Crypto investment firm CoinFund has significantly expanded its workforce in 2024, reflecting a strong conviction in the long-term potential of cryptocurrency investments.
The firm nearly doubled its investment team outside its managing partners, increasing its overall headcount by 28% over the year. This strategic growth aligns with the broader recovery of the crypto market, which reached an all-time high valuation of nearly $3.9 trillion.
CoinFund Expands Workforce by 28% in 2024
David Pakman, managing partner and head of venture investments at CoinFund, emphasized the firm’s confidence in the sector, even during the recent bear market.
“We had such conviction that crypto is likely to be a fertile area to produce big investment gains that we focused on expanding the team during a bear market. So we added five people to the investing team over the last year,” Pakman told Unchained.
According to Julie Mossler, CoinFund’s head of marketing and communications, the investment team now consists of 16 members, including 11 investors and five managing partners. The firm’s total staff size has grown to approximately 30-31 people.
“We feel very strong and well-staffed going into what’s clearly an exciting growing market,” Pakman added, hinting at further growth shortly.
CoinFund’s Portfolio Plans
CoinFund’s investments span 105 portfolio companies, including Matter Labs, the developer behind ZKsync, a leading layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution.
CoinFund participated in Matter Labs’ Series A funding round in 2022, and ZKsync’s native token ZK launched in June 2024, achieving a market cap of nearly $806 million.
Additionally, CoinFund made a seed investment into Ondo Finance in 2021, a firm that creates tokenized money market funds. Ondo’s governance token has also seen significant success, with a market cap of approximately $2.9 billion.
The firm’s staff expansion in 2024 coincides with a shift in the U.S. political climate, which is expected to be more favourable toward the crypto industry. Following the 2024 elections, crypto-friendly officials are poised to take office in both the executive and legislative branches.
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President-elect Donald Trump, known for his NFT collections and association with DeFi protocol World Liberty Financial, represents a significant shift in crypto policy. Congress has also welcomed lawmakers aiming to make the U.S. less restrictive for the industry.
In previous years, regulatory hurdles forced CoinFund to look for opportunities outside the U.S. “45% of all of our investments have been outside the U.S., because there’s been more hospitable geographies to develop crypto technology, and I think that’s going to change,” Pakman said, expressing optimism for the evolving regulatory landscape.
CoinFund’s Commitment to Technology
CoinFund’s portfolio also highlights its forward-thinking approach to emerging technologies. Earlier this year, the firm co-led a $5.5 million seed funding round for Prime Intellect, a decentralized AI startup.
The round, also supported by Distributed Global, Compound, Collab+Currency, and Protocol Labs, demonstrates CoinFund’s commitment to cutting-edge innovations.
Prime Intellect focuses on building scalable infrastructure to facilitate decentralized AI development, marking a convergence of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.
Looking ahead, CoinFund plans to continue growing its team to capitalize on the shifting market dynamics and increasing capital opportunities. Pakman confirmed that the firm remains open to adding more investors, as well as expanding non-investment functions to enhance operational outcomes.
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