1kx Raises $75M from Prominent Investors: Fuels Increasing Institutional Interest in Crypto
Summary:
Crypto venture capital firm 1kx has successfully raised $75 million in a funding round that included prominent investors like Marc Andreessen, Galaxy Digital, and Accolade Partners. The fund intends to invest in consumer crypto applications. Founding partner Lasse Clausen disclosed that the fund has made about five investments in undisclosed companies. This funding announcement comes during a time of growing institutional interest in crypto, particularly with the US approval of Bitcoin's spot ETFs. The VC sector's focus appears to be shifting towards blockchain, with increased investments seen in crypto startups.
In the latest round of funding, the venture capital firm 1kx has secured $75 million from noteworthy financiers including Marc Andreessen, Galaxy Digital, and Accolade Partners. Lasse Clausen, 1kx's founding member, revealed to Bloomberg on March 28 that Chris Dixon from Andreessen Horowitz is also a limited partner in this fund. Accolade, a private equity firm, leads the investment pack for the new fund, Clausen mentioned.
The focus of this fresh fund is on consumer applications operating on crypto platforms. Clausen also disclosed that it has successfully made nearly five investments, however, the names of the invested companies were not mentioned. The inception of 1kx trails back to 2018 and was co-founded by Clausen and Christopher Heymann.
This recent funding comes during a time when there is a heightened interest in crypto from established institutions, given the U.S. approval of Bitcoin's spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Analysts reckon the new Hong Kong ETF system to be a potential market opportunity. Remarkably, the last quarter of 2023 witnessed a rise in crypto startup investments, reaching a total of $1.9 billion that overtakes the preceding quarter by 2.5%, based on PitchBook's report. Such an increase in VC investments is the first since March 2022.
February's investments show renewed faith in the blockchain sector from institutions. Funding was also raised by a broad array of recent crypto startups including Lava Protocol, Analog, Helika, Truflation, and Omega. In other news, a funding round of $100 million for EigenLayer, Ethereum's leading restaking protocol by accumulated value, was announced by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Furthermore, a seed funding round of $27 million was closed by Avail in February's end, under the leadership of the Founder Fund and Dragonfly. The Web3 data and consensus layer seeks to utilize the funds for product refinement and to drive Web3 integration.
On a broader scale, a partnership between venture capital firm King River Capital and Polygon Labs led to a $100 million fund by blockchain game publisher Immutable, intended for investments in blockchain games. During its initial closing phase, the fund tagged "Inevitable Games Fund," or IGF, raised $30 million.
A recent court ruling also mentions that the SEC can continue with its lawsuit against Coinbase.
Published At
3/28/2024 3:23:56 PM
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