Ben Strack

<div id="highlights-block_629fa64dedc85" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>“We’ll see the tokenization of everything” in the next 15 years, Cathay Innovation co-founder says</li>
 <li>The fund seeks to commit investments ranging from $550,000 to $4.3 million</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Crypto security platform Ledger has teamed up with venture capital firm Cathay Innovation to launch a $110 million early-stage fund focused on Web3, DeFi, NFTs and DAOs.&nbsp;



The partnership, Ledger Cathay Capital, is backed by French public investment bank <a href="https://www.bpifrance.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Bpifrance</a>. The combined entity seeks to unlock resources, networks and potential partnerships to accelerate Web3 innovation, while maintaining security standards.



Led by <a href="https://cathayinnovation.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Cathay Innovation</a> co-founder Denis Barrier, as well as Ledger’s Pascal Gauthier and Michael Louzado, the fund plans to invest in seed to Series A funding rounds. The idea is to make 20 to 25 investments, all-in, with checks ranging from $550,000 to $4.3 million.&nbsp;


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-medium"><a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="200" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-22583" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=768 768w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=386 386w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=392 392w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=329 329w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=50 50w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Denis-Barrier-300x200.jpg?w=2048 2048w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /></a><figcaption>Cathay Innovation&#8217;s Denis Barrier</figcaption></figure></div>


The strategy keys in on backing protocols and native tokens, as well as emerging DeFi (decentralized finance) security, infrastructure and digital ownership technologies, which Barrier and Gauthier called a multi-decade investment opportunity.



The fund has not made any investments to date.&nbsp;



“We’re at the beginning of a significant shift in technology as the third iteration of the web emerges, which is being built on blockchains with tokens that enable new use cases in the tokenization of the entire global economy,” Barrier and Gauthier told Blockworks in an email. “Cryptocurrencies are the first case to have scaled.”&nbsp;



Cathay Innovation, created in affiliation with Cathay Capital, is a multi-stage fund with roughly $1.5 billion in assets.&nbsp;



Founded in 2014, Paris-based Ledger is a digital asset management solution that serves retail and institutional clients in 200 countries. The company secures about 20% of digital assets around the world through its Ledger Enterprise Solutions for institutions.&nbsp;



The differentiation from other venture funds comes from combining Ledger’s experts in Web3, blockchain and security with Cathay’s extensive corporate ecosystem, according to Barrier and Gauthier.



“These entrepreneurs and builders need a secured and open security platform in order to design and imagine a new generation of services with easy access,” they said.



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