https://ift.tt/OQ9sAzN Island Ventures Launches $250 Million Fund for Crypto Start-Ups

Early-stage venture capital firm Castle Island has reportedly raised a massive $250 million in funding to support startups developing cryptocurrency technology.

Digital Asset Firm Announces New Crypto Fund

Bloomberg reported that Castle Island Ventures, a digital asset and blockchain-powered company in the U.S. has raised $250 million in funding. The firm plans to dedicate the funds to a new product for emerging outfits in the crypto industry.

According to reports, the Boston-based organization is led by two Fidelity Investment alumni identified as Nic Carter and Matt Walsh. Since launching in 2018, Castle Island has raised over $300 million in funding for crypto startups.

Back in February 2021, the firm reportedly launched a $50 million fund geared towards investing in companies building decentralization finance (DeFi) solutions and stablecoin systems. Before that, Castle Venture announced a $30 million fund for firms developing tools focused on bitcoin.

Furthermore, the firm previously invested in companies like crypto index fund manager Bitwise, BlockFi, and bitcoin company River Financial to name a few.

Dubbed Castle Island Ventures III, the new fund will aim to invest in crypto startups building transformative tools powered by blockchain technology across three main categories. These key areas of focus include monetary networks, financial services, and internet architecture for web3.cc

Commenting on the launch of the new fund, co-found Matt Walsh said:

“The market opportunity and the wave of entrepreneurs that are actually starting things are just a lot bigger. The way we’ve reacted to the explosion in the space is to beef up our team and give ourselves the ability to go out and be a lot more aggressive in deploying capital in some of these companies.”

In addition to announcing the hefty raise, Castle Venture also revealed the promotion of former Fidelity director of research Ria Bhutoria to a general partner. The company hopes to further expand its team and lead more Series A funding rounds in the coming months.

Institutional Investors Flock to Crypto Industry

Despite market volatility and crackdowns on digital currencies by some jurisdictions, interest from institutional investors continues to rise. Indeed, venture capitalists reportedly view the burgeoning crypto industry as a smart investment vehicle. A CNBC report from July 2021 revealed that VCs pumped over $4 billion into blockchain-powered startups in Q2 2021 alone.

Also, CryptoPotato previously reported that Blockchain Capital, a major investor in the distributed ledger technology (DLT) space, raised $300 million in a funding round led by remittance giants PayPal and Visa.

In addition, VC heavyweight Andreessen Horowitz announced plans to launch a $2.2 billion cryptocurrency fund last year.