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Meet AV's Blockchain Investing Partners

Our Blockchain Fund team works with burgeoning and established VCs to invest in promising blockchain and Web3 companies

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One of the core pillars of our investment strategy is working closely with burgeoning and established VC partners. In this article, we feature some of the well-known VCs we’ve co-invested alongside to support innovative companies working to unlock the full potential of Web3 infrastructure and services, the Metaverse, and more.¹

Recent market trends have made blockchain one of the most active sectors for venture capital investments. The global blockchain market, which is divided into blockchain platforms and Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS), is projected to reach $163.8 billion by 2029.

Our Blockchain Fund team works closely with other VCs to invest in promising blockchain companies. We co-invest with burgeoning VCs specializing in blockchain and Web3 as well as established firms with experience investing in a wide variety of stages, sectors, and geographies.

See below to learn about some of the well-known VCs we’ve co-invested alongside to support innovative companies unlocking the potential of blockchain-based tech.¹

Animoca Brands is a game developer and VC firm with a mission of advancing digital property rights and contributing to building the open Metaverse. Animoca and its subsidiaries have published a variety of Web3 games in collaboration with popular global brands, including Disney, WWE, Power Rangers, MotoGP, Formula E, and Snoop Dogg.

AV Blockchain Co-Investments with Animoca

PIXELYNX has developed a Metaverse platform that makes it easy for musicians and artists to launch their own interactive environments and monetize them through digital collectibles, playable experiences, and virtual performances.

Upland is a virtual property strategy game that’s mapped to the real world and uses blockchain to ensure true ownership. Players can build dream homes, start virtual businesses, and earn in-game currency or U.S. dollars by selling their properties in a free and open marketplace.

AVTV: Upland

Co-Founder and Co-CEO Dirk Lueth shares how Upland works, what makes the company unique, what the customer experience is like, what’s next for Upland, and the company’s ask from the AV community.

See video policy below.

Reserve Your Spot in Blockchain & Fintech Fund 5

Investors who join by our First or Second Close will earn
management fee reductions.

First Close: October 31, 2024 (10% fee discount)
Second Close: November 30, 2024 (5% fee discount)
Final Close: December 31, 2024
Max Accredited Investor Limit: 249

Dapper Labs develops blockchain-based experiences and digital collectibles, including popular sports platforms like NBA Top Shot, NFL All Day, and UFC Strike. In 2022, Dapper announced a $725 million ecosystem fund to support projects built with Flow, the firm’s decentralized, public Layer-1 blockchain.

AV Blockchain Co-Investments with Dapper

GigLabs offers a cloud-based platform that enables brands to manage the creation, distribution, management, and tracking of digital assets and experiences while providing an immersive 3D environment to experience digital art and collectibles.

Tibles is a virtual studio and marketplace focused on digital objects with links to pop culture brands and entertainment properties, which users can collect and own.

Lightspeed Venture Partners has raised $18 billion in committed capital to invest in consumer, enterprise, and health companies across various stages, sectors, and geographies. In 2022, the firm launched Lightspeed Faction, a new team focused on blockchain technology.

AV Blockchain Co-Investments with Lightspeed

Fan Controlled Football (FCF) streams live games on an interactive video overlay where fans can participate in a draft, determine their team’s game roster, and call plays in real time.

NGC Ventures invests in early-stage startups and projects addressing Web3 infrastructure. The firm regularly commits capital to like-minded funds and also invests heavily via grants, donations, or investments into research teams at institutions like the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technology University, and UC Berkeley.

AV Blockchain Co-Investments with NGC

Gamepad is a high-quality launchpad for curated GameFi, Guilds, and Metaverse projects that feature seamless ways to turn token buyers into long-term holders.

Anything World is an AI-enabled middleware platform that helps developers build interactive 3D experiences for games, images, and video production — at lower costs and speeds 40% faster than alternatives.

Pantera Capital describes itself as the “first U.S. institutional asset manager focused exclusively on blockchain technology.” The firm manages $4.2 billion in blockchain-related assets and invests in projects advancing the core infrastructure of the blockchain ecosystem.

AV Blockchain Co-Investments with Pantera

Aurora allows developers to launch Ethereum decentralized apps within minutes by clicking on other Ethereum contracts and assets and provides a scalable solution that speeds up transactions and lowers costs.

Subspace is building a global, distributed network that stores blockchains’ massive historical data on participants’ computers — compensating them with Subspace tokens. This allows blockchain clients to scale more quickly, cheaply, and securely.

Sequoia is a well-known, multi-stage tech investor with $85 billion in AUM. The firm’s notable investments include Airbnb, Apple, DoorDash, Instagram, and Zoom. In 2022, Sequoia’s flagship fund and investment arms in China and India collectively committed $12.4 billion to invest in fintech startups, digital assets, and the Web3 ecosystem.

AV Blockchain Co-Investments with Sequoia

EthSign is a decentralized, versioned, and consensus-based electronic agreements application that provides basic functions such as private key signature, online drafting, decentralized storage of agreements, and process logs of agreement signing.

Tiger Global Management is a well-established investment firm focused primarily on the global Internet, software, consumer, and fintech industries. The firm’s notable investments include ByteDance, Facebook, Glassdoor, Spotify, and Stripe. In 2022, Tiger Global joined other established investors like Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures in supporting Volt Capital’s $50 million early-stage fund, focused on Web3 infrastructure, DAOs, and more.

AV Blockchain Co-Investments with Tiger Global

Helium has developed an open-source, distributed network of Hotspots owned and operated by users who are incentivized with tokens. It provides public, long-range wireless coverage for Low-Power Wide-Area Networks Networks (LoRaWAN)-enabled IoT devices.

Other Notable AV Blockchain Co-Investors

Blockchain & Fintech Fund 5 Open Now

Our Blockchain & Fintech Fund offers accredited investors a portfolio of ~15-20 startups delivering cutting-edge AI and blockchain infrastructure and services for banking, insurance, supply chains, healthtech, retail, and more. Investor who join by our First Close (10/31/2024) or Second Close (11/30/2024) will earn management fee reductions. The fund’s Final Close is December 31, 2024, and the fund minimum is $25K.

Contact [email protected] for additional information. To see additional risk factors and investment considerations, visit av-funds.com/disclosures.

¹Co-investors listed are for illustration purposes only. These co-investors are some that AV has historically co-invested with and is not a predictor of future co-investors for any given portfolio company. There is no guarantee of who will be the co-investors in any given investment and these investments are not intended to suggest any level of investment returns; not necessarily indicative of investments invested by any one fund or investor. These investments are not available to future fund investors except potentially in certain follow-on investment options. Many returns in investments result in the loss of capital invested.

Written by

Alumni Ventures

Alumni Ventures is a network-powered VC firm that helps accredited individuals invest in venture capital.

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