Union Square Ventures to Dish Out $75M of its $250M Core Fund to Crypto Startups

Union Square Ventures announced on Jan 26 that it had raised a ‘2021 Core Fund with commitments of $250 million’; the New York-based VC said that 30% of this capital would be allocated to crypto-related investments.

According to USV managing partner Andy Weissman's blog post announcement, the VC will invest in both crypto tokens and early-stage blockchain-oriented startups. USV has previously invested in notable crypto ventures, including Cryptokitties, Polychain Capital, and Coinbase, amongst others.

Going by the latest outlay of its 2021 Core fund commitment, crypto assets have again featured significantly. Weissman highlighted in the blog that,

“As in our last several funds, we expect a significant portion of the investments -around 30%- will be crypto-related investments. This will include holding tokens directly as well as equity in early-stage blockchain-related projects.”

He was also keen to note the alignment of crypto with the USV investment thesis 3.0, which seeks to guide investments towards ‘Trusted brands that broaden access to knowledge, capital, and well-being by leveraging networks, platforms, and protocols.”

The blog post acknowledges crypto’s contribution in building the evolution of trust within financial ecosystems, an opportunity that USV views to be in the early stages of decentralization. It reads,

“Crypto networks embody both the evolution of trust in computing and financial systems, as well as vastly expanded access, so we view crypto networks as completely aligned with Thesis 3.0.”

Apart from the crypto market, the NYC domiciled VC said it would pay particular attention to the healthcare and learning scope. USV plans to scale up investments in companies that enhance knowledge sharing and wellbeing in learning and healthcare, respectively.