One of the vital cryptocurrencies exchanges has increased its startup fund to $500 million to help the embryonic ecosystem thrive.
A little more than a year after announcing its initial $200 million fund, Singapore-based Crypto.com Capital is expanding its reach. Like many of its competitors, the fund has no LPs.
YGG SEA, DeBank, Efinity, and Matter Labs have all profited from the fund’s initial investments. They have a total value of $10 million.
A new general partner at Crypto.com, Jon Russell told TechCrunch that the firm would keep investing in early-stage companies.
Primary focus of Crypto.com
Investing in gaming, decentralized finance, and cross-chain enterprises will be a primary emphasis of Crypto.com’s fund. The sector may alter and expand in ways “we don’t know about,” he said. The company is keeping a close check on everything. This has happened in recent years.
As disclosed on Tuesday, it also indicates how bitcoin exchanges are increasingly active in ecosystems that encompass their business.
FTX, which has invested in more than a dozen firms, unveiled a $2 billion crypto fund earlier this month. Since its inception, its CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has owned Alameda Research. It is an investment company that has funded more than a hundred web3 companies.
They include Coinbase Ventures, a subsidiary of the sole publicly-traded crypto exchange; and Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily trading volume.
Though several of these names frequently co-invest in companies, the funding activity in this field is at an all-time high. A recent Galaxy Digital survey found that VCs invested more in 2021 than in the previous five years combined.
More than one-fourth of all venture capital investments went into the cryptocurrency and blockchain sector. Founder-friendly workplaces and fierce competition for allocations show this, according to study.
In addition, a number of venture capital firms have raised additional cash to invest in crypto. Last year, Andreessen Horowitz unveiled a $2.2 billion crypto fund, followed by Paradigm ($2.5 billion) and Hivemind ($1.5 billion). Another co-founder, Katie Haun, left a16z to start her crypto-focused fund.
Russell, a former TechCrunch, Next Web, and The Ken writer, said Crypto.com helps entrepreneurs build the ecosystem.
If you work in the industry, it’s in your best interest to help other companies and the ecosystem grow. Solana, Avalanche (Polkadot), and other principal owners invest in companies creating native blockchain apps.
Crypto.com-backed tokens not on the exchange
Crypto.com-backed tokens are not listed on the exchange. The investment arm’s portfolio companies don’t have a soft spot in our exchange team, he said.
I’ve been curious about cryptocurrency for a long time, but I wasn’t ready to put money in it until recently. Crypto.com appeals to me because of its high ambitions without compromising on quality. It’s hard to ignore the talent flood in the crypto and web3 businesses right now he said.
Professor Matt Blaze (who sold the name to the crypto exchange) started Crypto.com as a blog. It has grown rapidly in the last year as it seeks to attract more people. For the Staples Center’s naming rights. Last year, the corporation domiciled in Singapore agreed to pay a settlement of about $700 million. The Crypto.com Arena complex in downtown Los Angeles remained unnamed for the next 20 years. The “fastest-growing” crypto exchange claims that this effort will bring cryptocurrency to the public’s attention.
The Damon-staring commercial compared buying crypto tokens and NFTs to one of humanity’s greatest and bravest achievements. A famous actor endorsing the cryptocurrency trading platform and its products has done wonders for its visibility. Although some found the ad cringe worthy, it went viral.
