Just last week I wrote an article about the current funding situation for crypto and blockchain companies even with the market downturn (if you have not read it here is a link to it). At the end of the article, I mention how the market the few days before had been abysmal and it was something to watch. This was not long after the implosion of LUNA and UST which just tanked the market leading to huge Bitcoin and Ethereum pullbacks.

I must admit I expected to see a downturn in fundraising. It was hinted at with the data for the second quarter of 2022 (Q2) available up to last week that funds were not raising as much or as fast as they were in the Q4 of 2021. With the markets being down this was expected though so I was blown away when I read a couple of articles pertaining to funds that together had raised $4.67 billion.

Now in all fairness, $4.5 billion is coming from one fund alone but two additional funds have raised $100 million and $70 million respectively. The person behind the largest fund of $4.5 billion is a name that most people in the industry are familiar with, Andreessen Horowitz. This is his largest fund to date and he has gone on the record saying he is out bargain hunting with the market being down as much as it is. The fact that he finds the market enticing to enter right now does spell well for the market as a whole. Unlike other venture capital heads in the space, Horowitz has an amazing track record and has made some stellar investments in the past. 

The other two funds while smaller are each led by pretty interesting people. Two former high-ranking Binance Executives Ling Zhang (the former vice president of mergers, acquisitions, and investments at Binance) and Wayne Fu (the former Binance head of corporate development) fundraised $100 million for their fund known as Old Fashion Research (OFR). This fund had been operating in stealth mode which allows a fund to operate without near the typically required reporting but as a trade-off, the fund and the company that they give their money to are not able to publically announce the deal that has occurred.

What I liked about this fund while reading about it is that the fundraised money from a mix of inside and outside the crypto industry sources. They also kept the number of partners smaller requiring them to put up more money to take part which will give them the ability to expand the fund to other sources if they ever need to. Already this fund has invested in over 50 different companies and blockchains as well so it has really hit the ground running.

The last fund was been created a launched by an individual who well is not the most highly thought of individual in the finance industry founder and former CEO of WeWork Adam Neumann. For those of you who have not heard about the complete implosion of WeWork I highly recommend reading up on it or watching the documentary on it on Hulu! In his first major fundraising round, he was able to pull in an impressive $70 million especially considering his history. His focus seems to be on fighting climate change with a scaleable and honest carbon market. Carbon markets do currently exist but a lot of the credits are pretty shrouded in mystery and this is something that this fund hopes to address and fix. It is a noble cause, to say the least, and something that if he is able to pull it off will definitely redeem himself in the eyes of many. 

All of these funds will be interesting to follow over the next few months. It will be interesting to see how quickly they try to raise additional funds or if some of the projects end up flaming out in some spectacular fashion. This development and these funds to allow for the development are key to continuing to foster innovation and help alleviate the current technology's shortcomings. 

Please know I am not a financial advisor and make sure you do your own research! If you enjoyed this article and would like to further support me below are a few referral links that if you used when signing up I would appreciate it! Also, follow me on Twitter @Cje95_

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