Blockchain Venture Firm Woodstock Raising $100M From US Investors

Blockworks Exclusive: Global Web3 fund with deep roots in India taps US investors for second vehicle

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share

key takeaways

  • The firm plans to hold a final close for the new fund at the end of March
  • The capital raise marks the first time the asset manager has courted US investors

Woodstock Fund, a blockchain-focused venture capital firm with deep roots in India, is tapping US investors for the first time as it aims to raise $100 million for its latest fund, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The firm plans to hold a final close for the vehicle, Woodstock Capital Fund II, at the end of March, one of the people said. The fund has already held a first close with limited partners, including a number of family offices.

Sources were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive business dealings. The firm declined to comment.

The fund features feeder vehicles that accept capital contributions from US and non-US investors alike. That’s a departure from the firm’s first fund, Woodstock Capital Fund I, which focused on seed-stage investment opportunities and dealt exclusively with investors outside the US.

The founders of the firm, which has outposts in India, the United Arab Emirates and the US, see a natural bridge between Web3 investment opportunities in Asia and the Middle East and a growing appetite from the US to supply risk capital for such plays.

Previous investments made by Woodstock include Web3 projects such as Covalent, Marlin and Polygen, plus NFT businesses Terra Virtua and MetaSky, as well as DeFi startups ParaSwap and UniLend.

Woodstock brought on Adam Mastrelli, a 10-year IBM veteran who helped build out the technology giant’s blockchain services, earlier this month as a partner focused on business development in the US, where he plays a key role in capital raising for the latest fund.

Unlike the first fund, which predominantly backed early-stage companies and protocols, Woodstock Capital Fund II favors a middle-market, growth-equity strategy. The plan is to back the treasuries of blockchain protocols as an investor and otherwise snap up tokens on the open market and from third parties.

On the equity front, the vehicle targets promising Series A investment opportunities. It will also — as the team did in its first fund — look to engage in staking and assist protocols with infrastructure development and governance.

The firm, one source said, has outlined to limited partners three crucial growth areas for crypto: financialization, or tokenizing of real-world assets; virtualization, a Web3-driven belief that the virtual world will increasingly mesh with reality; and convergence of technologies and cultures.

The fund plans to write tickets of $1 million to $5 million. It imposes a five-year lockup on investor capital, with two one-year extension options at the discretion of limited partners.

Woodstock, led by founding partners Pranav Sharma and Himanshu Yadav, now has nine full-time employees. The firm has mulled opening an office in Singapore as Web3 development grows in the country.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Unlocked by Template Presentation.jpg

Research

The Solana validator landscape has changed drastically over the past year. The chain now has 1,332 active validators with 380.9 million SOL staked (63.9% of supply) as of February 2025. Validator revenue had diversified beyond inflationary rewards (still making up 55%) to include Jito tips (30%), priority fees (24%), and base fees (<1%), in January, especially with the increased activity on Solana. Since then, issuance has become dominant again (76%), while Jito tips (14%), priority fees (9%), and base fees (less than 1%) have reduced in share of February 2025. There has been a strong shift towards non-inflationary revenue sources, which have become more central to validator economics as priority fees and off-chain blockspace auctions gain traction. Client diversity has also improved drastically, with implementations such as Agave, Jito-Solana, and Frankendancer already in use, and upcoming clients like Firedancer and Sig expected to further strengthen resilience and reduce reliance on a single codebase.

article-image

BWR analyst Carlos Gonzalez Campo explains the consequences of SOL inflation and transfers lost to “leaky buckets”

article-image

Empire co-host Santiago Santos makes the case that memecoins have actually helped push infra forward…just not in the way you think

article-image

A16z Crypto lists seven buckets for tokens and recommendations for how to regulate them, in a filing submitted to the SEC

article-image

New model aims to resolve trading inefficiencies with a single execution layer and market maker changes

article-image

Investors navigating BTC face short-term unpredictability, influence from other markets

article-image

The GENIUS Act aims to establish regulatory guidelines for stablecoins