Hack VC, a prominent venture capital firm, has recently closed an ‘oversubscribed’ $150 million fund aimed at investing in early-stage companies within the fields of crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) startups. This significant capital injection reflects the growing interest and confidence in the potential of Web3 technologies and disruptive innovations in AI.
With a track record dating back to 2017, Hack VC has established itself as a key player in the venture capital landscape, particularly within the burgeoning sectors of crypto and AI.
Hack VC’s mega fund signals a green light for crypto ventures
Web3 venture capital firm Hack VC has secured $150 million to invest in early-stage crypto and artificial intelligence (AI) firms.
In a statement issued on February 20, the New York-based venture capital firm stated that the majority of its crypto-focused investments would focus on decentralized finance (DeFi), real-world asset tokenization (RWA), and blockchain infrastructure solutions.
According to managing partner Alex Pack, Hack VC, based in New York, has already invested roughly one-third of the new fund, which focuses on early-stage entrepreneurs. Hack VC, which has invested in startups such as blockchain company Mysten Labs and crypto finance firm Amber Group, recently established a $200 million fund for 2022.
It was a bit more of a challenging environment now than a few years ago, but we did it because we’re just very excited about the infrastructure opportunity and everything we’re seeing in early-stage VC.
Alex Pack
Founded in 2017, Hack VC is led by Ed Roman and Alexander Pack. Roman established the Hack.Summit() programmer conference in 2014, which is now backed by Hack VC. Pack co-founded Dragonfly, another cryptocurrency startup portal, in 2018.
Pack’s new fund arrives as Bitcoin recovers from a 75% drop in 2021-22, but the sector is still reeling from many bankruptcies. Pack described the failures of firms like as Terraform Labs, Three Arrows Capital, FTX, and BlockFi as “genuinely traumatic events” for the industry. Hack VC had invested in Terraform and BlockFi, but Pack stated that he is ready to move on.
Crypto ventures tap into the bull run
Hack VC, which invests in both startups and crypto tokens, is looking to support initiatives focused on decentralizing the internet, entrepreneurs establishing infrastructure for decentralized banking, and organizations working at the interface of crypto and artificial intelligence.
In addition, Pack expressed interest in firms that use blockchain to make it faster and cheaper to acquire access to computational capacity, which is required for things such as building huge language models in AI.
Hack VC is the latest crypto venture firm to establish a new fund amid a thriving bull market. Lightspeed Faction funded $285 million for blockchain firms in November, and RW3 Ventures announced $60 million in funding last week. According to PitchBook, $1.9 billion in venture capital was invested in crypto in Q4, representing a 2.5% increase from Q3.
Pack has been involved in crypto investing for about a decade, seeing that the business has evolved rapidly, first centered on Bitcoin and then expanding into a number of tokens and sectors. He believes the quick transition will continue: “I just think we’re very early.”
Hack stated that its next investments will vary from hundreds of thousands of dollars for smaller enterprises with solitary founders to several million dollars for larger projects in which the firm believes strongly.
Since entering the Web3 space in 2014, the venture capital firm has made over 100 investments and spawned dozens of unicorns (startups valued at more than $1 billion), including Ethereum infrastructure business Consensys, layer-1 blockchain Sui, and decentralized wireless network Helium.
The firm’s total assets under control today stand at around $425 million.
