Coinspeaker
Lightspeed Faction Unveils $285M Venture Fund for Blockchain Startups
Lightspeed Faction, a United States-based venture capital firm, has announced the launch of a $285 million venture fund aimed at supporting blockchain projects with potential.
According to an official press release, on November 9, the funds will be used to invest in crypto and blockchain projects, particularly startups utilizing the public ledger to bring real utility to users and businesses, contributing positively to the ecosystem and advancing blockchain innovation.
New Venture Fund to Offer Business Resources for Blockchain Projects
The company plans to extend support to the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, including projects focused on metaverse and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These startups will receive financial backing for their seed and Series A funding rounds to help them scale their business offerings.
“We are steadfast in our conviction that crypto is a generation-defining technology, and we are fully committed to investing behind the best entrepreneurs looking to propel blockchain technology forward,” said Faction co-founder Banafsheh Fathieh.
In addition to the funding, the company, comprising a team of seasoned professionals with strong industry backgrounds, plans to offer crypto-native advice to the projects it chooses to support with the funds. These startups will receive resources on a number of topics, including tokenomices and business scaling materials to help them stand out among competitors.
Established in July last year, the VC company operates as a joint venture with Lightspeed Venture Partners, combining both Faction’s crypto-focused approach and Lightspeed’s extensive Silicon Valley roots to help founders scale their businesses.
However, while collaborating on blockchain-related matters, the firm retains autonomy over its fund, operating independently with a dedicated LP base and full investment discretion over the $285 million capital it raised.
$500 Million Investments in Crypto Firms
As a venture capital firm, Lightspeed Faction boasts a commendable track record of strategic investments in numerous crypto-native companies, including projects such as Crossmint, Lens, Narya.ai, Skip. money, and Matter Labs, the driving force behind the zkSync layer-2 network on Ethereum.
The company’s founding partners, Banafsheh Fathieh and Samuel Harrison, have also injected more than $500 million into the crypto ecosystem throughout their careers. Some of the companies that have benefited from their investments are Aave, Arbitrum, Blockdaemon, Figure, Immutable, NEAR, Republic, Wintermute, and Matter Labs.
However, with the launch of the $285 million investment fund, Faction aims to be a collaborative partner, assisting projects in achieving their goals.
Meanwhile, the launch of the Faction’s venture fund aligns with a broader trend of renewed interest in the crypto sector, driven in part by expectations surrounding the potential approval of a Bitcoin (BTC) spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In addition to Faction, other companies, such as Blockchain Capital, have recently secured $580 million for two new crypto investment funds. The company said $380 million will be deployed towards its sixth early-stage fund to support new startups and protocols during pre-seed and Series A rounds.
The remaining $200 million has been allocated to its opportunities fund to provide financial backing for late-stage investments from Series B onward.
Another company, Nym Technologies, also secured $300 million from VCs for investing in crypto projects focused on privacy initiatives.
Lightspeed Faction Unveils $285M Venture Fund for Blockchain Startups
