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

allora-image.png

Research

Decentralized AI coordination networks solve crypto's growing architectural mismatch: applications built on trustless infrastructure shouldn't depend on centralized intelligence providers. By turning model outputs into competitive marketplaces, protocols like Allora are building the permissionless intelligence layer that AI-powered DeFi and autonomous agents require.

article-image

Ethereum rolls out Fusaka, setting the stage for a stronger blob fee market and renewed deflationary potential

article-image

Futuristic DeFi is stuck inside the computer. An old idea might be its escape hatch

article-image

Money market indicators are flashing liquidity stress again as crypto underperforms equities

article-image

From passageways to penumbras: a history of private life

article-image

BTC’s Asia-session move and Ethena’s weaker yields reflect a market adjusting to tighter yen funding and softer derivatives carry

article-image

What Monad’s launch, MegaETH pre-market pricing, and the Berachain refund story say about today’s infra market