needle:

• tools that organize your team’s knowledge and workflows
• tools that turn calls into insights instead of forgotten notes
• tools that automate repetitive operations
• tools that speed up content, SMM, and distribution
• tools that show how users behave and where you lose them

That’s it. No hype stack. No 20 subscriptions.

⚡️ The best AI setup is not the most advanced one
⚡️ It’s the one your team actually uses every day

We broke it all down in a practical, founder-first way
→ what matters, what doesn’t, and where most teams waste time

👉 Read the full guide

Build smarter. Not louder.

Active AI Angel Investors & Operator-Angels (2026 updated & enriched)

While everyone is freaking out about bleeding markets and the global macro chaos, we put our heads down & did something practical. 🛠️

Raising an early-stage AI round in 2026 is too hard. Traditional VCs and "tourist" angels are frozen. If you are raising right now, those main people actively writing checks for early stage projects are "operator-angels" - tech founders and builders who actually understand what you're building.

So we did a massive cleanup of the InnMind AI Angel Investors Database to reflect the reality of the market today:

✅ Added 40+ net-new, highly active operator-angels (deploying $50k-$500k checks right now).
✅ Enriched the portfolios & focus areas of the most active existing angels.
✅ Cleaned out the noise and inaccessible celebrity billionaires who never reply to cold emails anyway.

It’s ~350 verified contacts built specifically for your cold outreach.

Stop chasing ghost funds. Go pitch the builders.

👇 Grab the updated 2026 DB here:
https://innmind.com/downloads/ai-angel-investors-database/