Crypto venture firm Variant raises $450 million for two new funds

Venture firm Variant has raised $450 million across two new funds, focused on the Web3 space and the decentralized finance sector, The Block reports.

The company raised $300 million for an ‘opportunities fund’ and $150 million for investments in sector startups.

Variant closed its first fund in 2020. In 2021, together with Atelier Ventures, the firm launched a second fund of $110 million.

Variant’s portfolio includes a broad array of crypto-industry projects, including the NFT marketplace Magic Eden and the decentralized exchange Uniswap.

The new funds target four investment theses:

• decentralized finance;
• infrastructure blockchain startups;
• consumer Web3 applications;
• projects experimenting with new forms of ownership.

According to Variant co-founder Jesse Walden, despite a difficult period for the industry, the firm remains confident in the Web3 sector. He explained that the technologies behind it will grow and develop.

“Historically, technologies do not become worse or disappear — they become better and more widespread. In Web3 this is happening at an exponential rate, because all software is open source, and tons of talent are flowing into this space. The technology works, and I think that means it will only spread,” Walden said.

Earlier in July 2022, the decentralized domain-name registrar Unstoppable Domains raised $65 million at a $1 billion valuation.

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