53 startups hit $1 billion valuations in July as 'hot unicorn summer' rages. Here are all of them.

• VC funding is on track to break records with $61 billion invested in July, Crunchbase found.
• Fifty-three new unicorns emerged in July, the second-highest monthly total so far this year.
• Among them is $18 billion crypto exchange FTX, founded by a 29-year-old former trader.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Summer has often been a slower period for VC activity — but not this year.

The brisk pace of venture-capital funding continued into July as investors poured $61 billion into private companies worldwide, Crunchbase found. As a result, venture activity remains well on track to break records this year.

Fifty-three startups became unicorns last month, with billion-dollar or higher valuations, especially in categories such as fintech and crypto.

The crypto exchange FTX, founded by the 29-year-old former trader Sam Bankman-Fried, topped the list by valuation. It's now valued at $18 billion after raising a $900 million Series B round from a group of more than 60 investors, including Sequoia Capital, Insight Partners, and the crypto-focused firm Paradigm.

OpenSea, an NFT startup, also breached the $1 billion mark, along with the blockchain-security startup Fireblocks and the Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin.

Here's the full list of July unicorns, according to Crunchbase.