Trio Of Big Funds Announced For Metaverse, Cyber and Crypto

Chris Metinko

Monday was big for large fund announcements, as a trio of funds totaling nearly three quarters of a billion dollars were unveiled—all focusing on hot sectors like cyber, crypto and the metaverse.

Luxembourg-based Hiro Capital announced the biggest fund—Hiro Capital II, worth approximately $340 million—to invest in seed and early rounds in categories like esports, creator platforms, the metaverse and more. Hiro Capital’s first fund—$130 million started in 2019—has made 21 investments, including in Zwift, FitXR, and Flavourworks, according to Crunchbase data.

Hiro II will be announcing its first investments in April.

San Francisco-based crypto-native investment firm Hack VC also unveiled a new $200 million “crypto seed fund” to invest in early-stage startups in crypto, blockchain and Web3. The new fund is backed by Sequoia Capital, Fidelity and a16z’s Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon.

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While it’s no secret crypto has been a hot space for a while, blockchain and Web3 technologies have become very popular targets with investors. Earlier this month, India-based Polygon Technology, a scaling platform for the ethereum blockchain, closed a $450 million round led by Sequoia Capital India at a reported $13 billion valuation. That was followed by San Francisco-based Alchemy, which provides tools and hosting for those wanting to transact on blockchain and Web3, raising a $200 million “Series C-1.”

Hack’s new fund has already begun investing, including in Web3 infrastructure provider Mysten Labs and fixed-rate DeFi protocol Element.fi.

Lastly, Israel-based cybersecurity venture capital fund Cyberstarts said it closed a new $200 million fund, according to Reuters. The new fund will help the firm take advantage of follow-on opportunities from portfolio companies raising Series A and Series B rounds.

Founded in 2018, Cyberstarts has posted a 300 percent internal rate of return in its first $54 million fund since inception, according to the firm. Cyberstarts investments include unicorns Fireblocks and Wiz.

Cybersecurity has received a massive amount of headlines due to hacks and geopolitical tensions. Funding in the space set a record last year and started off strong this year.

Illustration: Li-Anne Dias.