Cadenza Ventures launches a $50 million Crypto Venture Fund focused on early stage DeFi and blockchain projects. The VC firm announced that the fund will invest globally in crypto platforms and blockchain technologies with initial investments in Rain, Vauld, Lemon Cash, Tulip Protocol and ZEBEDEE.
Cadenza Ventures is a crypto venture fund dedicated to finding superior returns from investments in the digital finance and the blockchain space.
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The crypto venture fund is led by its Co-Founders and Managing Partners, Kumar Dandapani and Max Shapiro. The Cadenza team is composed of technologists and investment professionals that previously assembled a corporate venture portfolio that has generated outsized returns. This portfolio includes Seed and Series A early stage investments in unicorns FalconX, BlockFi, CoinDCX and FTX’s Blockfolio.
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Prior to co-founding Cadenza, Mr. Dandapani was Head of Data Science at Norwest Venture Partners and earlier in his career was a quant and trader at Evolution Capital Management and Cornerstone Trading Company. Mr. Shapiro was previously at Blue Line Advisors where he focused on middle market leveraged buyout investing throughout North America.
Max Shapiro, Cadenza Ventures Managing Partner, said:
“We’re very excited to continue investing in entrepreneurs and developers that are working tirelessly to revolutionize financial services around the world.”
Kumar Dandapani, Cadenza Ventures Managing Partner, said:
“Advancements in blockchain technologies and decentralized finance are creating opportunities for products, platforms, and services that have a massive addressable market.”
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Cadenza Ventures has raised the required capital from prominent investors and crypto players. The new fund is led by Van Eck Associates, with participation from institutions that include Solana, Dapper Labs, WorldQuant Ventures, Mirana, TRON, Lennertz, Babel Finance, Social Leverage and individuals affiliated with Coinbase, Kraken Ventures, Angellist and Norwest Venture Partners.
Jan van Eck, CEO of VanEck, said:
“Venture and private investments like this help VanEck better understand technology trends and to stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly developing area of finance. This enables us to develop and deliver best in class crypto and blockchain focused investment products for our clients.”