Cryptocurrency continues to be a topic that is widely accepted by some and shunned by others. Regardless, it has its highlights. Singapore-headquartered Crypto.com is one of the most popular crypto exchanges out there. Nine months ago, it had launched Crypto.com Capital, its maiden fund to invest in early-stage startups that have potential and grow the crypto ecosystem, which is still in its nascent stage, to one billion users.
Initially, the size of the fund was $200 million, but now, its size will be extended to $500 million as it looks to fund Web3 startups. Like the metaverse, Web3 has been gaining traction, catching the eye of several names (including FTX, Binance, and Coinbase) in the industry.
Crypto.Com Capital generally eyes seed and Series A deals in categories including the metaverse, blockchain gaming, NFTs, and DeFi. To date, it has invested in around 20 startups. This list includes YGG SEA, multi-chain crypto portfolio tracker DeBank, cross-chain token infrastructure Efinity, and Ethereum scaling solution Matter Labs. A few days ago, it hired Jon Russell, a technology journalist with over 10 years of experience, as its newest partner.
“I’ve had offers to move into crypto full-time before but Crypto.com is the most ambitious company in web3,”Russell had said then. “The Crypto.com Capital fund brings a very unique advantage to help the world’s best web3 founders and startups to realize their potential and I can’t wait to play my part.”
The fund, whose individual checks run up to $10 million in size, invests independently and is led by Crypto.com co-founder Bobby Bao.
The crypto sector is growing steadily, even as some countries continue to remain skeptical. This has led to the steady flow of capital in crypto and Web3 startups in 2021 – to be fair, startups of almost all genres scooped up record amounts of capital last year. According to a report by Galaxy Digital, valuations in the crypto/blockchain space were 141% higher than the rest of the venture capital space in Q4 2021. “This highlights a founder-friendly environment and the intense competition among investors for deal allocations.”
