Following similar moves by rivals, including FTX, the venture arm of a popular exchange has extended its fund size to $500 million.
Less than a year ago, the Singapore-headquartered firm unveiled its maiden fund of $200 million. Unlike many of its rivals, the fund has no LPs and is fully financed by the firm's balance sheet.
The maiden fund has so far deployed to back about 20 companies, including YGG SEA, DeBank, Efinity, and Matter Labs.
Jon Russell, who joined the firm as a general partner this month, said in an interview that the firm will continue to back early-stage companies.
The fund is focused on gaming, decentralization-finance and startups. He warned that the industry could change and expand, as it has in recent years, so the firm is keeping an eye on everything.
The growing involvement of cryptocurrencies exchanges in being the rainmaker and beneficiary of the industry in which they operate further illustrates the growing involvement of the industry in which they operate.
FTX, which has backed over 15 startups, last week announced a $2 billion fund. Sam Bankman-Fried is the founder of Alameda Research, a venture firm that has backed close to 100 web3 startups.
One of the most prolific investors in the web3 space are the investment arm of the only publicly traded coin exchange, and the largest coin exchange by trading volume.
The investment in web3 is by category.
The funding activity in the space is at an all-time high, even as most of the aforementioned names often co- invest in startups. According to a recent report, VCs invested more than $33 billion in the space in the year 2021, more than all prior years combined.
The report said that the valuation in the space was 141% higher than the rest of the venture capital space.
Dozens of venture capital firms have raised new funds for their investments. Last year, Hivemind Capital Partners announced a $1.5 billion fund, and Paradigm unveiled a $2.5 billion fund. A16z co-led a $2.2 billion fund with its co-lead,Katie Haun, who has left the firm to launch her own fund.
Russell, a former journalist who worked at The Next Web and The Ken, said that he is backing startups to help the ecosystem grow.
He said that it was in his interest to help companies grow in the ecosystems. Some of the major investors in Solana, Avalanche, and Polkadot are also aggressively backing startups that are building applications for the native blockchains.
He said that the backs of the exchange are not obligated to list their token on the exchange over any of its rivals. The exchange team doesn't have a soft spot for the investment arm's portfolio firms.
What is going on with the career move? I have been curious for a long time but I wasn't ready to dive full-time. The project is ambitious but it does things the right way. There is a lot of hype in the industry, but it is impossible to ignore the talent that is coming in.
In the past year, the site has aggressively expanded as it looks to court more users. The firm agreed to pay $700 million for the naming rights of the Los Angeles arena. The downtown Los Angeles complex will be called theCrypto.com Arena for the next 20 years.
At the time of the announcement that the move is positioned to make cryptocurrencies mainstream, the firm said it was the fastest-growing exchange in the world. The brand and cryptocurrencies were promoted by Matt Damon last year.
The ad was narrated by a man who said buying NFTs and cryptocurrencies was one of the greatest and boldest accomplishments in the history of humankind. Hyperbole, but having the most mainstream American actor as a celebrity sponsor has helped bring the trading platform into the mainstream. The ad was criticized for being cringeworthy.
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