Taking Stock of the Top Crypto Investors
M&A PR Studio annual research
It might be Libra season from an astrology perspective, but Facebook’s cryptocurrency of the same name continues to encounter stumbling blocks and skepticism. Still, there are plenty of signs of crypto’s continued momentum. A new crypto mining farm just opened in Texas; one data model predicted a sevenfold increase in bitcoin by May; China has been exploring a state-issued cryptocurrency. On top of that, investments in crypto tokens and companies are slowly gobbling up a greater portion of VC portfolios.
We crunched the numbers to find out just how crypto-heavy various investors are, digging through the portfolios of every fund that has invested in a token at least once. Digital Currency Group, Pantera Capital, and Blockchain Capital are the three funds, in that order, with the highest raw number of investments. Digital Currency, which focuses on bitcoin and blockchain companies, has funded 83 crypto investments in all, while Pantera and Blockchain Capital have invested in 48 and 44 respectively. For all three, that tally represents more than half of the overall portfolio. Investments include:
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Digital Currency Group: Gyft (acquired by Data First); Mediachain (acquired by Spotify); universal native payments company Purse; and Bitcoin wallet Xapo.
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Pantera Capital: decentralized web startup Enigma and identity ecosystem Civic.
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Blockchain Capital: digital currency Decred; crypto marketplace OpenSea; and bitcoin exchange Kraken.
Andreessen Horowitz is also in the top ten when considering number of crypto investments. Its 31 investments suggest crypto is gaining mainstream approval, though that only accounts for 4% of the portfolio, given Andreessen Horowitz’s sheer size. A similar story can be told for 500 Startups, which ranks thirteenth thanks to its 24 crypto investments.
The majority of crypto investments are made by American VCs, though this may be driven by the fact that Crunchbase data skews towards the U.S. and is incomplete for other markets. According to our research, eight of the ten leading funds based in the United States, with the other two based in China. A total of 159 funds have made at least one crypto investment, and 81 of those can be found stateside, largely in California. China comes in second overall as well with 23 funds, while 8 are based nearby in Hong Kong. The United Kingdom (9) and Singapore (6) round out the top five.
Regarding ICOs, James Sowers of the Greater Good Society stands out. He has made 30 crypto investments and participated in the same number of ICOs. Node Capital, which has the fourth highest overall number of crypto investments (41), has also participated in 27 ICOs. Zooming in on the top ten, Node has the second highest percentage of its overall portfolio in crypto (82%), bested only by 8 Decimal Capital’s 83%.
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