Blockchain and digital asset investment firm Maven 11 Capital has closed a $120 million fund, its second crypto-focused fund. The fund will back infrastructure protocols, decentralized finance (DeFi) open-source protocols and Web 3 applications.
Venture Fund II differs from Maven 11′s first fund in being closed-ended, or issuing a fixed number of shares, and having a wider group of backers including wealthy individuals, crypto entrepreneurs, family offices and institutions. The new fund has already deployed investments into gaming-focused DAO Merit Circle, lending platform Maple Finance, layer 1 blockchain Anoma and DeFi dashboard Zapper, among others.
“The traditional venture structure of this new fund allows us to take a multi-year time horizon on our investments,” Maven 11 partner Darius Rugys said in a statement. “This enables us to back protocols that need to grow from just a strong founder with an innovative idea towards a fully fledged DAO or proven protocol with strong traction among developers and users.”
In an interview with CoinDesk, Rugys used Maple Finance as an example of how the firm works with companies in which it invests.
Maple Finance is a lending platform that specializes in liquidity pools made up of institutions. Maven 11 essentially acted as a pool manager for a group of borrowers and lenders. Rugys said his firm raised $150 million to $160 million for Maple Finance, and has a small team of employees working full time on that project.
“We invest in them, we are working closely with founders and we’re doing extensive work for the protocol,” said Rugys.
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The Amsterdam-based investment firm is also focusing on internal hiring, including for its research and portfolio growth teams, said Rugys.
Maven 11 Capital was founded in 2015 and has run a venture investment approach since 2017. The firm has previously backed layer 1 data firm Celestia, digital asset custody company Qredo, privacy-focused infrastructure firm Nym Technologies and creditworthiness protocol Spectral Finance.