Blocktower to Launch $150m Venture fund

Blocktower looks to be taking a different path in the cryptocurrency business.

Crypto investors have become some of the most aggressive in turning their enterprises into a brand. They've published white papers and podcasts. On social media, partners at multibillion-dollar businesses have become minor superstars in the crypto space, making forecasts and memes with their legions of followers.

BlockTower Capital, a new venture firm managed by investor Thomas Klocanas, takes a different strategy. BlockTower, a previously unknown $150 million fund that is part of a bigger hedge fund and credit firm, has no website. Despite having tens of thousands of followers, its business Twitter account has yet to tweet.

What can Blocktower offer?

By keeping its fund relatively small, at $150 million, BlockTower hopes to invest at a pace that will allow it to compete with its more well-known, faster-paced mega-fund contemporaries. Klocanas believes he can offer startups something that a larger firm cannot: real power users in crypto-focused institutional finance who can help make markets and provide assets for lending businesses to get started.

They added a market-neutral fund, as well as a growing credit company, to their flagship fund, which could make long-term investments in public and private markets and cryptocurrencies themselves. A filing from the end of 2021 stated the firm's assets as about $1 billion; at today's values, it is worth more than $500 million.

Details of Blocktower’s investments

Goetz and Paul saw a chance to go deeper into the private, startup side of investing by partnering with Klocanas, where the business had previously made more than 40 investments on its own. The trio initially aimed to raise $100 million but ended up raising $150 million early this year. MassMutual, the French investment bank Bpifrance, former Midas List investor Roger Ehrenberg, and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas are among the investors.

The business seeks to write $500,000 to $5 million checks to lead or co-lead into early-stage firms and crypto projects, with equity shares of up to 10% in a startup or 5% in a token platform.