Quick take:
- Spencer Ventures has raised $4.5 million from a multi-billion family office based in Chicago and the Midwestern US.
- The NFT-focused venture capital firm has decided to come out of stealth to capitalise on the bear market.
- According to founder and fund manager Spencer Gordon-Sand, investors seeking to increase their digital exposure are turning to NFTs.
Spencer Ventures has announced its emergence from stealth with a $4.5 million fundraising from a family office that has $10 billion in assets under management. According to the report, 30 investors from Chicago and the Midwestern US contributed the $4.5 million raise.
Spencer Ventures is a crypto venture capital firm focused solely on the non-fungible token (NFT) market. According to the firm’s founder, the fund manager instructed investors to cash out their investments when the market was at its peak in November and December last year.
However, Spencer now thinks it is the right time to invest during the bear market, Blockworks reported citing an exclusive interview with Gordon-Sand.
“NFTs for me are the first really compelling thing outside of the core technologies of Ethereum and Bitcoin, where I’m seeing people build real companies and create real value,” he said, citing the valuable use cases NFTs present compared to BTC and ETH.
NFTs are generally described as digital representations of artwork, music tracks, video clips, or JPEGs, stored on the blockchain.
The digital collectibles sector began trending in early 2021 with the emergence of blue-chip collections like Cryptopunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club, which triggered an influx of celebrities in the industry.
Ever since, leading brands like Nike, Gucci, and Adidas have been among the top players in the sector, onboarding their customers to web3.
Lately, web3 companies have found a way to make digital collectibles an important part of the metaverse (a 3D virtual space where people can interact immersively, through gaming, live concerts and other experiential activities).
Gordon-Sand thinks NFTs and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) present an exciting opportunity for crypto-native venture companies. According to the report, he has only invested 20% of his firm’s capital since the second half of the year.
Among the NFT collections in his portfolio are a Moonbird, a Bored Ape, Mutant Apes and Punks, which he said were purchased “for the culture”.
“People see me buying Punks, know that I have liquidity and message me when they want to sell interesting grails (rare items) that are harder to move,” Gordon-Sand said.
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