Asset manager giant VanEck is venturing into the venture capital space with a $30 million early-stage fund specializing in fintech, cryptocurrencies, and artificial intelligence firms.
The asset management at present has a market valuation of over $115 billion. Interestingly, Wyatt Lonergan and Juan Lopez, who headed Circle Ventures before departing the firm, are in charge of the fund.
VanEck’s Fund Will Make Over 25 Investments
According to VanEck’s press release, the fund will focus on businesses that have both strategic and financial upside, and it anticipates making 25 to 35 investments with check sizes ranging from $500,000 to $1 million.
Tokenized assets, internet-native financial markets, and next-generation payments that build upon stablecoins and tokenized capital markets are among the fund’s main investing topics.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen stablecoins enable seamless, large-scale value storage and transfer along with Linux-like composability,” said Juan Lopez, General Partner at VanEck Ventures.
He adds, “As several on-chain utilities, focused on programmability and compliance, come to market with growing regulatory clarity, it’s never been a more exciting time to build. Our goal is to be a long-term partner to bold founders defining the next phase of blockchain utility.”
VanEck New Crypto Fund To Focus On Stablecoins
Since one of the aims of the funds will revolve around stablecoin, it seems fair that those in charge of the fund are those who have expertise in the realm. The second-most popular stablecoin in the world, USDC, is distributed by Circle Internet Financial Ltd.
Currently valued at over $170 billion, stablecoins are an essential part of the digital currency sector since they facilitate swift transactions to any location in the world and let traders enter and exit the market during volatile times.
The massive payments company PayPal Holdings Inc. introduced its own stablecoin last year, and this past week Visa Inc. announced the introduction of a platform that will allow banks to issue tokenized deposits and stablecoins.