What Funding Rounds Tell Us About Sector Rotation
We analyze 140+ demo funding rounds to test whether round activity leads or lags token performance by sector.
By Emily Zhang · 2026-08-23 00:00 UTC
Using the ZEVO funding dataset, we test whether sector-level round counts lead token performance. Rounds are aggregated by quarter and compared to 90-day returns.
The strongest lead-lag relationship appears in infrastructure and AI-related sectors, where funding precedes token launches by several quarters. Meme and consumer categories show no meaningful relationship — rounds are rare and returns are noise-dominated.
Methodology: rounds with unknown amounts are excluded; performance is measured on demo prices.
Covered assets
Methodology and calculations are available in the ZEVO analytics library. Demo dataset — not financial advice.