Funding for Web3 projects is expected to come from two separate venture funds, the first of which will invest $500 million in early-stage ventures, and the second will invest $1 billion.
Katie Haun, a crypto investor and board member of Coinbase and OpenSea, said that she has raised about $1.5 billion in funds for her Web3 project, Haun Ventures.
On Tuesday, March 22, Haun posted an article on Twitter, where she gave a brief overview of the company and stated that the monies would be used to fund Web3 projects.
Two funds, a $500 million early-stage fund, and a $1 billion acceleration fund will be used to invest. According to PitchBook data, the two funds represent the greatest debut ever for investment vehicles run by a female General Partner.
Haun indicated that the company will invest in “every layer of the web3 tech stack,” and that it will support projects in both their early and growth stages, to have the initiatives it supports reach over 1 billion people.
In addition to web3 initiatives and crypto, the firm is focused on influencing public opinion and government policy.
“We will partner with our portfolio to lead a global campaign for web3 that combats misperceptions, engages policymakers, highlights positive use cases, and wins the hearts and minds of leaders across all sectors.”
Chris Lehane, former Airbnb Communications VP and Press Secretary for Vice President Al Gore, Sam Rosenblum, former Coinbase Director of Business Development, and Jared Cohen, Founder of Jigsaw, Google’s digital incubation firm, serve as advisors to the Haun Ventures team.
Haun has also recruited expertise from Andreessen Horowitz, including former partners Tomicah Tillemann and Rachael Horwitz, as well as Nick Pacilio, the firm’s former Head of Crypto Media Relations.
Previously, Haun worked for the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for ten years as a federal prosecutor, where she claims to have found one of the government’s first cryptocurrency task forces:
“In the course of that work, the vast potential of these technologies quickly became clear. Like any tool, they could be used for good or for bad, but we had just started to scratch the surface of the good.”
Haun departed the DOJ to pursue a career in crypto, joining the Coinbase board of directors in 2017 and co-leading a $2.2 billion crypto-focused venture fund with Andreessen Horowitz in June 2021, the largest of its kind at the time.
Haun announced her departure from Andreessen Horowitz in December of last year to focus on her crypto and Web3 oriented fund.
Last year’s data indicated that VC funding achieved new highs in every quarter of 2021, with $25.2 billion going to blockchain startups, up 713 percent from $3.1 billion in 2020.
