Pantera to close blockchain fund after raising $1.3 billion

Crypto hedge fund giant Pantera Capital will close a blockchain fund backed by about $1.3 billion in capital next month.

Announced last May, the Pantera Blockchain Fund plans to raise $600 million to invest in early-stage tokens, venture equity, Web3 companies, and liquid tokens. It has since surpassed that goal by a wide margin, with the firm revealing last month that the fund had surpassed $1 billion.

The most recent figure of $1.3 billion was mentioned during an investor call on April 12, and the company's new $200 million Pantera Select Fund will support "growth-stage" crypto companies that are ready to generate revenue, rather than those that are seeking Blockchain-funded companies in the early stage of financing.

While not elaborating on a specific deadline for the fund, Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead said it could be in early May:

"We're going to close this blockchain fund, I think it's going to be about $1.3 billion, and over the next three to four weeks, as some of the larger institutions that have very detailed due diligence processes close, we're going to close this Fundraising."

Looking ahead, Morehead also noted that the firm will then shift its focus to closing Blockchain Fund II 2023, a fund that is "essentially the same" as its previous variant, and hopes to create new ventures in the "early-stage private token space, as well as the early-stage venture capital space." trade."

“We will be launching a larger, more diversified growth stage fund in 2024 with potentially longer investment horizons,” Morehead added.

The Pantera Select Fund is also expected to close in early May with approximately $200 million in capital. The company said the fund will be used to support and expand companies already in business:

“The fund expects to invest in about 10 companies over the next 18 months or so. Compared to traditional seed and Series A venture funding, we will focus primarily on more mature, revenue-generating companies.”

Pantera said the fund will invest in companies across multiple crypto sectors, such as blockchain infrastructure, NFT platforms, Web3 games, metaverses, exchanges, and decentralized finance (DeFi).

In the firm's April 5 newsletter, the Pantera CEO also said the funds would be "smaller, more targeted, and therefore more focused" than a typical growth fund, emphasizing his commitment to the many Optimism for the deal:

"This is the first time in nine years that we've locked in three very compelling growth deals at the same time. This has prompted us to offer a special fund to help limited partners gain exposure to these growth deals, and we will Seven to nine deals of investment."