Raising funds is not an easy task in the startup world. We’ve seen this first-hand at Tertie, having worked with startups for over a decade.
This process becomes even more complicated when navigating the relatively new and rapidly evolving landscape of crypto and Web3. The space is crowded with everyone trying to catch the attention of investors. The good news is that a growing number of venture capital (VC) firms are showing interest in this space. For a perspective, despite market uncertainties, the Web3 landscape has been experiencing a significant surge in funding. In 2022, a staggering $7.1 billion was invested in Web3 ventures, marking a $4.8 billion increase from the previous year. 2023 though has been subdued. September 2023 saw 91 Web3 and blockchain projects having raised a total of $679.1 million in funding.
The recent surge in Bitcoin prices could be a sign of a pick-up in activity going ahead. That’s for another time 🙂.
VC firms bring not only funds but also invaluable expertise and networks to help startups scale. In this blog post, we will introduce you to Top 10 VC firms with a focus on Web3 projects.
1. Alchemy Ventures
- Alchemy Ventures is a VC funding empowering developers and communities that are building gaming, metaverse, Defi, or web3 applications using Blockchain Technology.
- Alchemy Ventures invests across blockchains and use cases, but its areas of particular interest include end-user applications and infrastructure or developer tools that help drive end-user adoption.
- Alchemy Ventures invests an average of $150,000 to $250,000 per company, and about three-quarters of the investments are in pre-seed or seed-stage rounds.
- Notable investments: Matter Labs, Optimism, Helius, XMTP. Here’s the full list.
- Form seeking funding: https://www.alchemy.com/ventures-contact-funding
- Email address: [email protected]
2. Pantera Capital
- Founded in 2013, Pantera is among the first cryptocurrency fund in the US focused exclusively on blockchain technology.
- Pantera has multiple funds including a venture capital fund and an early-stage token fund.
- Notable investments: 1inch, Arbitrum, Coinbase. Some of its early-stage token investments include 0x, Cosmos, Polkadot, PsyOptions, Filecoin, and Livepeer. Here’s the entire list.
- Here’s some more details for a perspective on the areas of focus and typical ticket size. As an example, the latest launched fund from 2021, Blockchain Fund (IV) focussed on early-stage tokens, and liquid tokens. It made a total investment of $1.25B across 80 projects, averaging $15.6M as ticket size.
- They invite funding inquiries with a need for a whitepaper here: [email protected]
3. a16z crypto
- Andreessen Horowitz (commonly known as a16z) is a VC firm that claims to “back bold entrepreneurs building the next internet”.
- It was founded in Silicon Valley in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
- a16z invests in seed to late-stage technology companies across bio + healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games.
- a16z manages $35 billion in assets across multiple funds.
- Notable investments in the blockchain space: Aptos, Avalanche, Coinbase, Solana, Dfinity, LayerZero, OpenSea, ….. (you get the idea 😀). Here’s the full list.
- Here’s something that’s interesting. a16z runs a startup school: Crypto Startup School, a twelve-week accelerator designed around the specific needs of web3 startups. CSS is an in-person program, featuring lectures and mentorship from industry experts, founder talks, and access to the a16z network. The next program will be held in-person in London from March 27 to June 11 (CSS Spring 2024).
- Contact email: [email protected]
4. DWF Labs
- A way younger firm than some of those listed above, DWF is headquartered in Singapore. It is a global digital asset market maker and multi-stage web3 investment firm.
- Despite being a relatively young company, DWF has invested in over a hundred projects already.
- Notable investments: Tron, Algorand, Mantle, Kava, Fetch.ai, IOTA, Synthetix, Conflux. Here’s the list.
- Compared to the rest listed, they’ve got a far more detailed pitch form on their site: https://www.dwf-labs.com/ventures
- Here’s a look at their team.
- Contact form: https://www.dwf-labs.com/contact
5. Spartan Group
- Founded in 2017, Spartan Group is based in Singapore and Hong Kong.
- Their partners are former bankers, hedge fund managers, and venture capitalists.
- They provide tailored advisory services to leading blockchain projects and businesses looking to implement their Asia expansion, fundraising, and ecosystem strategies.
- Something of interest: They’ve got two arms Spartan Capital and Spartan Labs.
- Spartan Capital makes investments in 3 broad areas: DeFi, Gaming & Metaverse, Infrastructure
- Notable Investments: 1Inch, Acala, MakerDAO, Tribe3, dYdX, Animoca Brands, The Graph, Omni. Here’s all of them.
- Spartan Labs offers two setups: Joining them as a co-founder on a new project, them coming on board on your early startup venture.
- Apply to Spartan Labs: https://commotion.page/view/PSMzSe3KBAFFgeQAMPgJ
- Work with Spartan Labs: https://commotion.page/view/kvU5eIoctr733cGO1NAk
- Contact email: [email protected]
6. Multicoin Capital
- Describes itself as a thesis driven investor that makes long-term, high-conviction investments in category defining crypto companies and protocols across public and private markets.
- Founded in 2017.
- If their recent summit was anything to go by, focus areas may be: integrated vs. modular debate, value capture in DeFi, and the immediate opportunities in DePIN.
- Notable investments: Algorand, Audius, Bakkt, Kadena, Solana, Render, Livepeer, Worldcoin, and lots more.
- Here’s their contact form: https://multicoin.capital/contact/ (they leave along a warning: we get a lot of these pitches. If you can manage a warm intro that helps us to qualify you quickly. If you can’t, just hold steady we’ll get back to you as fast as we possibly can.)
7. Cogitent Ventures
- Their slogan captures their investment philosophy: “We promote the growth of the global economy by investing intellectual and financial capital in emerging companies within any field, with special emphasis on the world of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and disruptive technologies”.
- They’ve got six areas of focus within blockchain: Layer 1, DeFi, NFTs, Metaverse, GameFi, Cross-Chain Protocol
- Notable investments: Polkadot, Aleph Zero, Injective, Quant Network, Illuvium to name a few. Over 200 investments.
- Here’s the contact form: https://cogitent.ventures/contact/
- Email: [email protected]
8. Fj labs
- A stage-agnostic investment firm that focuses on marketplaces and consumer-facing startups.
- Their investments are seed and series A.
- The investment range of the company is $50,000 to $5,000,000.
- Fj Labs has an investment fund dedicated to various web3 protocols. So, the company has invested in over 86 blockchain start-ups. Here’s the list. Some names: Uniswap, Moonpay, Arbitrum, Solana, Filecoin, Lido DAO, and more.
- No form or contact email listed on the site. We found one via their Twitter accout: [email protected]
9. Hashkey Capital
- Singapore based, with offices in Hong Kong and San Francisco. Since 2015, HashKey claims to have backed the most disruptive blockchain projects.
- They invest from Pre-Seed to Series B+, across both equity and tokens.
- They support “projects across the stack” (layer0 to dapps) and sectors (ZK to NFTs).
- Notable investments: Aztec, 1inch, Mina, Ava Labs, Cosmos, Harmony, Skale, and more.
- Contact email: [email protected]
10. NGC Ventures
- Founded in 2017, NGC Ventures manages over $500M in AUM.
- Offices across Singapore, San Francisco, California, Texas, London, Shanghai and Taipei.
- They focus on early stage, web 3.0 infrastructure startups and projects. In their own words, ‘We identify projects with innovative ideas to today’s blockchain problems and work with them from ideation to strategy and market adoption’.
- Portfolio of investments ranges across these areas: AI, Blockchains (L1s, L2s), Data-related, DeFi, Decentralized Computing, Financial Services, Infrastructure, Metaverse, Multichain / Interchain, Storage, Tooling and SDKs, Wallet and related.
- Here are the areas they are inviting applications in: Blockchain infrastructure, driven in particular by areas such as decentralizing the different layers of blockchain protocols (storage, data indexing, computation, oracles, node infrastructure etc), account abstraction, interchain operability. They also invest in innovative projects on the application layer in DeFi.
- Contact email: [email protected].
Raising funds for your Web3 startup can be a daunting task, but it’s important to remember that these VC firms are not just sources of capital. They also provide mentorship, business advice, and critical connections that can help your startup thrive in the competitive crypto space. Do your research, reach out to potential investors, and be prepared to communicate your vision and strategy effectively.
Please note: Always do your due diligence when contacting investment firms. Be prepared with a solid business plan, a pitch deck, and an understanding of your market and potential competition. We’ve helped projects build impressive pitch decks and whitepapers. If you’re seeking help here, get in touch now.
