Jake Fuchs

This is a clear stamp of approval for tokenization of RWA with BlackRock leading the funding round for Securitize, a big win for RWA! 🚀 This development will make way for more funding into RWA, a still nascent space that will require more players to grow the pie. NASDEX $NSDX & Metafyed are well positioned in RWA with licenses in place to launch a regulated RWA marketplace opening up opportunities for token issuers to raise and borrow through tokenized RWA, truly a game-changer disrupting tradfi! https://lnkd.in/g2hw9ZjF

3

All of this happened in crypto this week 👇 1️⃣ Paradigm raises $850M for its third fund. "In April, Paradigm was in talks with investors about raising $850 million for a fund. In 2021, Paradigm set up a $2.5 billion venture fund to support crypto companies and protocols." 2️⃣ Curve's founder's $100M loans got liquidated. "Michael Egorov, the founder of Curve Finance had his on-chain loan positions liquidated earlier on Thursday. Egorov was liquidated for $140 million in CRV across his loan positions in various protocols." 3️⃣ JPMorgan skeptical $12B YTD crypto inflows will continue. "JPMorgan analysts are skeptical about the sustainability of strong crypto inflows so far this year, citing current high bitcoin prices. If the current trend were to continue, it would result in an annualized net inflow of around $26 billion, they said." 4️⃣ MicroStrategy proposes $500M convertible notes to buy BTC. "MicroStrategy (MSTR) announced Thursday that it intends to offer $500 million aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2032, proceeds of which will be used to acquire additional bitcoin and on other corporate affairs." 5️⃣ Gensler says Ethereum ETF S-1 approvals are likely over the summer. "SEC Chair Gary Gensler estimated that the S-1 approvals for spot ether ETFs could occur sometime by the end of this summer." 6️⃣ Paradigm unveils Symbiotic protocol. "Restaking project Symbiotic launched yesterday and announced a $5.8 million funding round from Paradigm and cyberFund." 7️⃣ US Judge signs off on $4.5B Terraform-Do Kwon settlement. "The settlement bans Kwon and Terraform Labs from buying and selling crypto asset securities while agreeing to pay $4.5 billion in disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties." 8️⃣ Biden proposes a 30% tax on BTC mining. "The move, part of the government's budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year introduced in March, is in stark contrast to recent, pro-crypto statements from former President Donald Trump." 9️⃣ ZKsync plans 3.6B ZK tokens airdrop. "The ZKsync Association will conduct a one-time token airdrop to 695,232 eligible wallets next week." 🔟 Tether expects to invest $1B+ in deals in the next year. "Tether's focus for investment is financial infrastructure, AI, and biotech, Ardoino said in an interview. The company has also invested around $2 billion in these areas in the last two years, a trend it expects to continue." --- 👨‍⚕️🧪 Read my free newsletter for the next best web3 products, strategies, and trends. Join 19,500+ web3 builders and investors at: https://launchy.app/

56

1 Comment

If you're building a fintech startup, you likely know of this investor, but just in case... This week's findfunding.vc spotlight is on Neil Kapur from TTV Capital. He: 🛫 Is based in SF & Atlanta 💲 Has spent time at Google in consumer-facing payments & at two fintech startups  🏔️ Loves alpine mountaineering and has climbed Kilimanjaro, Denali, Rainier, and more!! Amongst founders, Neil and the team at TTV Capital , including Gardiner Garrard, Mark Johnson, Sean Banks, Lizzie Guynn, and Laney Lewis are known for saying “lift, not lean.” They believe that their job as investors is not to create work for founders, but instead ask the right questions and help navigate to the best outcomes. Knowing Neil well personally, he's not only my go-to person for anything related to fintech but I can also highly recommend having him on your cap table - he's the kind of human you want to have in your corner during both good times and bad. Make sure to: ✉️ Pitch him at nkapur@ttvcapital.com ➡️ Follow TTV Capital on LinkedIn For more, check out our funder spotlight card below along with TTV Capital's profile on findfunding.vc (link in comments).

172

16 Comments

Calling all fintech start-ups! C10 Labs has exciting news to share. J.P. Morgan is now supporting C10 Labs and its cohorts of entrepreneurs. As part of this partnership, C10 Labs companies will have access to J.P. Morgan's insights, products, bankers, and technologists. This support will assist C10 founders through their entrepreneurial journey and help them accelerate business growth. If you're interested in co-creating AI-First ventures, especially those in fintech, C10 Labs' 2nd cohort is now open for applications. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/eCjnUBnn Contact a C10 Labs team member about partnership opportunities here: https://lnkd.in/ewGCfhBb We want to extend our thanks to the incredible support by the J.P. Morgan team. To connect with them, click here: https://lnkd.in/eeEgvzSC. #entrepreneurs #accelerate #AI #fintech #partnership

111

9 Comments

Informative chat with Ben Forman of ParaFi Capital for Ep 14 of Hutt Capital's Inside the Hutt podcast, discussing stablecoins, DeFi, tokenization, and fundamental investing in crypto. Full topics below: -Ben's background, pitching bitcoin at KKR early on, and why he started ParaFi (+ what was the firm's original name) -Overview of ParaFi, its strategies, team, and focus areas -ParaFi’s proprietary tools including Trask and Alexandria -Overview of tokenization of real world assets, why it is interesting, and what Ben is seeing from large asset managers interested in this space -Why Ben is excited about stablecoins -Importance of regulatory clarity for DeFi and building systems that institutions can interact with -How DeFi landscape has evolved over the past several years -Fundamental investing - does the market care about fundamentals? -How ParaFi supports portfolio companies and measures its impact Apple: https://lnkd.in/ezMj436e Spotify: https://lnkd.in/eD_Jyf_k

26

Block, the parent company of Square and Cash App, aims to leverage its dual ownership to create synergy between its point-of-sale software and peer-to-peer payments app. Jack Dorsey, Block's founder, highlighted the advantage of having relationships with both merchants and consumers, stating it's a rare position in commerce and payments. Ryan Budd, Cash App's head of financial products, hinted at plans to integrate a small business experience into Square and incentivize Cash App users to engage with Square merchants. Block is focused on connecting Cash App's consumer base with Square's merchant network, aiming to transform Cash App into a consumer app for interacting with Square merchants. This move aligns with Block's strategy to dominate various aspects of the consumer ecosystem and potentially monetize consumer spending data for advertising purposes. Read More Here: https://lnkd.in/eh-8KS9V Eugene Tsay Wade Robison John O'Beirne Emily C. Chiu Eileen Wiens Jim McKelvey Branded Hospitality Ventures #innovation #venturecapital #hospitality #technology Owen Jennings (OBJ) Brooke Ellis Jamie (Russo) HicksMing-Tai Huh

5

Regulatory clarity for responsible crypto innovation is emerging in the US and stands to catalyze the market adoption of such innovations. When regulations are clear, consumers and innovators all benefit. Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (#FIT21) is expected to pass with bipartisan support in Congress. FIT21 would redefine how securities issuers have to comply with existing federal law and Supreme Court precedent. The bill would create a new definition specific to digital assets, to identify when they're digital securities or digital commodities and whether the SEC or CFTC should be the primary spot market regulator. This collaborative approach signals a shift away from the current unclear, antiquated and antagonistic processes in some of the US regulatory agencies.

24

4 Comments

"Small funds may have more incentive to produce higher returns The alignment of incentives between GP and LP varies drastically based on fund size. Managers of smaller funds who have invested substantial personal capital demonstrate an unwavering commitment to lucrative returns, while managers at the helm of colossal funds, buoyed by significant management fees, may exhibit a diminishing drive. This constitutes an almost incontrovertible structural benefit of managing a small VC fund. Furthermore, fund managers of established funds may, over time, raise larger subsequent funds and grow more risk averse. This can present a sub-optimal outcome for their LPs and, by virtue, manifests a bad omen for VC investing." https://lnkd.in/gHKgea4e

150

15 Comments

Spot-on article in TechCrunch about the revival of the venture capital SPV market and all the deals swirling around by intermediaries / wheeler-dealers who have or gain access to VC's and other direct allocations to companies such as Anthropic, Groq, OpenAI, Perplexity, and #ElonMusk's xAI. It feels like the '20/'21 era and the article quotes my friend Jack Selby - ""it boggles my mind that just a few years after the excesses of the 2020 and 2021 period, when people were essentially investing blindly into SPVs, with fees on fees on fees, into vehicles that were totally opaque, people are doing that all over again with everything that is a shiny toy: AI.”" I have come across several people wheeling-dealing start-up SPVs in #Miami. Instead of narcotics at the bar, it is SPV access into the "hot" AI start-ups. SPVs are generally formed by investors who have direct access to the shares of these startups and then turn around and sell a part of their allocation to external backers, often charging significant fees while retaining some profit share. In many cases, the VCs will offer access to the SPV to their existing #limitedpartner investors, but they also may use brokers to offer access to a much larger universe of potential investors. The same AI startup may have multiple SPVs on their cap table, representing lots of small investors. While SPVs may be a suitable mechanism for buying shares of hot companies not available to investors by any other means, some investors warn that it comes with high risk. Unlike venture funds, backers of SPVs don’t receive direct information on the companies. Sometimes, but rarely, SPVs are created in association with primary rounds of companies still in fundraising mode. That means that the small investors can get in on a startup, or a coveted private company, at the same time the major investors do. I know of many family offices in the Americas, Asia and the Middle East evaluating and investing in these SPV vehicles of high-potential, high-risk companies. Just make sure, amongst many things, that you understand the limitations of the information flow and governance, and trust the SPV arranger. I still get mocked for passing on these types of opportunities. I think I am getting old and prioritizing middle-market #privateequity and #EBITDA generative-businesses. #privatemarkets #alternativeassets #venturecapital #ai #startups #capitalmarkets #spv #fundmanagers #familyoffices #fees #openai #anthropic #information

65

2 Comments

NYC, the capital of fintech. Over the last year, VC investment in NYC Fintech companies outpaced SF by 135%. This is not surprising for industry insiders. In fact, I expect the gap to become even wider as NYC early stage Fintech companies mature and raise large growth rounds in the coming years. SF is still the place to be if you’re in Hardware, Deep Tech, and many other industries. But if you’re building a US fintech company, NYC is the place to be. At Gilgamesh Ventures we’ve invested in a dozen NYC Fintechs and we’re looking to back a few more in 2024. We’d love to meet you if you’re getting started! Fintech Leaders Peter Walker

145

12 Comments

Part II of the synopsis of "Next Generation Infrastructure: How Tokenization of Real-World Assets Will Facilitate Efficient Markets." This is the first time Congress held a hearing specifically on RWA Tokenization. See yesterday's post for part I. This brings me back to my days as an intern at the House Radio and TV department on Capitol Hill while attending American University. #RWA hashtag #Tokenization #FinancialInnovation #Blockchain #DigitalAssets #blackrock #CongressHearing #Fintech #Investing #Regulation #FutureOfFinance #assetmanager #RIA Lili Tesler Robert Morgan Nadine Chakar Carlos Domingo Securitize @Hillary Allen

21

2 Comments

Great conversation with Evgeny Gokhberg of Re7 Capital for Ep 13 of Inside the Hutt from Hutt Capital. We discussed Re7's approach to providing liquidity into the DeFi ecosystem at an institutional level + crypto yield strategies, and how to assess smaller cap liquid tokens. Topics included: -Evgeny's background and formation of Re7 Capital -What is liquidity provisioning, how does it work, and why is important for DeFi ecosystem -How does Re7 assess opportunities to provide liquidity across DeFi protocols and what does the diligence process look like? -Risk assessment when providing liquidity -Current market dynamics -L1 foundation partnerships -Re7's Morpho vault curation -Strategy for investing in liquid tokens -Biggest learnings in operating Re7 Capital Apple: https://lnkd.in/gCeBPmsJ Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gHEXw4aG

21

1 Comment

Are you an angel investor, allocator, or thinking about starting a VC fund? Looking for insights on the VC market and areas within the US early-stage tech market? Look no further! Our distribution list is open for angels with software engineering experience outside of high-tech, GTM specialists, and allocators. Join us using the link in the comments. Gain more insights and explore the venture asset class from an LP's perspective by tuning in to the Swimming with Allocators podcast. Listen to top industry allocators share their experiences and learnings. Plus, show your support by rating us and purchasing our exclusive merch! #venturecapital #angelinvesting #startupinvesting #SeriesA #investingopportunities

41

2 Comments

👉 SEC PRAISES TOKENIZATION FOR THE FIRST TIME - “MAY REMOVE THE NEED FOR MOST INTERMEDIARIES” - According to Fox Business’ @EleanorTerrett, Mark Uyeda of the Securities and Exchange Commission has praised ‘tokenization’, despite his agency’s historically hostile stance toward blockchain and crypto. - In particular, the SEC commissioner praised tokenization’s potential to improve the nature of transactions as we know it today, and his comments were made at a meeting of global securities regulators. “Tokenization may provide transactions with a higher level of security, transparency, and immutability” - Uyeda even decided to mention one of the key principles of the decentralized future - The removal of centralized third parties from financial services. “It also may remove the need for most intermediaries, streamlining the process and reducing transaction costs.” - Uyeda is a Republican by alignment, but was appointed to the SEC by President Biden back in 2022. https://lnkd.in/dR3YnXKN ~~~ #finance #web3 #FED #investors #interestrates #crypto #inflation #startups #stocks #wallstreet #IPOs #QT #VCs #bitcoin #Ethereum #ETFs

3

Let’s talk about exits in fintech. Although recent memory has been defined more by the lack of exits, we wanted to go back and look at the data from the most recent class of fintech exits to provide better context for founders and investors. The big takeaway: fintech as an industry has been defined by relatively consistent, large M&A transactions (approaching 20 per year) at an average value of $403M, and a few IPOs per year (2021 aside) at an average current market cap of $5.1B (as of March 2024). While it’s important to be ambitious and aim for those $1B+ outcomes, we also believe that founders and investors should take advantage of these unique M&A dynamics. For example, fintech represented about 1/3 of the top 100 IT software acquisitions. What does this mean? Practice valuation discipline. As companies approach $300M- $400M in company valuation, they risk (potentially unintentionally) getting cut off from the M&A market. Similarly, valuations over $2B should be for exceptional companies where the underlying fundamentals line up with public comps. The math around valuation can be the difference between a successful exit and one that is underwater. Fintech funds should not rely on IPOs alone to drive returns. This consistent and robust M&A cycle is a compelling aspect of the fintech market, and one where funds can get liquidity earlier for LPs. We expect the M&A path to become even more attractive to lean teams that don’t need to take on much outside capital, can grow efficiently, and achieve an outsized return. Much more is covered in the full report linked in the comments! And thanks to Axios for previewing the data in this Saturday’s newsletter. #venturecapital #fintech

138

11 Comments

May 21 2024 - 10 Notable Articles To Read Article: Vercel’s Valuation Jumps To $3.25B After $250M Series E Takeaway: Cloud web applications company secured funding by Accel, CRV, GV (Google Ventures), Notable Capital, Bedrock, Geodesic Capital, Tiger Global Management, 8VC, and SV Angel. Source: Crunchbase Link: https://lnkd.in/dNYpx2hJ Article: Hydrogen Energy Is Getting A Heavy Infusion Of VC Funding Takeaway: The surge in major deals indicates that hydrogen energy is 1 of the few sectors where startup investment did not reach its peak in 2021. Source: Crunchbase Link: https://lnkd.in/dJixYRMf Article: Rising up: Q1 European VC valuations in 5 charts Takeaway: The median early-stage deal size decreased last year, but it rose significantly at the beginning of this year, reaching €2M. Source: PitchBook Link: https://lnkd.in/dbWNmnuz Article: Amsterdam’s Innovation Industries launches new €500M fund to back deep-tech startups and scale-ups in Benelux and Germany Takeaway: Under the Dutch Future Fund II program, it will receive a €10M from Invest-NL and €74M from the European Investment Fund (EIF). Source: Silicon Canals - European Technology News Link: https://lnkd.in/dgySNMqS Article: Microsoft offers cloud customers AMD alternative to Nvidia AI processors Takeaway: Microsoft will offer clusters of AMD's flagship chips through its Azure cloud computing service. Source: Reuters Link: https://lnkd.in/dZ6wMFrd Article: Apex opens office in Saudi Arabia Takeaway: Fund services provider Apex Group Ltd has expanded its footprint in the Middle East. Source: Funds Europe Link: https://lnkd.in/dCMQQPCa Article: AI data platform WEKA achieves unicorn status with $140M Series E at $1.6B valuation Takeaway: WEKA doubled its valuation since Nov-2022, and its funding is unique because it was raised entirely with existing investors, such as Valor Equity Partners, NVIDIA, Atreides Management, LP, 10D , Hitachi Ventures, Ibex Investors, Key1 Capital, Lumir Ventures, MoreTech Ventures, and Qualcomm Ventures. Source: CTech by Calcalist Link: https://lnkd.in/dQ4CN7gc Article: Banks Warn of Growing Energy-Related Risks in Mortgage Portfolios Takeaway: Lenders across Europe are focusing on buildings' energy consumption, and may need to pursue capital-relief deals, according to Deutsche Bank. Source: Bloomberg Link: https://lnkd.in/dC4czcpw Article: Why Most LPs Are Playing it Safe Right Now Takeaway: It ultimately depends on risk tolerance, with personnel often choosing safe options to protect their reputation and career. Source: Trace Cohen Link: https://lnkd.in/dCKi2HrR Article: Europe’s Aging Population Is a Money Magnet for Some Investors Takeaway: Private-equity-funded Funecap Idf SAS has invested approximately €1B to acquire crematoriums and funeral centers, which is backed by Charterhouse Capital Partners and Latour Capital. Source: Bloomberg News Link: https://lnkd.in/dWPeiD6p #news #research #business

6

1 Comment

📈 CoinDesk, citing an analysis by Daniel Choung, co-founder of digital asset hedge fund Syncracy Capital, reported that the Solana (SOL) price could rise to $200 by the end of this month. Choung noted, "Solana has ample room for further upside due to memecoin, stablecoin trading volume, and DeFi activities. It could soon break a new high after recovering to the $200 level at the end of this month." According to CoinMarketCap, SOL is currently trading at $168.62, up 6.02%. 🚀📊 #BitcoinWorld

2

2 Comments