Kraken Creates VC Fund for Boosting Crypto Innovation

By Liam Frost

US crypto exchange Kraken has announced the launch of Kraken Ventures, an independent investment fund that aims to support early-stage companies and protocols in the fintech ecosystem, according to a press release shared with Decrypt today.

“As we enter the crypto industry’s next growth phase, Kraken Ventures will support entrepreneurs in making the financial system more open, inclusive, and transparent,” said Jesse Powell, co-founder and CEO of Kraken, adding, “We’ve arrived at the point where crypto is starting to show its true potential, transforming the financial services industry and creating truly global, digital economies.”

The fund will invest in technologies and firms in areas like fintech, crypto protocols, decentralized finance (DeFi), as well as AI, machine and deep learning, regulatory technology, and cybersecurity.

“We take a long-term view on investing to add value from inception through each growth phase of our portfolio companies’ evolution. We will take a hands-on approach with our portfolio companies to provide guidance, new commercial opportunities and additional capital support,” explained Brandon Gath, general partner of Kraken Ventures.

He added that the fund has already identified “some of the best opportunities out there” and plans to reveal its first investments in the near future.

As Decrypt reported, Kraken invested $150,000 in the development of several Ethereum projects as part of its collaboration with open-source software firm Gitcoin last December. In the past, the exchange has also donated over $500,000 to Bitcoin-related and other projects.

“We would love to see other projects follow that same success. If a developer is working on the Lightning Network, Bitcoin, Monero, or another blockchain, we want to hear about it,” Kraken stated at the time.

Well, now it has a brand new venture capital fund to make an even bigger difference.

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