Share this article
Cardano Developer IOHK Launches $20M Fund for Ecosystem Startups
The cFund will invest anywhere between $250,000 and $500,000 into startups and small businesses using Cardano or IOHK tech initiatives.
By Paddy Baker
Updated May 9, 2023, 3:09 a.m. Published Jul 3, 2020, 10:09 a.m.
Cardano developer house IOHK has set up a $20 million "cFund" alongside Los Angeles-based Wave Financial.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
- The fund has a broad remit to invest in startups and early-stage businesses that use Cardano and other IOHK tech initiatives – such as enterprise blockchain ATALA.
- Commits will range between $250,000 and $500,000 for either equity or token stakes.
- The cFund is a 50/50 venture: IOHK has already put in the "anchor" $10 million, and Wave plans to raise the other half from external investors.
- Nathan Kaiser, IOHK's general counsel, will become cFund's chief investment officer.
- An IOHK spokesperson said cFund did not overlap with EMURGO – Cardano's commercial arm – which has also supported new ventures.
- California-regulated Wave Financial tokenized a year's supply of Kentucky Bourbon whiskey was worth $20 million earlier this year.
- Both sides had been in talks for many months but the fund's launch was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
- Both Hong Kong-based IOHK and Wave declined to comment on whether the fund had already started selecting projects for investment.
Edit (10:30 UTC): This article previously indicated Wave Financial was based in Canada. It is, in fact, based in Los Angeles and London.
More For You
What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
More For You
Michael Saylor's Strategy Hangs on to Spot in Nasdaq 100 Index
The annual Nasdaq 100 rebalance saw six companies dropped and three new additions, with changes taking effect on December 22, but bitcoin treasury company Strategy hung onto its spot.
What to know:
- Strategy (MSTR) will remain in the Nasdaq 100 index despite a major reshuffle, which saw several household names dropped.
- The firm's business model, which involves stockpiling bitcoin, has drawn criticism from analysts and index providers, with MSCI considering excluding crypto treasury companies from its benchmarks.
- The Nasdaq 100 rebalance saw six companies dropped and three new additions, with changes taking effect on December 22, but Strategy's bitcoin-heavy strategy secured its spot.
Top Stories
