Shalini Nagarajan

Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian was tipped off to the impending launch of Ethereum’s native token, ether, in a meeting with crypto exchange Coinbase back in 2014.



In a recent interview, Ohanian said he spent $15,000 to buy 50,000 ETH (average price: $3.33) in 2014, which is now worth $82.4 million. 



Ether was purchasable for bitcoin in 2014 during the project’s presale, but the Ethereum blockchain only went live on July 30, 2015. This meant the first ether holders had to wait until the blockchain’s launch to move or utilize their tokens.&nbsp;



“In hindsight, I didn&#8217;t invest nearly as much as I should have,” Ohanian told Forbes. Ether was last trading around $1,650, and is up 38% in the year-to-date period, according to <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research</a>, and 49,500% above Ohanian’s initial purchase price.



Ohanian’s openness to decentralized and uncensorable currency comes from knowledge about his family’s traumatic history, where some of his relatives were killed during the Armenian genocide of 1915. Their inherited heirloom rugs were seized by Turkish soldiers.



The idea of persecution, especially by a state, “makes the idea of a store of value that is not controlled by any single state very attractive,” he <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeldelcastillo/2023/02/21/reddit-co-founders-quest-for-unseizable-property" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>.



That observation makes up one of Ohanian’s core investment strategies. The tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist has made a total of 164 investments, according to <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/person/alexis-ohanian" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Crunchbase</a> data.&nbsp;



Among those, 29 are blockchain-related. And In February last year, his VC firm Seven Seven Six <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/fundraising-wrap-over-800m-in-investments-poured-into-crypto-this-week" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">raised $500 million</a> to focus on more such startups.



Ohanian also made an early investment in Coinbase, from which he reportedly gained $50 million. Part of those proceeds went into buying a 17-carat diamond engagement ring for his tennis superstar wife Serena Williams.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Bitcoin led Reddit co-founder to ether</h3>



Ohanian was already taken by bitcoin’s complexity as a technically unseizable financial instrument.&nbsp;



So, Ethereum was considered an equally good investment opportunity. He recognized the underlying blockchain’s potential for developing additional unseizable assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that now have far-reaching use cases in several different industries.



Ohanian reportedly personally owns about 700 NFTs stored on a marketplace, some of which give him early access to one of his VC investments, <a href="https://www.tubefilter.com/2021/11/30/alexis-ohanian-invests-in-nft-startup-islands/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Islands</a>.&nbsp;



Additionally, he holds NFTs giving him ownership rights to real estate property in Georgia and to the Ethereum Naming Service.&nbsp;



In August 2021, about a year after stepping down from the Reddit board, Ohanian spent ether which would be worth $550,000 today on seven NFTs that he believed resembled his wife, including CryptoPunks. 



Updated Feb. 24, 2022 at 9:53 am ET: Corrected reference to Ohanian&#8217;s family history.



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Reddit Co-founder Wishes He Bought More Ether in 2014 Presale

Bessie Liu

<div id="highlights-block_630e583189826" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>The latest fund, Kryptós, will launch in October this year</li>
 <li>Investments will likely be in early-stage Web3 companies and cryptocurrency tokens</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



A digital assets-focused venture capital firm led by Reddit’s co-founder is reportedly planning on raising $177.6 million for a new fund that will likely invest in early-stage Web3 startups, plus related cryptocurrencies.&nbsp;



Seven Seven Six (776), run by Alexis Ohanian, started fundraising relatively recently, according to <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/alexis-ohanians-seven-seven-six-targets-177-6-million-for-crypto-token-fund?rc=8jqr2h" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Information</a>.



Following the likes of Sequoia and Bessemer Venture Partners, 776 has registered as an investment adviser with the SEC. The new fund, Kryptós, plans to commence operations in October.



The latest fund charges investors a 2.5% management fee — above the industry average of 2% or so.&nbsp;



The venture capital firm currently has <a href="https://sevensevensix.com/portfolio/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">56</a> portfolio companies, including Yuga Labs — the creators behind the exclusive non-fungible token (NFT) collection Bored Ape Yacht Club and QuickNode, blockchain API and node infrastructure startup. It currently has <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/alexis-ohanians-seven-seven-six-targets-177-6-million-for-crypto-token-fund?rc=8jqr2h" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$904</a> million of gross assets, according to regulatory filings. 



Cryptocurrency prices and blockchain startup valuations have plummeted since the collapse of TerraUSD in May. Crunchbase <a href="https://news.crunchbase.com/fintech-ecommerce/crypto-funding-falls-h1-2022/?utm_source=cb_daily&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=20220715&amp;utm_content=intro&amp;utm_term=content&amp;utm_source=cb_daily&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=20220715" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data reveals</a> crypto investments dropped from $6.1 billion in Q4 2021 to $5.1 billion in Q1 2022 and $4.2 billion in Q2 2022, but 776 partner Katelin Holloway remains optimistic. 



“This is the best time to buy if you’re really long on the industry,” Holloway told <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/alexis-ohanians-seven-seven-six-targets-177-6-million-for-crypto-token-fund?rc=8jqr2h" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Information</a>. “It’s on sale. Everything is on sale.”



776 is not the only venture capitalist appearing to buy the dip. Earlier today, Animoca Brands — Asia’s largest blockchain investment firm — received $100 million from Temasek, a Singaporean state-owned investment company, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/singapores-temasek-aims-100m-at-metaverse-giant-animoca/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bloomberg reported.</a>



Other venture capital firms pouring money into the space this past month include Brevan Howard Asset Management — which raised <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/brevan-howard-scores-largest-crypto-hedge-fund-launch-ever/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$1 billion</a> from institutional investors to launch the largest crypto hedge fund ever, digital assets investment firm CoinFund, which raised <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/coinfund-on-the-lookout-for-promising-web3-companies-after-300m-raise/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$300 million</a> to focus on investing in early-stage Web3 startups and Shima Capital, which put aside <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/venture-capitalist-launches-200m-crypto-fund-as-web3s-missing-layer/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$200 million</a> to bet on early-stage private crypto companies.



776 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



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Seven Seven Six To Launch $177M Crypto Fund

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_61fd75403556f" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>On Friday, layer-2 infrastructure firm Qredo closed its $80 million Series A round led by 10T Holdings</li>
 <li>Earlier this week, Seven Seven Six closed a whopping $500 million venture fund for its second fund, which will focus primarily on crypto startups</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Capital continued to pour into crypto this week, despite a recent downturn in digital asset markets.



“Significant capital raises that closed last year will be deployed now, I expect an increased pace of activity,” Stan Miroshnik, co-founder of 10T Holdings, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-vc-market-poised-for-growth/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> Blockworks earlier this week.



Layer-2 infrastructure firm Qredo closed its $80 million Series A round Friday, led by 10T Holdings, with participation from Coinbase, Avalanche and Terra. The raise brings its valuation to $640 million, after raising $120 million across the past 12 months.



“Infrastructure is a key battleground for scaling crypto adoption,” <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/podcast-is-the-crypto-bull-market-over-dan-tapiero-and-dan-morehead/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dan Tapiero</a>, founder and CEO of 10T Holdings, said.



More than $800 million was raised this week, according to PitchBook data. Some of the larger rounds include <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ftx-valued-at-32-billion/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">FTX’s $400 million</a>, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/crypto-wallet-raises-109-million/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Phantom’s $109 million</a> and <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/web3-data-firm-dune-analytics-hits-unicorn-status/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Dune Analytics’ $69.42 million</a> capital raises.



Other fundraisers include:



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Pixel Vault’s $100 million, which will be used to help launch an NFT platform</li><li>Tribal Credit, which offers crypto financial services, raised $60 million in a round led by SoftBank to expand into Latin America</li><li>CoinFund co-led $5.7 million seed round in prime brokerage liquidity protocol Primex Finance</li><li>Celebrity-focused NFT platform Colexion’s $5 million raise to expand into the metaverse</li><li>DAO-to-DAO credit lending platform Kyoko Finance closed $3 million private round led by Animoca Brands</li></ul>



Meanwhile, Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six (776), closed a whopping $500 million venture fund. The raise was oversubscribed, with $300 million going toward funding early-stage startups and $200 million going toward companies in growth stages.



The firm plans to primarily invest in crypto startups by the end of the year, Ohanian <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/alexis-ohanians-venture-capital-firm-raises-500-million-doubles-down-on-crypto-startups-11643716803" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told</a> the Wall Street Journal. The VC has over $750 million assets under management, just $26 million short of matching their name, 776, Ohanian <a href="https://twitter.com/alexisohanian/status/1488496693549142019?s=20&amp;t=Vp_Sq3zKGfyP5m6tHu0NWg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">quipped</a> on Twitter.



Ark Invest filed to launch a venture fund that would invest in companies involved in disruptive innovation, including those related to crypto and blockchain technology, <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/ark-invest-seeks-to-launch-venture-fund/">Blockworks reported</a>.&nbsp;



Separately, Arca also launched its NFT fund this week, which oversubscribed its initial cap of <a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2022/02/03/2378523/0/en/Arca-s-Oversubscribed-NFT-Fund-Closes-At-50M-Cap.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$50 million</a>. The fund joins the firm’s three other investment products, including its Digital Assets Fund and Digital Yield Fund. The fund will invest in NFTs, as well as digital property, in-game assets, DeFi-integrated NFTs and utility- and reward-based NFTs.



“We believe that, at present, there is a dislocation between the value of non fungible assets and the value of the underpinning ecosystem via equity, tokens, etc,” Arca Portfolio Manager Sasha Fleyshman told Blockworks in a statement. “We look to both capitalize on that mismatch and catalyze the perception change of investing directly into NFTs as investment grade assets.”



Check back next week for even more funding news.



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Fundraising Wrap: Over $800M in Investments Poured into Crypto This Week

Morgan Chittum

<div id="highlights-block_61bcd9ff02dfb" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Morgan Stanley sees the metaverse as an $8 trillion market</li>
 <li>Goldman Sachs said blockchain is one of the most “disruptive technologies” since the 1990s</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Morgan Stanley, the Wall Street giant that manages<a href="https://www.investmentnews.com/morgan-stanley-will-reach-10-trillion-in-aum-gorman-205368" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> $6.4 trillion</a> in assets, said the metaverse will be “the next big investment theme” in a note to clients last month. On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs then described blockchain as being key to Web3 development in a report.&nbsp;



More and more behemoth financial institutions are addressing the metaverse to clients and investors.&nbsp;



&#8220;[The metaverse] can fundamentally change the medium through which we socialize with others,&#8221; Edward Stanley, an Equity strategist at Morgan Stanley, said.&nbsp;



Stanley added that certain stocks in gaming and tech sectors such as Roblox and Meta (formerly Facebook), along with those concentrated on augmented reality like Alphabet Inc., can benefit from growing adoption of the concept as well.&nbsp;



Goldman Sachs sees blockchain as one of the most “disruptive technologies” in the past several decades, including the advent of the internet.&nbsp;



&#8220;We believe that the metaverse is likely to be an amalgamation of different 3D spaces and that users will move between these regularly,&#8221; Rod Hall, an analyst for Goldman Sachs, said. &#8220;If any virtual goods or services are unable to move from one space to another with the user, we believe their value is likely to be more limited.&#8221;



Atomic Form co-founder Garrette David described the banks’ reports as “a huge positive,” adding it signals further adoption by institutions who have been historically skeptical of cryptocurrency as an asset class at all.



“Given the speed at which they&#8217;re reporting it, I would say we are definitely mainstream. It took banks years to publicly sell interests in, or comment on, economics behind public networks and blockchains,” David said, who runs a startup that develops non-fungible token displays and a Web3 platform.



According to Goldman, it will take “many years” and &#8220;cross-company collaboration” to seamlessly onboard millions of users into the virtual augmented world.&nbsp;



“Investment implications are hard to predict at this juncture, but companies who are dependent on centralized control of user identity will likely find their business models challenged by the adoption of blockchain,” Goldman said.



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How Megabanks Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Are Talking About the Metaverse

<div id="highlights-block_61bcd9ff02dfb" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>&#8220;We are still in the early days of Web3 and the most obvious opportunities right now are in gaming and social,&#8221; said Alexis Ohanian, general partner and founder of Seven Seven Six</li>
 <li>Earlier this month, Polygon acquired a zero knowledge startup Mir in a $400 million deal to scale Ethereum and bring more users to Web3</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Polygon and Seven Seven Six partnered to launch a $200 million initiative to support social media projects on Web3, the companies shared on Friday.&nbsp;



Over the past few years, there has been a realization that social media businesses have a profound impact on society, Sandeep Nailwal, co-founder &amp; chief operations officer at Polygon said in a statement. “With Web3, users create the value, control the network and reap the rewards. This is not just a different way to share lolcats online, though we love those. We are inventing new high-fidelity means of transmitting culture itself,” Nailwal said.



&#8220;We are still in the early days of Web3 and the most obvious opportunities right now are in gaming and social,&#8221; Alexis Ohanian, general partner and founder of Seven Seven Six, said in a statement. &#8220;This initiative will do just that, with a focus on gaming properties and social media platforms built on Polygon&#8217;s scalable infrastructure,” Ohanian added.&nbsp;



Polygon and Seven Seven Six were not available for additional comment when requested by Blockworks on Friday.&nbsp;



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Playing the long game</h3>



Ohanian co-founded Reddit in 2005 and Initialized Capital in 2010. While at his first venture firm, he was a seed investor in Coinbase, Instacart, Patreon and other major businesses. Ohanian founded Seven Seven Six in 2020 and has formed a portfolio of 35 companies, including the makers of <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/axie-infinity-developer-scores-152m-in-series-b-funding-nearing-3b-valuation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Axie Infinity</a>, Sky Mavis. 



Polygon has an Ethereum-based proof-of-stake sidechain network that scales and powers some of the biggest DeFi and NFT projects including Aave, SushiSwap and OpenSea. The number of decentralized applications, or dApps, on the platform rose 9,900% from 30 in November 2020 to 3,000 in November 2021, Nailwal previously told Blockworks.



“We’ve already seen some of the best product founders in our portfolio start building on Polygon, and I’m excited for Seven Seven Six and Polygon to play a big role in shaping what the new internet looks like,” Ohanian said.&nbsp;



Polygon is also developing multiple alternative scaling solutions for Ethereum using zero-knowledge proof technology.



Earlier this month, Polygon acquired a zero knowledge startup Mir in a <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/polygon-acquires-mir-in-400m-deal-to-scale-ethereum-and-web3/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$400 million deal</a> to scale Ethereum and bring more users to Web3. At the time, Nailwal said to Blockworks, “We want to be the AWS of [the] Web3 platform for developers to build on by providing a spectrum of solutions.”



Separately, last month, Seven Seven Six joined Solana Ventures in a $100 million initiative to help fuel decentralized social media platforms on Solana’s blockchain, Blockworks previously <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/solana-and-seven-seven-six-double-initiative-to-100m-to-build-decentralized-social-media/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. 



“The baggage of Web2 infrastructure and Web2 precedent is that you know you’re ultimately just harvested for an advertiser and that factors into product decisions and that factors into design decisions,” Ohanian said at the Solana <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-solana-summer-never-ends/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Breakpoint</a> conference. 



“What’s really exciting is there’s a whole new slew of founders who have a chance to jump into a very energized community and start building something with a very different business model in mind…that’s compelling. We could see new platforms emerge very fast,” Ohanian added at the time.



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