(Rejected) Venture Capital Firm Northzone to Establish 1 Billion Euro Crypto Fund

UK-based venture capital firm Northzone has launched a new €1 billion (~$1.014 billion) crypto fund.

According to the company’s announcement, the new fund will help crypto and fintech startups focused on web3, DeFi, gaming, and DAOs.

Founded in 1996, Northzone Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Europe and North America. The firm prefers to make seed, series A, and series B investments in companies operating in the healthcare, semiconductors, software, hardware, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and gaming sectors.

The company has invested in Spotify, a music streaming platform that is exploring web3, as well as crypto infrastructure startup Magic Labs, web3 privacy company Sunscreen, and DeFi protocol Gro, among others.

Wendy Xiao Shadeck, a partner at Northzone, said that this time the company will focus on the web3 field as the company's "core".

Northzone is currently not in contact with NFTs, and Xiao Shadeck said that the company is currently discussing a new investment model that is consistent with the work.

She added that：

"But it's not at a point where we say we'll dedicate a portion of the funding to buy NFTs or anything like that. So far, we haven't found that specifically, NFTs themselves are an investment case that fits our venture criteria. "

On whether Northzone will follow other European venture capital firms such as Aglaé Ventures and Cherry Ventures in launching a dedicated crypto fund, Xiao Schadeck said the jury is still out.

Three days ago, according to Bloomberg, Singapore-based asset management firm Whampoa Group plans to raise $50 million for a crypto hedge fund and has announced plans to set up a venture capital fund to invest in digital assets.

Early-stage venture capital Shima Capital will launch Shima Capital Fund I, the first fund to support emerging digital assets for web3 and crypto startups.