On May 2, Archetype, a crypto venture capital firm in its early stages, expects to close a $150 million fund. It will be the year-old firm’s second fund, after the addition of Katherine Wu as a venture partner earlier this year after she was poached from Coinbase Global Inc.
According to Archetype founder and general partner Ash Egan, the new fund will invest on companies in a range of different aspects of the crypto business.
In an interview, Egan stated that cryptocurrency is on the verge of becoming more popular.
“It seems like we’re not that far away from having a 100 million active user application,” he added.
Egan’s optimism comes despite falling digital currency values and worries of a wider market downturn. Bitcoin, the most valuable cryptocurrency, dropped below $40,000 on Friday, losing around 14% of its value this month. The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has lost almost 13% of its value.
This type of volatility is nothing new, according to Wu, who has worked in crypto for five years. “Long-term crypto investors require a lot of courage,” she explained.
Archetype, based in New York, has invested in a number of crypto businesses, including Polynomial, a decentralised financial network, and POAP Inc., a platform for nonfungible tokens.
According to Egan, Archetype’s new fund will be utilised for both token and stock investments.
According to him, the fund has already made three investments, including two decentralised financial platforms and a firm that aims to bridge the gap between traditional banking and cryptocurrency.
Over the next 12 months, the company expects to at least treble its four-person staff.
Wu believes that working for a smaller organisation is preferable in the crypto world, because opportunities are numerous. “I wasn’t really learning as an investor” at Coinbase, she said. “Even though we had so many transactions, I wasn’t actually learning much about the company.”
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