Toronto-based venture capital firm Round13 today announced the launch of a dedicated, crypto native fund to invest in the emerging blockchain and digital asset market. The fund is also partnered with Satstreet, a Canadian digital investment firm with a deep network of relationships in the crypto universe.
As a member of the Canadian Web3 Council, which advocates for responsible public policy and trust framework to unlock the development and growth of Web3 technologies such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies in Canada, Round13 anticipates its new fund playing an important role in the development of a strong regulatory framework.
How does the fund work?
The fund seeks projects with highly technical teams solving problems around scalability and interoperability, and those building top-tier applications on these new rails, themes that will play a fundamental role in building the infrastructure for the successful deployment and mass adoption of Web3 projects. With approximately US$700 million in assets under management, the fund has invested in several projects to date alongside other top-tier global investors in the space. Investments have been made in UK-based Improbable Worlds, US-based Trust Machines and Ibex, and Canadian-based Chainsafe and Red Jar Digital Infrastructure (RJDI), noted Round13.
Round13 says the fund has raised US$70 million of an initial target of US$100 million, with the lead investor being a major Canadian pension fund, with additional participation from institutions, high-net-worth individuals, family offices, and members of the Round13 team.
It is operated by two veterans in the blockchain and digital asset market. Managing Partner Satraj Bambra is a software engineer who has built and sold two companies and was an early developer in the space. He was most recently co-founder and chief executive officer of BlockEQ (acquired by Coinsquare), a mobile-native wallet and decentralized exchange built on Stellar’s blockchain. Managing Partner Khaled Verjee is a lawyer and investment banker by trade and has been an early investor and advisor to several blockchain startups since 2015.
“I’ve been immersed in this space for several years but have not seen as much interest in the emerging blockchain and digital asset market as we are seeing today,” said Bambra. “We are seeing a particularly encouraging and rapidly growing trend of new teams joining and building blockchain applications and protocols. This has historically been the strongest signal of adoption and growth. I truly believe we are just getting started and the best is yet to come.”
“It’s very encouraging that a pension fund and traditionally conservative family offices are actively investing in our fund and looking to capitalize on the tremendous opportunities in the market,” said Verjee. “And while this fund will invest globally, we are uniquely positioned in Canada to invest in and support the robust and growing number of developers building in the space.”
