• LayerZero Labs

  Participated · Series A · Sep 2021

  LayerZero Labs is the creator of LayerZero, an interoperability protocol designed to eliminate liquidity fragmentation by allowing cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and other digital assets to move natively between blockchains. The company’s Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) standard underpins blockchain-agnostic assets such as USDt0, a version of Tether’s USDT that has reportedly transferred more than $70 billion across networks in under a year. By guaranteeing fungibility across chains, LayerZero gives developers confidence that capital will not be trapped on a single network, expanding use cases for decentralized finance. The same infrastructure also supports more experimental concepts like AI agents that autonomously manage wallets and payments—what Tether calls “agentic finance.” Recent deployments by Everdawn Labs and the launch of tokenized gold asset XAUt0 further showcase the protocol’s real-world traction. LayerZero’s ZRO governance token reacted to the latest investment news with brief gains, reflecting market interest in the project.

• Panther Protocol

  Participated · Equity · Jun 2021

  Panther Protocol is an interoperable, end-to-end privacy protocol for decentralized finance that uses zkSNARK zero-knowledge cryptography. Launched in 2020, the platform enables private token transactions across public blockchains with selective disclosure and configurable trust/viewability roles for counterparties. It currently connects Ethereum, Polygon, Flare, Songbird, Near and Elrond and is developing APIs and SDKs to let developers integrate privacy features without specialized cryptography expertise. Panther provides full privacy by default while allowing users and institutions to vary levels of transparency for retail and institutional use cases. The protocol aims to enable compliance for regulated industries by permitting auditors to verify transactions via zero-knowledge proofs without unsealing underlying data. Financially, Panther has raised a total of $32 million to date, including a $22 million public token sale that closed in 90 minutes and an earlier private token sale in June. Panther Protocol is a Gibraltar-based DeFi privacy keeper that enables users to mint private assets called zAssets. Users deposit digital assets into a vault and receive zAssets in their Panther wallet, which can be routed through the Panther network and used in DeFi transactions. The platform offers multiple levels of disclosure, including a zero-knowledge option that lets users prove compliance without revealing sender, receiver, amounts, or metadata. Panther is targeting institutional DeFi and Web3 adoption by addressing privacy and compliance hurdles that currently limit institutional participation. The company recently raised $8 million in a private sale with participation from more than 140 investors, strengthening its financial position. CEO and co-founder Oliver Gale has indicated plans for zAssets to expand to stablecoins, utility tokens, and NFTs, positioning privacy as a core asset class for DeFi.

• NiiFi

  Participated · Seed · May 2021

  NiiFi is developing a low-latency decentralized exchange that runs on Nahmii, an Ethereum layer-2 network designed to boost transaction throughput. By leveraging Nahmii’s architecture, the platform provides instant, non-probabilistic settlement finality, a capability positioned to attract institutional traders. The exchange also embeds know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money-laundering (AML) functionality to meet compliance demands often absent in DeFi. According to Nahmii developer Jacobo Toll-Messia, the underlying technology is proprietary and currently patent-pending. NiiFi’s product roadmap centers on turning these technical advantages into a commercially viable DEX. The team, backed by seasoned crypto investors, plans additional fundraising rounds to expand both the exchange and the broader Nahmii layer-2 ecosystem.

• Surf

  Participated · Seed · Mar 2021

  Surf is the latest consumer-facing product from Toronto-based Trufan, an audience-analytics company focused on generating and activating first-party data for brands. The free browser extension tracks users’ online activity and compensates them directly with rewards or cash for the data they choose to share. On the brand side, the tool feeds into Trufan’s end-to-end platform, helping companies grow, understand, and activate their audiences across channels. Trufan also claims to maintain the world’s largest social database, with more than 10 million audience reports covering over 2.4 billion social profiles. The company’s roadmap centers on expanding Surf’s user base and deepening its integration with Trufan’s broader analytics suite. Financially, the firm has now raised a cumulative CAD $6.3 million, enabling continued product development and go-to-market efforts.

• Bakkt

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2018

  Bakkt builds a digital-assets wallet and marketplace that lets consumers aggregate cryptocurrencies, loyalty and rewards points, in‑game assets, and merchant stored value into a single app. The company says these digital assets together represent more than $1.2 trillion in value and that consumers find them difficult to access, track, and use. Bakkt's app enables users to shop with those assets, send them to others, or convert them to cash in a few taps. CEO Mike Blandina said Bakkt gives users control over their digital assets and helps them track, spend, and send value however they want. Bakkt has pursued merchant integrations — notably a direct integration with the Starbucks mobile app that will let select users pay with "Bakkt Cash" and join an early access program. Financially, Bakkt completed a $300 million Series B and has raised $482.5 million in total to date. Bakkt was created by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to build a trading platform that enables consumers and institutions to buy, sell, store and spend digital assets. The service has partnered with Microsoft for cloud infrastructure and with Starbucks to enable converting digital assets into U.S. dollars for use at Starbucks. Bakkt is pursuing regulatory approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to launch a one-day, physically delivered Bitcoin futures contract alongside physical warehousing. The company initially targeted a November 2018 launch but delayed to early 2019 while awaiting CFTC permission. Alongside its regulatory push, Bakkt hired Balaji Devarasetty as head of technology. Financially, Bakkt completed its first institutional equity financing, raising $182.5 million.

No current team members are available.