Crypto VC Maven 11 targets $100 million for third fund

Amsterdam-based crypto venture firm Maven 11 is seeking $100 million for a third fund.

The company hopes to close the raise in the first half of next year, according to a statement. A third of the total $100 million has so far been committed by limited partners.

Theta Capital Management, a fund-of-funds focused on crypto that has invested over $600 million in the space to date, is the third fund’s anchor investor — as it was for Maven 11’s second fund, a $120 million vehicle closed in late 2021.

Ruud Smets, CEO and CIO of Theta Capital Management, said Maven 11 has “demonstrated its unique ability to identify important innovation early on, to deeply understand and contribute to the industry research and to work in a highly constructive manner with founders.”

Modular blockchain bets

The news comes shortly after Celestia, a modular blockchain network and one of Maven 11’s best bets to date, launched its mainnet beta in October.

Maven 11 has been investing the crypto space since 2017, backing the likes of Risc Zero, Lagrange, Gensyn and Merit Circle, as well as Celestia.

The company said in its announcement that it prides itself on helping to develop nascent ecosystems such as the modular blockchain space. Maven 11 co-hosted the Modular Summit in Paris earlier this year, which drew 2,000 attendees. A portion of the new fund will be put towards supporting founders in Maven 11’s Modular Program, with the aim of boosting the ecosystem.

Balder Bomans, managing partner and CIO at Maven 11, told The Block that the new fund will be more focused on consumer applications than its predecessors.

“If you look at the infra stack, it is becoming less of a focus for a lot of players in the space and we are moving up to the application stack,” he said. “We are definitely looking at more consumer-facing stuff.”

Maven 11 is part of the M11 Group, a global blockchain and crypto investment firm.

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