Pantera was founded back in 2003 and shifted their focus to blockchain investment in 2013. Back then, Bitcoin was priced at just $65. So they got in early and have experience that simply cannot be matched by many other crypto VCs
AUM at Pantera stands at $3.2 billion and that's split between five funds. Even more impressively, they have led 50% of the VC deals
But how is Pantera’s track record? Well, they have had some impressive winners in the past. In terms of venture exits, they acquired a stake in Blockfolio back in 2018 during its series A round. That position was exited for a staggering $150 million when Blockfolio sold to FTX.
In terms of active venture exits, Pantera acquired a stake in Ripple back in 2013. I bet that’s worth a pretty penny right now.
Then you have early-stage token investments. It turns out that Pantera backed Polkadot early-stage for some impressive multiples.
2️⃣ FBG Capital 2️⃣
Founded in 2015, this Asian-based crypto VC firm has made a total of 45 investments in the crypto niche. In 13 of those, they acted as lead-investors.
Founder Vincent Zhou is widely considered to be one of the most well connected crypto hedge fund managers in Asia. So yeah, the type of guy you want to be monitoring when it comes to Asian projects.
In 2019 there was an unknown crypto derivatives exchange looking for $8 million in funding. That turned out to be FTX and, yes, FBG was one of those early backers. Not a bad call seeing that the FTX token’s marketcap stands at about $2.5 bln
3️⃣ Alameda Research 3️⃣
Founded in 2017, with $1 billion AUM. Unlike the previously mentioned VC firms, Alameda’s investment strategy is broader. They are not limited to early stage VC backing
Alameda actually incubated and operates the FTX exchange. It turns out that FTX is now one of the largest derivatives exchanges in all of crypto
On top of that, Alameda also has built sophisticated trading algorithms that enable them to offer market making and OTC services. Quite useful when it comes to building up connections in the crypto space
The VC has also backed a wide range of different DeFi plays too and many of these are tightly intertwined - more on that in the vid
4️⃣ Coinbase Ventures 4️⃣
These guys have taken part in €736 million in deals over the last 12 months. A combined total of 69 projects and companies make up their VC portfolio
But how good is their track record? Well, they backed Polygon during their seed round at just 0.079 cents. Now the MATIC token trades at over a dollar - so yep, a pretty tasty return
They have also had success in equity plays like Curv, where Coinbase Ventures got involved in a $23 million Series A round. Within a year, Curv was sold to PayPal for a whooping $200 million
5️⃣ Polychain Capital 5️⃣
Founded by Olaf Carlson-Wee in 2016, who was Coinbase’s first ever hire, this VC firm runs three funds with Polychain Ventures raising $175 million. Then you have Polychain Ventures LP and the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund
Right now, the firm holds 89 investments and they might be a good one to monitor if you are interested in projects built on Polkadot
