Dragonfly Capital’s Latest Crypto Fund Aims to Invest From ‘Seed to Exit’
The $650 million vehicle will allow the firm to lead more Series A and Series B rounds
Blockworks exclusive art by axel rangel
key takeaways
- Founded in 2018, Dragonfly has invested more than $700 million overall
- Most US venture capital firms don’t focus enough on crypto projects in Asia, according to a Dragonfly Capital executive
Dragonfly Capital has launched its third crypto venture fund with $650 million in commitments, earmarking the capital infusion to back later-stage startups as the crypto industry matures.
Those backing the new fund include Tiger Global, KKR, Sequoia China, Invesco, Top Tier Capital Partners and Ivy League endowments. The fund was originally aiming for $500 million in commitments, a regulatory filing shows.
Dragonfly intends to “double down” on its backing of the next breakthroughs in crypto infrastructure, DeFi and smart contract scaling, as well as consumer products, such as NFTs, crypto games and DAOs.
“Our strategy is still early-stage investing, but we’ll now be able to lead more Series A and Series B rounds as well,” Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi told Blockworks. “Our goal is to support entrepreneurs in every round from seed to exit.”
The new fund has not yet made any investments.
The firm last year launched its second venture capital fund, focused on international decentralized technologies, with $225 million.
Founded in 2018, Dragonfly has invested more than $700 million, including stakes in Avalanche, NEAR Protocol, Compound, MakerDAO, 1inch, Matter Labs, Anchorage and Dune Analytics.
Despite venture dollars flowing into crypto in recent years, Qureshi said the biggest gap in the market right now is investing in Asia.
“Dragonfly has been global from day one, so we have deep roots in Asia,” he said, adding that the firm was an early backer of Amber Group, Babel Finance, Matrixport and Bybit. “We believe that it’s a hugely important part of the market that’s neglected by most of the US [venture capital firms].”
Amber Group reached a $3 billion valuation with its fundraise in February, while Matrixport hit a $1 billion valuation last year.
Bybit, which recently moved its headquarters from Singapore to Dubai, unveiled crypto options trading this week. CEO Ben Zhou said the firm is confident that the new offering will help normalize crypto options trading, “just like what Robinhood did for stock options.”
Qureshi declined to comment about potential future fund plans.
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