Investor Highlight: Big Name Investors' Crypto Craze

Today we're looking at the thriving crypto investing industry, whose total funding this year is already 4X more than last, already exceeding $16BN in deals. This year, the top investors in the space include big names like Accel, Sequoia, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Andreessen Horowitz is the OG investor in the space, having raised its 3rd crypto-dedicated fund in June at a whopping $2.2BN. The firm has pulled strategists and policy leaders to the deal table, including Coinbase's first communications director, Rachel Horowitz, and blockchain policy leader and political veteran, Tomicah Tillemann. A16Z has already made more than 30 investments this year, the most of any major VC, and presented policy recommendations earlier this month. Coming up the pipeline is Bain Capital Ventures, which is raising a $300MM fund dedicated to the space, according to recent reporting from The Information.

Returns & Optimism
Outsized returns are the dangling carrot for these investors. Bitcoin prices are up as FOMO and an ETF boom play into its resurgence and staying power. Investments in private companies like Ripple Labs proved worthy; the company is now valued at $10BN. For many investors, their investments demonstrate the transition towards "web3," the decentralized next-generation of the Internet. Ethan Kurzweil of Bessemer Ventures has downed crypto-Koolaid and won't invest in a consumer deal that doesn't have a crypto element.

Crypto Startups to Watch

• BlockFi says it's the easiest way to buy, sell, and earn crypto on the Internet, with a fleet of products from credit cards to high-yield savings accounts. The company has just announced a partnership with the investment manager, Neuberg Berman, to launch several ETFs.
• Fireblocks is a digital crypto platform for institutions. The company has raised four rounds since its 2019 launch, already giving the firm over $2.2BN in valuation.
• MoonPay is on a mission to get more people onto the crypto bandwagon, with a simple solution for buying and selling crypto.
• The NFT sci-fi card game Parallel just raised at a $500MM valuation. The company has had a meteoric rise as a game with an incredibly engaged user base.