London-based venture capital firm Blossom Capital has raised $432 million to invest in early-stage tech startups in Europe. The company has reserved a third of the proceeds for investments in the cryptocurrency industry.
Blossom Capital Eyes the Crypto Universe
The cryptocurrency initiative, which the British organization launched, does not come as a surprise since its Founder – Ophelia Brown – personally bought bitcoin ten years ago:
“I’ve been personally active in this space since buying my first bitcoin in 2012, so we’ve sort of debated every year now, when is the right time to continue to increase exposure and make it the core of the fund. “
She also revealed that her company’s strategy includes not only investing in digital assets but also “eyeing equity stakes in early-stage companies developing crypto infrastructure.”
Alex Lim – managing partner at Blossom Capital – predicted that cryptocurrencies and applications built around blockchain technology have the potential to “inflate value” for start-up companies. The asset class’ notorious volatility is not a problem for the executive, and he said his company is focused on the long term:
“Our investment horizon is a decade long, and we are less concerned about day-to-day volatility.”
The company has already invested in the payment company CheckoutCom. Following the round, the latter’s valuation soared to $40 billion, making it one of Europe’s most valuable startups. Other bets include cybersecurity automation platform Tines and business planning software Pigment.
Blossom Capital’s most significant investment to date is in the crypto-payments company MoonPay. In November last year, the venture capital firm closed a $555 million round, which increased MoonPay’s valuation to $3.4 billion. Apart from Blossom Capital, the investment was also led by Coatue, Tiger Global, and Paradigm.
The most important funds this year
Although only 18 days have passed since the start of the new year, the cryptocurrency space has already seen massive funding rounds.
On January 5, OpenSea – the leading NFT marketplace – raised $300 million in Series C funding, putting its valuation at more than $13 billion. Hedge fund sponsors such as Paradigm and Coatue led the investment. The hegemon in the non-fungible token universe vowed to distribute the funds to fulfill four goals: accelerate product development; improve customers’ support policy; invest in the NFT ecosystem, and hire more people.
Shortly after, prominent crypto investor Katie Haun revealed plans to raise $900 million for a pair of digital asset investment funds. This development could be a significant start for his venture capital firm since it recently left Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Subsequently, the US cryptocurrency exchange FTX set up a $2 billion venture fund to invest in specific blockchain projects. The entire amount of the funding came from the company’s Founder and CEO – Sam Bankman-Fried.
