Pantera Capital, a cryptocurrency hedge fund, has reportedly secured $125 million for its third cryptocurrency venture fund, which is set to invest in companies that have been in the crypto space for a while, instead of focusing on startups.
According to CoinDesk, Pantera Capital has only secured $25 million since August of last year, as it told CNBC at the time it had already raised $100 million. Paul Veradittikit, a partner of the hedge fund, justified that fundraising is now hard for the entire industry, presumably because of the bear market.
Per Veradittikit, Pantera’s initial funds came from high net-worth individuals and family offices, as well as others that could move their money quickly. Pantera has reportedly been “taking a lot of meeting” with institutional investors such as endowments and pensions funds, which has seen Veradittikit remain optimistic.
He was quoted as saying:
It’s a great time to be investing. I think we have an opportunity here to be investing in companies with good valuations and great teams and that will be around a long time.
Pantera Capital’s new fund is now set to focus on investing in “later stage rounds to support the more mature companies” in the space. This approach, Pantera’s partner stated, is set to allow the firm to take an active role in growing companies, and it’s even eyeing board seats.
Specifically, the fund has a goal of investing between $3 to $8 million for equity stakes of as much as 15% in follow-on funding, and between $1 and $3 million for equity of 10% to 20% at the seed stage.
Pantera’s first two funds have invested in 44 companies, and the third one is now set to support 30 to 50 firms. The hedge fund has notably invested in Bakkt, new Intercontinental Exchange’s venture into the cryptocurrency space.
The firm’s co-chief investment officer, Joey Krug, has last year claimed the next cryptocurrency bull run could see the cryptocurrency space see a 10x increase. Pantera Capital has notably claimed bitcoin will reach $67,500 by the end of this year. As CryptoGlobe covered, the hedge fund was down 73% for the year back in October of 2018.
