American investment startup, Bain Capital Ventures has announced the launch of a $560 million fund that is to be deployed into crypto-related startups. Bain Capital Ventures which has $5.1 billion assets under management (AUM) is a subsidiary of leading investment firm, Bain Capital.
According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report, the startup is looking to invest part of the fund in about 30 companies. These companies cut across native crypto startups as well as decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) actively involved in blockchain-based applications.
The company is “looking for firms who are able to actively participate in governance, firms that can provide liquidity into the protocols,” noted Stefan Cohen, a managing partner at Bain Capital Crypto.
Per the report, Cohen also added that the fund will be utilized in the space of two to three years and may as well be invested in company equity and promises of future tokens or the actual coins, which Bain might purchase from DAOs’ treasuries or on secondary markets.
The fund was said to have closed in November 2021 and the company has already invested $100 million into a dozen undisclosed efforts.
Bain Capital Plans Additional Crypto-Focused Funds
The latest announcement by Bain Capital Ventures may be the beginning of similar moves by the startup. According to Cohen, the company may consider launching more crypto-focused funds as soon as the current fund’s capital is utilized.
“Our view is that this is a 10-20-year opportunity, and we are building a platform here that we think can facilitate multiple funds over a period of time.”
Notably, Bain Capital has made some significant crypto-related investments in the past couple of years. One such development was early last year when the company participated in a $350million Series D funding round for cryptocurrency management platform, BlockFi.
Meanwhile, it is not the only venture fund seeking exposure to the emerging crypto space. Last year, leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz launched its $2.2 billion cryptocurrency fund that was geared toward investing in several blockchain and crypto-focused startups.
