Dear Community Member,

Executive Summary

Alumni Ventures is launching a new Blockchain Fund, focused on innovative new sectors and ventures using blockchain tech. DeFi, Metaverse, and NFTs are just a few areas where we expect to be active. Before we officially launch the fund in August 2021, we’re giving select members of our community an early chance to invest. Click below to access our secure data room and reserve your spot in the fund.

Backstory

In 2018, we launched our first blockchain fund at Alumni Ventures. This happened during a major wave of blockchain technology innovations and a big run-up in the awareness of bitcoin. We thought then — and still do — that beyond the hype, the underlying technology is profound and offers investment opportunities reminiscent of early Internet days.  

However, in 2018 the regulatory landscape for blockchain was extremely unclear, and those regulations limited our flexibility. In consultation with our legal advisors, we decided to spin out our first Blockchain Fund as Applied Crypto Ventures, with Managing Partner Shyam Kamadolli leading the effort. It was a tough but prudent decision for all stakeholders.  

Then we ran into a not-totally-unexpected “blockchain winter.” Crazy ideas and weak hands got flushed out in a healthy market correction. Through that, Shyam and the Applied Crypto Ventures team continued to build a diversified portfolio of digital assets and equity investments in startups focused on innovative blockchain use. They also decided to postpone the creation of a successor fund until market conditions and the regulatory framework for blockchain improved. This was consistent with our long-term outlook.

Today

We are now forming another blockchain fund as the market, Alumni Ventures, and the regulatory landscape have evolved.

• The blockchain market has continued to evolve, with many top institutions adopting the technology.
• Coinbase, BlockFi (an Alumni Ventures portfolio company), and other early leaders have raised money at impressive valuations. In addition, the public can now efficiently own the most common crypto tokens such as bitcoin, ethereum, stablecoins, and others.
• The next generation of companies and opportunities are being developed in the space: e.g., DeFi, NFTs, and Metaverse companies are just a few of the developments holding great potential.
• Alumni Ventures is now 150+ full-time people, with over $650M raised. The depth and quality of our technology, systems, and team is in a different place than in 2018.

AV Blockchain Fund 2021

Our thesis is that blockchain is a foundational technology with tremendous promise still early in adoption. We acknowledge that the short term is likely to be highly volatile and unpredictable — classic venture investing. We’ve seen time and time again that generational technologies are overhyped in the short term and underestimated in the long term — a good fit for a 10-year venture fund and our strategy. Some of the most impactful long-term blockchain ventures are likely still to be launched. 

We feel comfortable opening a new blockchain-focused fund within Alumni Ventures, led by three amazing teammates:

• Managing Partner Ray Wu: Ray is a seasoned venture capitalist with over 20 years of investing experience across a wide range of industries and geographies. Before joining Alumni Ventures, Ray was a partner and adviser at several global venture funds focusing on investment opportunities across the U.S. and Asia Pacific.
• Principal Jack Statza: Jack brings deep tech venture investing expertise across sectors and stages to his work at Alumni Ventures. He was previously an early-stage investor at Allstate Strategic Ventures, the venture capital arm of Allstate Insurance Company, primarily focusing on AI/ML, blockchain, and enterprise SaaS. 
• Principal Sophia Zhao: Sophia built her crypto deal flow and book of investor contacts during her tenure at Huobi US and Crypto.com’s exchange, working with institutional clients such as crypto hedge funds, high frequency traders on market-making, and volume trading initiatives. She was previously part of Galaxy Digital’s advisory team.

The specific offering documents are still to be finalized, but we wanted to give you an early option to reserve your spot in this fund. Here are a few highlights of our plan:

• Launch the fund in August 2021
• Follow our model of constructing a diversified portfolio of ~20-30 investments over ~12-18 months, with ~20-25% held for reserves
• Target token purchases to those not easily available and less than 20% of the portfolio
• Focus on innovative new sectors and ventures using blockchain tech: DeFi, Metaverse, and NFTs are just a few areas where we expect to be active
• Target a fund of $5M-10M
• Actively manage with a full-time, three-person team, and four venture fellows

Investors in the fund will also have an exclusive membership to our Blockchain Venture Club, with a target launch of August 1. Club members can access portfolio news and upcoming events, connect with other fund investors, review a target of 6-12 Syndications each year, and assist with sourcing investment opportunities as desired.

How You Can Get Involved

1. To make a reservation, click here.
2. To learn about or refer interesting deals, contact us here. We are starting to invest now.

Best,