VanEck Led $50M Raise for Cadenza Ventures’ Crypto Fund

The fund will use the capital to invest in crypto platforms and blockchain technologies internationally.

article-image

Blockworks exclusive Art by Axel Rangel

share
  • Additional investors include Solana and Dapper Labs as well as individuals from Coinbase, Kraken Ventures and more
  • To date, the venture capital firm has made approximately 36 investments in digital finance across companies that focus on custody, exchanges, asset management, payments, data and analytics and DeFi

Cadenza Ventures raised $50 million for its crypto venture fund, the company announced Monday. 

The early stage fund is led by Cadenza Ventures’ Co-Founders and Managing Partners Kumar Dandapani and Max Shapiro and anchored by VanEck. 

Others in the round include: Solana, Dapper Labs, WorldQuant Ventures, Mirana, TRON, Lennertz, Babel Finance, Social Leverage as well as individual investors from Coinbase, Kraken Ventures, Angellist and Norwest Venture Partners.

“We’re very excited to continue investing in entrepreneurs and developers that are working tirelessly to revolutionize financial services around the world,” Shapiro said in a statement. 

The fund will use the capital to invest in crypto platforms and blockchain technologies internationally, the firm said. 

The firm has already made its first investments in companies, including Rain, Vauld, Lemon Cash, Tulip Protocol and ZEBEDEE.

To date, the venture capital firm has made approximately 36 investments in digital finance across companies that focus on custody, exchanges, asset management, payments, data and analytics and DeFi, according to its website.

For reference, BlockFi and Casa are two of the 36 companies that it has invested in.


Get the day’s top crypto news and insights delivered to your inbox every evening. Subscribe to Blockworks’ free newsletter now.


Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

Upcoming Events

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 24 - 26, 2026

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

Flying_Tulip.png

Research

Flying Tulip's perpetual put option provides real principal protection, but investors must pay a valuation premium today for products that have to be built over the next 24 months. This structure works best as a stablecoin substitute where the put allows continuous monitoring—accept opportunity cost in exchange for asymmetric upside if the team executes on its ambitious cross-collateral architecture.

article-image

As flows consolidate and volatility fades, finding edge now means knowing which games are still worth playing

article-image

Value distribution came to $1.9 billion distributed in Q3, though total revenues have yet to beat 2021 heights

article-image

MegaETH public sale auction ends tomorrow, and the free money machine has attracted people who like free money

article-image

With tBTC under the hood, Acre abstracts bridging and converts non-BTC rewards to bitcoin

article-image

Accountable is also eyeing mid-November for mainnet launch

article-image

“Adjusted for size, I think it may be the most successful ETP launch of all time,” Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan says