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CoinFund Expands Its Crypto Investing
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By Yuliya Chernova, WSJ Pro
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Good day. CoinFund has raised a $300 million venture fund to invest in blockchain and crypto startups at the Series A stage.
The fundraising took about six months, according to David Pakman, managing partner and head of venture investing at CoinFund, an investment firm focused on cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
“We were nervous,” Mr. Pakman said about fundraising during a downturn. But the firm’s limited partners were eager to invest, he said. “What we heard from LPs is, ‘We much prefer a price-corrected environment than the raging bull market to invest,’” he said, adding, “Most LPs believe, especially with the benefit of long-term hindsight, that the 2022 fund vintages will look much better than the 2021 ones because prices have come down a lot.”
The new fund, CoinFund Ventures I, received investments from LPs including the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, Adams Street Partners, StepStone Group, Accolade Partners and Theta Capital Management.
Mr. Pakman joined CoinFund last year after more than a dozen years as an investor at venture firm Venrock, where he led the Series A round for digital collectibles startup Dapper Labs, among other deals.
Mr. Pakman said he expects blockchain and crypto to serve as the basis of the next generation of software applications with broad use in consumer, finance and business spheres, and he believes investors who remain committed to the sector will benefit as others pull back.
“The pace has slowed down a lot,” Mr. Pakman said, adding that investment deals are getting done in a month or two, while last year wrapping up in a week was common. Valuations, too, are down, with seed-round values that Mr. Pakman has come across down about 20%, Series A declining about 50% and some later-stage deals down 70%, he said.
This is CoinFund’s first Series-A focused fund. It previously raised seed-stage venture funds and has made investments in about 100 portfolio companies, including Dapper Labs, Blockdaemon and Livepeer. It also manages publicly traded crypto-token investments. CoinFund managed about $1.26 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing.
And now on to the news...
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Investment companies are focusing on digital-economy assets, which promise growth as demand rises for superfast data networks and cloud computing. PHOTO: JASON HENRY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Infrastructure funds. Investment companies such as KKR & Co. and Brookfield Asset Management Inc. are raising money at a record clip to invest in power plants, telecom towers and data centers—businesses that can thrive even as inflation runs rampant, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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Infrastructure funds have raised about $130 billion this year, already outpacing the record of $125 billion set last year, according to Preqin, a data provider. Contributing to that total were a $17 billion fund raised by KKR, a $15 billion equivalent from Brookfield and a $14 billion fund from Stonepeak Partners LP.
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Investors include state pension funds from Alaska and New York, as well as other institutions such as China Life Insurance Co., according to Preqin and documentation from the pensions.
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Temasek Sustainability Chief on the ‘Carbon Ecosystem’
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Singapore’s state-owned investor Temasek Holdings Ltd. in June set up a new platform to invest in businesses that could help make carbon markets play a bigger role in efforts to contain global warming. Temasek committed an initial 5 billion Singapore dollars, worth roughly $3.6 billion, to the investment platform, GenZero. Steve Howard, Temasek’s chief sustainability officer, said the move was underpinned by a conviction that the carbon markets, or trading systems in which carbon credits are sold and bought, are going to grow globally—and need to grow—despite uncertainty about how smoothly that will unfold. Dr. Howard recently spoke to WSJ Pro Sustainable Business.
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U.S. Approves Nearly All Tech Exports to China, Data Shows
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A Commerce Department-led process that reviews U.S. tech exports to China approves almost all requests and has overseen an increase in sales of some particularly important technologies, according to an analysis of trade data, WSJ reports. Of the U.S.’s total $125 billion in exports to China in 2020, officials required a license for less than half a percent, Commerce Department data shows.
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Of that fraction, the agency approved 94%, or 2,652, applications for technology exports to China, the analysis showed. For 2021, that approval rate decreased to 88%, the analysis showed, but changes in data compilation methods between the two years make comparisons difficult.
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Funds
Agya Ventures, which focuses on early-stage real estate and construction technology investments in both the built world and the metaverse, closed its inaugural fund with $32 million in commitments. The vehicle’s limited partners include Mitsubishi Estate, Tokyu Fudosan, Obayashi Corp., Mori Trust and Hitachi Solutions. The New York- and San Francisco-based firm has to date backed 19 startups through the new fund.
People
Offchain Labs, a provider of scaling services for Ethereum, hired Andrew Saunders as the company’s first chief marketing officer. He joins Offchain from Amazon’s global brand marketing team. Last year, Offchain Labs landed a $120 million investment from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Polychain Capital, Ribbit Capital, Redpoint Ventures and Pantera Capital.
Airbase, a spend management platform for small to midsize companies, appointed Philip Lacor as chief revenue officer. He was most recently CRO at Unqork. San Francisco-based Airbase has raised $101 million in funding from investors including Menlo Ventures, Craft Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, First Round Capital and American Express Ventures.
Exits
Remitly Global Inc. agreed to acquire Rewire, a cross-border financial services platform for migrant workers, for $80 million in cash and stock. With offices in Amsterdam and Tel Aviv, Rewire is listed in the portfolios of Glilot Capital Partners, Magna Filis and Moneta Venture Capital.
Real-estate data provider Attom Data Solutions purchased Estated, a property data licensing company, for an undisclosed amount. Private-equity firm Lovell Minnick Partners acquired Attom in 2019. Estated was backed by Foundry.
The Sage Group PLC agreed to acquire connected accounting cloud provider Lockstep for an undisclosed sum. Lockstep counts American Express Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Avid Ventures and Revel Partners as investors.
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AtoB, a San Francisco-based payments platform for the trucking industry, scored a $155 million Series B investment, which included $75 million in equity and the remainder in debt. Elad Gil and General Catalyst led the round, which included participation from Collaborative Fund, Contrary Capital, XYZ Venture Capital, Leadout Capital and others.
Pliops, an Israel-based provider of data processors for cloud and enterprise data centers, closed a $100 million Series D round. Koch Disruptive Technologies led the investment, which saw participation from SK Hynix, State of Mind Ventures and others.
WellnessLiving, which provides a business management software and integrated payments platform for fitness and wellness operators, raised a $46 million minority investment led by McCarthy Capital, along with $20 million in growth financing from CIBC Innovation Banking.
Modulate Inc., a Cambridge, Mass.-based startup fighting online toxicity, closed a $30 million Series A round. Lakestar led the investment, with Managing Partner Mika Salmi joining the company’s board.
HyperTrack, a San Francisco-based API platform for logistics tech builders, secured $25 million in Series A financing. Led by Westbridge Capital, the round included participation from Nexus Venture Partners.
Omni, a business intelligence provider, launched with $26.9 million in funding, including a $17.5 million Series A round. Redpoint Ventures led the Series A financing, which included additional support from First Round Capital and GV.
Arc, a San Francisco-based provider of financial products and services to startups, completed a $20 million Series A round. Left Lane Capital led the funding, which saw participation from NFX, Y Combinator, Clocktower Technology Ventures,Torch Capital and others. Dan Ahrens, managing partner at Left Lane Capital, will join the board.
GrayMatter Robotics, a Gardena, Calif.-based startup providing smart robotic automation services for tedious and ergonomically challenging tasks, landed $20 million in Series A funding led by Bow Capital. New investors including Swift Ventures also contributed to the round, alongside previous backers B Capital Group, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, Pathbreaker Ventures, Stage Venture Partners and 3M Ventures.
Pomelo, a San Francisco-based international money transfer startup, launched with $20 million in seed funding along with a $50 million warehouse facility. Founders Fund’s Keith Rabois and A* Capital’s Kevin Hartz led the round, which included contributions from Afore Capital, Xfund and others.
Vividly, a provider of trade promotion management for the consumer packaged goods industry, picked up $18 million in Series A funding. Lead investors 645 Ventures and Vertex Ventures US were joined by Costanoa Partners, Torch Capital and Green Spoon Sales in the round. Nnamdi Okike, managing director of 645 Ventures, will join the board.
Sync Computing, a Cambridge, Mass.-based cloud infrastructure optimization startup, nabbed $15.5 million in Series A funding. Costanoa Ventures led the investment, which included support from The Engine, Moore Strategic Ventures and National Grid Partners.
Explo, a San Francisco- and New York-based provider of a tool for building customer-facing dashboards, grabbed $12 million in Series A funding. Led by Craft Ventures, the round included participation from Felicis Ventures and Amplo VC.
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Meituan operates an app that hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens use to order meals and groceries. PHOTO: ALY SONG/REUTERS
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