Volt Capital, a crypto venture capital firm focused on early-stage investments, has received $50 million for its second fund from a list of industry heavyweights.
The fund will continue Volt's thesis of supporting infrastructure, decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible token (NFT) and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) projects, Volt founder Soona Amhaz said in an interview with CoinDesk.
Volt Capital began as a founding member of crypto accelerator program DeFi Alliance before launching a $10 million investment fund in April 2021. Backers of the new fund include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) general partners Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon, angel investor Elad Gil, Union Square Ventures managing partner Albert Wenger, global investment firm Tiger Global and European hedge fund manager Brevan Howard.
The larger fund gives Volt more room to invest, Amhaz said, although the company will continue to focus on the pre-seed, seed and Series A rounds that are sometimes overlooked by larger funds.
"Thematically, we're investing in founders that are reinventing systems and the rails we use for everyday activities," said Amhaz, who cited payments, online authentication and video games as examples of industries that could be transformed by cryptocurrencies.
News of the fund comes at a time when crypto markets are going cold. A16z has a price-innovation cycle thesis that says high crypto prices spark interest, while downturns provide a time for developers and startup completion. Earlier Wednesday, the VC giant announced a $4.5 billion crypto fund, its fourth.
"I think it's a phenomenal time to invest," Amhaz said. "This is exactly the right time to double down."