Furthermore, many venture capital firms jumped on the bandwagon and allocated or raised dedicated funds for their crypto efforts that will be deployed to founders in the upcoming years. The recent closing of Andreessen Horowitz’s US$ 4.50B crypto fund IV (the largest crypto fund ever raised) is representative of this development. Whereas the general trend towards more available capital is generally great news for the blockchain ecosystem, some people, like Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, are skeptical about the involvement of VCs on the journey to a more decentralized “web3”.

No matter if you welcome or oppose the fresh venture dollars for blockchain projects, it is inevitable to get familiar with the most important investors in the space. Therefore, I have created short profiles of the twelve largest dedicated blockchain/crypto VC funds (based on funds raised) and the twelve most active blockchain/crypto investors (based on number of investments). I hope to give you a good overview about the main players in blockchain venture funding. Ideally, this will help (future) founders or students interested to work as an investor to pick the right VC!

Most of the data was gathered from Crunchbase. Please note that not all investors disclose the amount of funds raised (e.g., not all investors are VCs, but some also classify as hedge funds or corporate VCs and may have other requirements or incentives for disclosure). Please also note that a firm may invest multiple times in a startup (e.g., in the seed investment round and again in the series-A round — in this example, two investments would be attributed to the investor).

The ten largest dedicated blockchain/crypto VC funds (based on amount of funds raised)

1) Andreessen Horowitz

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 7.52B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 116

• Notable investments: Forte, Anchorage, Solana, Dapper Labs, Coinbase, Robinhood, Alchemy

2) Paradigm

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 2.50B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 79

• Notable investments: FTX, Genesis Digital Assets, BlockFi, OpenSea

3) FTX Ventures

• Location: Bahamas

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 2.00B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 23

• Notable investments: Yuga Labs, NEAR Protocol, Aptos, Helium

4) Hivemind Capital

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 1.50B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 6

• Notable investments: Trust Machines, Data Insight Games

5) Haun Ventures

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 1.50B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 4

• Notable investments: Zora, Euler, TaxBit

6) Electric Capital

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 1.10B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 61

• Notable investments: Genesis Digital Assets, ConsenSys, Bitwise, dYdX

7) Pantera Capital

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 1.00B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 195

• Notable investments: Gemini, Bakkt, Alchemy, Bitso

8) 10T Holdings

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.75B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 13

• Notable investments: Animoca Brands, Gemini, Ledger, Figure

9) Sequoia Capital

• Location: United States (incl. Chinese and Indian sub-funds)

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.60B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 69

• Notable investments: Animoca Brands, FTX, Polygon, Fireblocks, Robinhood

10) Bain Capital Ventures

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.56B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 23

• Notable investments: BlockFi, Basis, Compound, BuyWithMe

11) Binance Labs

• Location: Cayman Islands

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.50B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 64

• Notable investments: Mythical Games, Figment, Multichain, Terra

12) Framework Ventures

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.50B

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 62

• Notable investments: Certora, Upshot, Civitas, Fei Protocol

The ten most active blockchain/crypto investors (based on number of investments)

1) Digital Currency Group

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 278

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: n/a

• Notable investments: Coinbase, Circle, Ledger, Ripple, Polygon

2) Coinbase Ventures

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 259

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: n/a

• Notable investments: FTX, Coin Switch Kuber, Aptos, ConsenSys

3. Animoca Brands

• Location: Hong Kong

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 218

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: n/a

• Notable investments: Forte, Yuga Labs, Polygon, Ledger

4) Pantera Capital

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 195

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 1.00B

• Notable investments: Gemini, Bakkt, Alchemy, Bitso

5) Alameda Research

• Location: Hong Kong

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 169

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: n/a

• Notable investments: Polygon, Anchorage, Solana, Immutable

6) Polychain Capital

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 147

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.31B

• Notable investments: Solana, Coinbase, Ava Labs, BitClout

7) Fenbushi Capital

• Location: China

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 132

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ B

• Notable investments: BItDAI, 1inch, CoinList, ConsenSys

8) Blockchain Capital

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 130

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.30B

• Notable investments: Anchorage, Bancor, Circle, Coinbase

9) Andreessen Horowitz

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 116

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 7.52B

• Notable investments: Forte, Anchorage, Solana, Dapper Labs, Coinbase, Robinhood, Alchemy

10) Multicoin

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 96

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.43B

• Notable investments: FTX, Solana, Aptos, Helium

11) Paradigm

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 79

• Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 2.50B

• Notable investments: FTX, Genesis Digital Assets, BlockFi, OpenSea

12) Arrington XRP Capital

• Location: United States

• Total blockchain/crypto investments: 79

Total blockchain/crypto funds raised: US$ 0.30B Notable investments: Immutable, BitClout, Nexo, Fantom Foundation

Even though we have recently seen tech valuations and crypto currency prices plummeting, the data at hand should encourage blockchain builders and supporters. The massive amounts of venture capital dedicated to blockchain and crypto will need to be deployed eventually and thus, will enable blockchain startups to continue to rethink decentralisation and its use cases. However, the challenging macro-economic environment in the first half of 2022 has also indicated that blockchain, like all tech, will likely see more modest valuations compared to the run in 2021.

However, this does not need to be a bad sign. Optimally, more realistic valuations will wipe out pure crypto speculators which provides an opportunity for the true builders to strengthen the public’s trust in blockchain applications. Furthermore, when looking at the locations of the investors outlined above, it becomes apparent that, with a few exceptions, most of the powerful blockchain/crypto investors are based in the United States. Even though this mirrors the general picture for the Venture Capital industry, I still hope that more European funds will increase their blockchain/crypto commitments. This will not only strengthen European entrepreneurs but will also help to keep economic gains within Europe which in turn could create a virtuous cycle for the European blockchain and startup ecosystem.