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Crypto venture capital firms see surging assets under management

April 5, 2022 Coin Telegraph

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Filings reveal the massive amount of assets that crypto venture funds are managing, Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) crypto funds were also disclosed to be worth around $9 billion.

Venture capital (VC) firms focused on Web3 projects and crypto businesses are accumulating billions of dollars worth of assets under management as more capital is injected into the sector.

The assets under management figure for Web3 and crypto investment firm Paradigm has recently been revealed. Filings show that the firm has $13.2 billion in assets, a growth of 343% compared to the $2.98 billion reported in a filing in December 2020.

The filings were reviewed by business journalist Eric Newcomer. Writing for his newsletter, he looked at recent applications with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for some of the biggest venture capital firms in the Web3 and crypto sectors.

To be registered as an “investment advisor,” these firms must disclose their regulatory assets under management with the SEC.

The applications also revealed that Andreessen Horowitz's (a16z) crypto-focused funds totaled around $9 billion. Overall, its total assets under management for all investments topped $54.6 billion.

Sequoia Capital and Tiger Global also posted some big numbers, with $85.5 billion and $124.7 billion respectively, Tiger seeing a 58% increase from $79.1 billion in its filings from last year.

The findings come after a recent report that venture capital money is pouring into crypto. In 2021, $25.2 billion worth of venture capital funding went to global blockchain startups, a 713% increase from the $3.1 billion in 2020.

Expectations could be greater for 2022. In January, a16z revealed that it is gearing up to raise $4.5 billion for its latest fund focused on cryptocurrencies. Venture capital firms are also keenly looking at Solana’s NFT offerings for further opportunities.

The Solana network offers significantly lower transaction costs than Ethereum at faster speeds, and a few Solana-based gaming and NFT companies are seeing big money from VCs, according to reports.

Fractal, a Solana NFT gaming marketplace, raised $35 million on Friday, April 1st, in a round led by Paradigm with participation from a16z. Magic Eden, a popular Solana NFT market, raised $27 million in a Series A round in mid-March, also led by Paradigm, with other funds coming from Sequoia Capital.

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Crypto investor Katie Haun raises $1.5 billion for Web3 venture fund

March 23, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Crypto investor Katie Haun raises .5 billion for Web3 venture fund

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The largest-ever venture fund for a solo female partner will invest in Web3 projects through two funds, a $500 million early-stage fund, and a $1 billion acceleration fund.

Katie Haun, crypto investor and board member for Coinbase and OpenSea announced that she had raised $1.5 billion for her new fund, Haun Ventures.

On Tuesday, March 22, Haun posted an article on Twitter, briefly introducing the firm and sharing that the funds would be used to invest in Web3 projects.

Introducing @HaunVentures, a firm built for the next generation of the internet. We’ve raised $1.5 billion across two funds to invest in web3. An exciting first step, but the real work begins now. https://t.co/tBeE4OEJkD
— Kathryn Haun (@katie_haun) March 22, 2022

The firm will invest through two funds, a $500 million early-stage fund, and a $1 billion acceleration fund. The two funds represent the largest debut on record for investment vehicles led by a female General Partner, according to data from PitchBook.

Haun stated that the firm will invest in “every layer of the web3 tech stack”, and seeks to back projects in both their early and growth stages, adding that the firm aims to have the projects it supports reach over 1 billion people.

The firm is also interested in shaping public opinion and government policy regarding web3 projects and crypto.

“We will partner with our portfolio to lead a global campaign for web3 that combats misperceptions, engages policymakers, highlights positive use cases, and wins the hearts and minds of leaders across all sectors.”

The Haun Ventures team consists of Chris Lehane, former Communications VP at Airbnb and Press Secretary for Vice President Al Gore, Sam Rosenblum, Former Director of Business Development at Coinbase, and Jared Cohen, Founder of Jigsaw, Google’s tech incubation company, serving as an advisor.

Haun has also brought talent with her from Andreessen Horowitz, with Tomicah Tillemann and Rachael Horwitz, both former partners, and Nick Pacilio, its former Head of Media Relations for crypto also joining her team.

Previously, Haun served as a federal prosecutor for 10 years at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) where she says she created one of the government’s first cryptocurrency task forces:

“In the course of that work, the vast potential of these technologies quickly became clear. Like any tool, they could be used for good or for bad, but we had just started to scratch the surface of the good.”

Haun left her role at the DOJ and pursued a career in crypto, joining the board of directors for Coinbase in 2017, and in June 2021 co-led with Andreessen Horowitz a $2.2 billion crypto-focused venture fund, the largest ever of its kind at the time.

In December last year, Haun announced her departure from Andreessen Horowitz to focus on her own crypto and Web3 focused fund.

Venture capital firms are increasing their focus on crypto, last year research found that VC funding reached new heights in every quarter of 2021, with $25.2 billion going to blockchain startups, a 713% increase from $3.1 billion in 2020.

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Reports Bored Ape creator in talks with A16z: Potential valuation $5B

February 4, 2022 Coin Telegraph

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Garnering interest from one of Silicon Valley's top VC’s, Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs, may be eyeing a $5 billion valuation.

Silicon Valley tech VC Andreessen Horowitz (A16z) is reportedly eying an investment in Bored Ape Yacht Club creator Yuga Labs, with a reported valuation as high as $5 billion.

Sources for the Financial Times revealed that Yuga Labs is seeking funding for a multi-million dollar piece of the company. If a deal is secured, it would mark the first institutional investment Yuga Labs has accepted as its popular nonfungible token (NFT) collection has become one of the biggest in the industry.

The terms of the deal have not yet been set and negotiations may be canceled outright. Neither A16z nor Yuga Labs have confirmed the talks p

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is currently the second-most traded collection on the largest NFT marketplace OpenSea, with 380,821 ETH ($1 billion) in total traded volume. At its February launch, it cost users just $300 to mint an Ape. The collection now boasts a floor price of 99 ETH ($263,839) at the time of writing. Major celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Paris Hilton have publicly revealed they own Apes.

Yuga Labs entered 2022 with only 11 full-time employees on staff. However, the company stated that it has always had the ambition to be a “community-owned brand” in a Jan. 4 tweet.

6. Where do you see the future of the club?

We see ourselves as temporary stewards of IP that is in the process of becoming more and more decentralized. Our ambition is for this to be a community-owned brand, with tentacles in world-class gaming, events, and streetwear.
— Yuga Labs (@yugalabs) January 3, 2022

It should come as little surprise that A16z is involved in investment discussions with Yuga Labs. The investment firm’s crypto portfolio includes 41 companies including NFT-based projects OpenSea, Autograph, and Cryptokitties. Both of the core teams for those projects, however, are publicly known, unlike the pseudonymous team that leads Yuga Labs.

A16z wants to expand its exposure to crypto by hunting for $4.5 billion in funds, which would solidify its position as one of the major crypto investment firms.

Institutional interest in Yuga Labs demonstrates that the NFT space as a whole may be set to enter a new phase in its maturity. In 12 months, trading volume on NFTs has grown from just $20,000 per day on Jan. 26 2021 to over $5 billion on OpenSea.

Furthermore, new NFT platforms on various blockchains designed for niche content have been popping up since last year. NFL superstar Tom Brady entered the NFT space last year by co-founding the Autograph NFT marketplace for artists and athletes, in which A16z participated in a $170 million funding round last month.

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