BlockTower raises $150 million for Web3-focused venture fund

Crypto company BlockTower Capital quietly launched a $150 million venture fund for the Web3 industry, per The Block.

The structure has been operating since December 2021 under the leadership of partner Thomas Klockanas. He previously ran the digital assets fund at White Star Capital in the amount of $50 million.

According to him, BlockTower raised funds from investors within “two-to-three weeks.”

The partners of the vehicle include Mass Mutual, VanEck Equities, BPI France, Circle and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas.

The fund has already made its first investments, including Aptos, Lighthouse Labs and Maple Finance. Klockanas noted that the venture vehicle is a “methodical” investment approach.

“We are currently oriented toward deployment timelines for projects at roughly three years. You can see capital in the industry moving quickly—somewhere in two months. This is because the market is overheated,” he said.

The fund plans to deploy capital across 20-25 portfolio companies. Investment sizes are expected from $0.5 million to $6 million. The firm aims for 5-10% ownership in startups’ equity or 2-5% in tokens.

“Why such figures? They scale well from the portfolio-math perspective to ensure winners deliver returns for the losers. The figures also scale in the Web3 capitalization table,” explained Klockanas.

The firm regards its status as a registered investment adviser as a competitive edge. It enables unrestricted investment in tokens or stock on the secondary market. The absence of such registration would cap investments at no more than 20% of capital in “non-qualified investments,” which include cryptocurrencies.

Earlier in September, British venture firm Northzone announced that raised €1 billion for a crypto- and fintech-focused fund.

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