The crypto asset manager will help Israeli-based crypto startups gain entry into the US market.
Valkyrie, a Tennessee-based cryptocurrency investment company, has recently announced that it would be shifting to venture capital to support Israeli crypto-driven startups with mass-market potential.
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According to the official announcement issued on July 19th, Valkyrie is also looking to raise around $30M from various organizations in order to roll out a new fund. Earlier in April, the crypto asset manager enrolled investor Lluis Pedragosa who will supposedly lead Valkyrie’s new venture capital arm dubbed Valkyrie Ventures.
The investing veteran noted that Valkyrie will be investing in early-stage firms that are positioned in the “middleware layer.” In other words, the company will be allocating between $250k and $1M per business that provides a “Web2 user experience,” but has a Web3-based infrastructure. He added:
“In the US, I think you can write smaller checks … But in Israel, you need to be more concentrated on the bets that you make, because the exits may not be as big.”
Pedragosa, who has spent over 10 years investing in the US and Israel, also commented on the situation in the crypto market as bears are still reigning supreme and mentioned that he stays hopeful that strong firms at cheap valuations will eventually resurface. The investor underlined that now it's an "even better time to start a fund because innovation is generally more prominent in times of crisis."
In fact, throughout its course, Valkyrie has made some significant investments into different Web3-driven startups, including a recent one into a social messaging application dubbed Bunches.
It seems as though venture capitalists’ appetite for crypto-driven startups is not decreasing, as in 2021, VC firms managed to invest over $21M in such companies. Earlier this year, American-based company Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) broke all records when it rolled out a $4.5B Web3-centered fund.
Likewise, the world’s largest crypto exchange Binance also followed in similar footsteps and fired up a $500M fund to drive the implementation of Web3 technology.
