Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of FTX, has relieved his deepening pockets of some cash, for now. FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, announced the launch of FTX Ventures today. The fund will launch with $2 billion in assets under management that will be allocated to teams building within the sphere of blockchain and Web3 technology. FTX Ventures will invest in companies at various stages working on disparate projects, as well as provide strategic support by leveraging FTX’s extensive network.
The company, which is led by a team of eight including several ex-members of Lightspeed, has been making a name for itself in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, investing in startups like FTX. One of the founders is former Lightspeed partner Amy Wu. She said, “I’m excited to be joining FTX and helping build out the company’s technology and products.
She also said that FTX Ventures will seek “to support entrepreneurs building generational businesses,” placing a special emphasis on “Web3 gaming and its ability to bring mainstream audiences into the ecosystem.”
The fund will focus on the most important areas for growth in the crypto industry, including social media, fintech, and healthcare. Sam Bankman-Fried has built his fortune largely through FTX, which achieved a $18 billion valuation last July during a $900 million raise. Though FTX Ventures proper has only been announced today, it is far from the first time FTX itself has invested in projects in the digital assets space.
Just one notable example occurred in November 2021 when the exchange participated in a $100 million funding initiative in partnership with Solana Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners in order to launch a Web3 gaming fund. This $2 billion fund, one of the largest of its kind, is approaching a record-breaking $2.5 billion fund size, just behind Paradigm’s all-time record-breaking fund size, announced last November.
