How AV's Blockchain Team Helps Web3 Startups Thrive
Executives from our Blockchain Fund portfolio companies discuss the benefits of working with AV and our team
Alumni Ventures’ Blockchain Fund team1 has developed strong relationships with innovative companies. We strive to go beyond providing capital and serve as a trusted partner to entrepreneurs as they navigate their startup journey. Alumni Ventures and our Blockchain Fund team bring an extensive ecosystem network, our 600K+ community members, and our experience and expertise to help entrepreneurs and our portfolio companies grow faster. Below are quotes from Blockchain Fund portfolio companies discussing the benefits of their relationship with AV and our team.2
Unlocking the Potential of Web3: Insights from Industry Leaders
Watch an engaging panel with executives from three of our Web3 portfolio companies, all with deep knowledge of the latest developments toward a new, better internet. Luke Kim (Spice AI), Josh Goodbody (Qredo), and Devin Eldridge (Bitwave) discuss the infrastructure and services powering the Web3 economy. Watch Webinar »
Reserve Your Spot in Blockchain Fund 4
We are seeing strong interest in this fund.
If interested, we recommend securing a spot promptly.
Max accredited investor limit: 249
Deadline to Join: June 30, 2023
Pixelynx, a co-investment with Animoca Brands, Niantic (Pokémon GO), and Sfermion, is a music metaverse that enables physical and digital music ecosystems for artists to launch and control their own interactive experiences through playable worlds and NFTs.
Inder Phull
Founder and CEO, Pixelynx“Alumni Ventures’ Blockchain Fund has been a great partner to Pixelynx. Their ecosystem and network opened many new opportunities to raise further funding and build strategic partnerships across the sector. The team is always proactive to reach out and help ideate on our challenges or act as a sounding board as we go through key phases of growth. Ray and his blockchain team have been instrumental in our growth and they are one of the best VC partners we have worked with.”
Bitwave is the leading enterprise-focused digital asset management platform designed to provide visibility and transparency in tax, accounting, and compliance for cryptocurrency, DeFi, and NFTs. Bitwave helps enterprise finance and accounting departments manage and integrate digital assets with traditional bookkeeping and internal systems.
Devin Eldridge
Chief Strategy Officer, Bitwave"The Alumni Ventures Blockchain Fund has been an invaluable partner, propelling our growth to new heights with their unwavering support and extensive network. AV has opened new opportunities for us to forge strategic partnerships across the blockchain sector. The team's proactive approach, led by Ray, has been instrumental in helping us through market cycles during critical phases of our growth journey. Without a doubt, Alumni Ventures' Blockchain Fund is one of the best VC partners we have had the privilege to work with, and we are confident that their continued support will fuel our continued success.”
Subspace Network, a co-investment with Pantera, Coinbase, Crypto.com, and ConsenSys, enables scalable and interoperable distributed storage for all EVM enabled blockchains from Polkadot to Ethereum.
Jeremiah Wagstaff
Founder and CEO, Subspace Network“Ray and the team at Alumni Ventures have proven to be incredible partners along our journey at Subspace. They have always gone above and beyond our expectations by facilitating numerous introductions with key investors and customers. Ray actively participates in our community and often provides useful feedback. We have no doubt they will continue to be involved over the long road ahead!"
Secure3 enables scalable, transparent security audits for centralized Web3 infrastructure. The company’s platform consists of a marketplace to connect customers with auditors; a streamlined, semi-automatic auditing SaaS; and a DAO to establish data records, audit SOP, and certify auditors.
Yuan Xia
Co-Founder and CEO, Secure3“Ray, Sophia, and Alumni Ventures have been one of the most resourceful and valuable partners to Secure3. The team at Alumni Ventures has not only provided great access to a vast network of investors, but also a variety of executive mentoring resources for continuous self-improving, team building, and culture building. Ray and Sophia have also been great partners, proactively helping us navigate the current challenging market and connecting us with industry leaders, customers, strategic partners, and marketing resources. We are happy to continue working together with Ray, Sophia, and Alumni Ventures to empower a more secure, transparent, and accountable Web3!”
Napster uses blockchain and token-based economics to bring the current Web2 music streaming economy into the Web3 era. Napster is leveraging its existing assets — including 15M users in 35 countries and 8M+ artists — to deliver compelling and exclusive benefits for artists, fans, and licensees. Napster earns subscription and ad fees, token sales, and a percentage of NFT sales & resales.
Jonathan Vlassopulos
CEO, Napster"Ray, Jack, and Sophia understand and are excited about what we are building at Napster. As such, they have been able to be extremely helpful in making connections to their extensive network of partners and fellow investors. Given their domain expertise in blockchain, they have also been a value add for us as we roll out our Web3 strategy”
Qredo, a co-investment with 10T and Coinbase Ventures, enables decentralized self-custody solutions for all digital assets.
Josh Goodbody
COO, Qredo“Sophia and the team at Alumni Ventures continue to demonstrate a willingness to go above and beyond for Qredo. We appreciate their ongoing support, and have been humbled by their generous introductions to investors and clients. We could not endorse them more highly as partners and investors!"
Quai Network is building a blockchain that combines the best features of foundational blockchain architecture (Layer 1) such as Ethereum and overlay (L2) networks like Polygon to improve performance and scalability while maintaining security and decentralization. This company’s solution is a fundamental shift in how blockchain technology operates by integrating the functionality of a L2 solution into its own L1 blockchain infrastructure. The result: High transactions per second without sacrificing either decentralization or security.
Alan Orwick
Founder and CEO, Quai“Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Alumni Ventures’ Blockchain Fund, our team at Quai Network has been able create new meaningful industry relationships. Their unwavering support and expertise have been instrumental in our success, and we are grateful for their partnership and guidance in navigating the complex world of blockchain. Alumni Ventures’ Blockchain team truly embodies what it means to be a strategic partner and has proven to be an invaluable asset to our growth and trajectory. Ray, Jack, and Sophia are a powerhouse that we look forward to working with for a very long time!”
EthSign, a co-investment with three Sequoia funds (Sequoia U.S., Sequoia India, and Sequoia China) for the first time in Sequoia history, provides transparent blockchain based e-signature product and electronic agreements without privacy concerns.
Potter Li
Co-Founder and COO, EthSign“Sophia and the Blockchain Team at Alumni Ventures have provided unparalleled value to EthSign. They have been nothing but genuinely friendly and helpful since the beginning of our partnership. Sophia has introduced us to custodian wallets, protocols, and investors with whom we are building indispensable relationships with. Jin and Shail from Alumni Ventures' CEO Services team generously offered their New York office space, and helped us host our networking event that allowed us to jumpstart conversations with numerous potential customers. In addition to the opportunities Alumni Ventures has afforded us, they have been very easy to work with. We couldn’t be happier to have their team supporting us!”
GamerGains is a next-gen gaming company, democratizing earn-ability across the gaming ecosystem irrespective of skill level. Traditionally, earning as a gamer is reserved for streamers, influencers, and professionals. GamerGains is flipping the script by allowing gamers to earn $GAMER tokens simply for logging hours on the games they already love playing.
Jonathan Brovda
Founder and CEO, GamerGains“Jack and the team at the Blockchain Fund are a dream come true for Founders. They were instrumental in kickstarting our seed round and are available around the clock. Having an investor actually use your product and become a power user gives the team an unprecedented perspective to keep growing our business.”
Ecosapiens are a series of NFTs that enble consumer adoption of carbon offset purchases which traditionally have been bought by corporations. Each Ecosapien NFT is backed by 20 metric tons of tokenized CO2, equivalent to offsetting a year’s worth of the average American’s carbon output. The company takes 50% of the transaction value fee, with the remaining half used to offset carbon emissions, which are then embedded into the NFT.
Nihar Neelakanti
Founder and CEO, Ecosapiens“Jack and Ray are more than investors, they are genuinely and authentically interested in helping us thrive and stick through the highs and lows of market cycles. They’ve made a number of BD intros and the Alumni platform as a whole has connected us with the right thought leaders and mentors in the web3 space. They actively think through ways to unlock opportunities for us before we ourselves see them. Very grateful to have partnered with alumni in both our pre-seed and seed.”
Path is an SEC-registered investment firm offering solutions to simplify and personalize the cryptocurrency investing experience. Path’s asset management technologies, automated tools, and investment guidance help users implement effective investing strategies, customize exposure to digital assets, and reach financial goals.
Joel Birch
Founder and CEO, Path"I'm happy to share my appreciation for Jack and the whole team at Alumni Ventures, who have been an outstanding partners, providing invaluable support and guidance to our business at Path. Their exceptional digital asset market knowledge, strategic thinking, and genuine investment in our success have played an impactful role for me and my team as I can always lean on AV for support. Additionally, the entire Alumni network and CEO services are a massive value add to help set any portfolio company up for success. I can't recommend working with Jack and the Alumni Ventures team enough."
GigLabs, a co-investment with Dapper Labs and Panoramic Ventures, brings brands to Web3 with no-code web3 dApp application launcher and open APIs to create, distribute, and manage NFTs and dApps. Its customers include large brands like CNN, UFC, NFL, Nascar, and the University of Miami.
Douglas Dimola
Founder and CEO, GigLabs“The team at Alumni Ventures’ Blockchain Fund are the ideal investor to work with at the early stages of our venture. The team is a great resource when evaluating our business and strategy. The team has also been a great asset in the fund raising process through making the right connections at the right time along our fundraising journey.”
mintNFT, a co-investment with Ripple and Dapper Labs, is a premium studio and marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that makes collecting NFTs simple, safe, and social. They are focused on delivering an unprecedented experience for users with unique features.
Teddy Zee
Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer, MintNFT"As an alum of Cornell and Harvard Business School, I can fully appreciate the value of Alumni Ventures, which goes far beyond dollars and cents. The ongoing support, formal programs and ability to access the strategic resources within their vast network of limited partners is game changing."
Blockchain Fund 4 Open Through June 30
Our Blockchain Fund offers accredited investors a portfolio of ~20-30 disruptive companies innovating in Web3 infrastructure and services, the Metaverse, and more. Blockchain Fund 2 was one of our largest fundraises, and we had to establish a waitlist to accommodate interest.
Contact [email protected] for additional information. To see additional risk factors and investment considerations, visit av-funds.com/disclosures.
1Blockchain Fund 2 was managed by AV with investment team led by Ray Wu. Blockchain Fund 3 was managed by AV with investment team led by Edward Tsai. Going forward, odd number funds will be managed by Edward Tsai, even by Ray Wu. When Fund Families have more that two investment teams, each team can work collaboratively with each other, but each is responsible for investing its own assets. Blockchain Fund 1 was managed by Green Nonce, which was subsequently spun out such that it and its principals are no longer affiliated with Alumni Ventures.
2Testimonials were provided by the participants without compensation. Each participant has a relationship with AV from which they benefit. All views expressed are the individual’s own. A potential conflict of interest could arise if a provider of a testimonial who is an investor expects more favorable investment opportunities or who is a representative of a portfolio company expects that follow-on investments are more likely after a positive testimonial, although AV does not believe any provider of testimonials to AV has any such expectations. AV further seeks to avoid or mitigate any such potential conflicts of interest by offering no special opportunities in exchange for a testimonial. The testimonials reflect editing by AV for clarity, but such editing is not intended to materially alter tone. The providers of these testimonials were not selected on objective or random criteria, but rather were selected based on AV’s understanding of its relationship with the providers of the testimonials. Testimonials do not represent the experience of all AV fund investors or all companies in which AV funds invest.