Alexis Ohanian’s VC Firm to Focus on Crypto With $500M Capital Raise

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s capital venture firm 776 Management plans to focus on crypto in the coming year, having raised $500 million across two new funds.

The newly launched Funds II include an early stage-focused $300 million vehicle, and a $200 million fund that will invest in Series A and B funding rounds. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the news.

“With the current trajectory of talented product designers and engineers, yes, a majority of our future investments will likely be in crypto, but we follow the lead of the smartest founders we meet, so if they keep building in Web3, we’ll keep funding them,” Ohanian told CoinDesk via email.

Crypto investments now account for about 40% of the firm's portfolio, according to the Journal. They include play-to-earn video game pioneer Axie Infinity, bitcoin rewards startup Lolli and crypto tax company CoinTracker.

The new funding brings 776’s total assets under management to $750 million, the firm said in a press release.

VC money is flooding into crypto, with firms such as Paradigm, Sequoia and Tiger Global deploying billions of dollars into “Web 3,” a more decentralized version of the existing internet.

Ohanian was one of the early investors in Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange that went public last year at a valuation of over $85 billion. Most recently, 776 teamed up with Ethereum-scaling platform Polygon to create a $200 million initiative to invest in social media and Web 3-based projects.

“We feel a deep responsibility to help usher in this new age of technology, with intention – both through the founders we choose to invest in and how we support them in their important work,” Ohanian said in a statement.

UPDATE (Feb. 1, 18:11 UTC): Removes “Report” from headline, adds statement from Ohanian.