Hashed, a blockchain-focused venture capital firm, is raising $173 million for a second fund.
A famous blockchain evangelist in South Korea is going on another massive blockchain fundraise, following the success of his first attempt at raising funds.
Following the success of the first blockchain fund, which raised $120 million from investors in December 2020, Simon Seojoon Kim is hoping to raise $173 million for a second blockchain fund, which will total $173 million. Despite this, there is little information available about the new fund and its potential investors so far.
The blockchain and cryptocurrency venture capital business Hashed was co-founded by Kim in 2018, and he has been dubbed “the Jedi Master of cryptocurrency” by Sean Park, a senior partner at Hong Kong-based Boston Consulting Group.
The firm invests in cryptocurrency start-ups in order to help them grow by expanding their personnel, forming partnerships, and promoting their products.
Big-name financiers, such as Naver, South Korea’s third-largest firm by market capitalization, have invested $12 million in the inaugural Hashed blockchain fund, which was launched in January 2017.
In the West, the Seoul-based corporation provides as a gateway to Asian markets for those headquartered in the region.
Among the major firms and blockchain initiatives in which it has financed is Klaytn, the public blockchain of South Korean mobile giant Kakao, which was founded in 2013. Hashed investments typically range from $1 million to $10 million per startup, depending on the size of the company.
Additionally, the portfolio includes Dfinity, the company that invented the Internet Computer, the Ethereum side-chain platform SKALE, the Korean blockchain network ICON, as well as several DeFi projects, including lending platform MakerDAO and decentralized exchange dYdX, as well as stablecoin platform Terra.
Kim made his wealth as an early investor in Ethereum, which was established in 2015, just as the network was coming into being. According to Bloomberg, when it comes to industry investment, he added that “our investors want to maximize their profit, but they also want to learn about the market through us.”
He went on to say that the blockchain technology sector is still in its infancy, which presents a significant opportunity for investors.
This year, a record number of venture capital funds have made investments in cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. The amount of money invested in the first half of 2021 was more than double the total amount of money invested in the preceding five years combined.
The blockchain industry received over $17 billion in venture capital funding between January and June, and Hashed is hoping to benefit from even more of this funding during the second half of this calendar year.
