BlockTower Launches $150M Fund to Invest in Blockchain Infrastructure and DeFi

Crypto-native asset management firm BlockTower’s new venture fund has emerged from stealth with a $150 million raise backed by BPI France, Mass Mutual and others.
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Quick take:

  • BlockTower has launched a $150 million fund to invest in blockchain infrastructure and DeFi.
  • The fundraising was backed by BPI France, Mass Mutual and others.
  • The crypto-focused investment management firm’s new fund has already invested in Aptos, Lighthouse Labs and Maple Finance.

BlockTower’s venture arm has emerged with a $150 million raise from BPI France, Mass Mutual and others. The crypto-native asset management company’s new fund has been operating in the shadows since last year, investing in projects including Aptos, Lighthouse Labs and Maple Finance, among others.

Thomas Klocanas, a general partner at BlackTower will take the lead in the new venture arm. Klocanas previously managed a $50 million digital asset fund at White Star Capital.

The fund will take a methodical approach to invest in web3 projects, Klocanas explained to The Block, adding “we are currently on pace to deploy in something like three years — whereas as you’ve seen funds go as fast as a couple of months in this space — and that’s because we found the market to be overheated.” 

According to the new head of the venture arm, approximately 90% of the fund will invest anywhere between $500k to $5 million for 5%-10% equity ownership or 2%- 5% for investments made by purchasing tokens.

“Why these numbers?” Klocanas said. “They’re numbers that scale from a portfolio math perspective for your winners to be able to return your losers in a venture portfolio, so to speak. But they’re also numbers that scale on a web3 cap table.” 

BlockTower’s announcement of the new venture arm comes at a time when the crypto market is struggling for a sustainable uptrend. The current downturn has slowed venture capital activity in the space, with web3 startups raising $5 billion less in September than they did in August.

BlockTower’s new fund will invest primarily in web3 companies building a blockchain infrastructure and decentralised finance (DeFi) apps. Blockchain infrastructure platforms enable developers to create fast and highly-scalable projects like blockchain games and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces.

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