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Hong Kong crypto VC opens $100M fund for Asian blockchain startups

Hong Kong crypto VC opens $100M fund for Asian blockchain startups

CMCC Global, a venture capital (VC) firm centered in Hong Kong with a focus on cryptocurrencies, has successfully raised a substantial $100 million to bolster emerging Asian blockchain startups.

This remarkable achievement signifies the culmination of the inaugural funding round for the crypto fund, aptly named the Titan Fund.

The round witnessed enthusiastic participation from 30 investors, featuring prominent names such as blockchain behemoth Block.one, Hong Kong magnate Richard Li’s Pacific Century Group, Winklevoss Capital, Jebsen Capital, and Animoca Brands founder Yat Siu, as reported by the South China Morning Post.

The Titan Fund is strategically poised to channel its investments into pivotal sectors, including blockchain infrastructure, consumer-oriented applications such as gaming and nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and financial services encompassing exchanges, wallets, and lending/borrowing platforms.

Notably, this crypto fund from CMCC Global represents its fourth foray into providing equity investments to nascent blockchain startups, with a specific emphasis on those based in Hong Kong. The fund’s prior five investment rounds have seen two notable allocations towards startups rooted in Hong Kong.

Among these Hong Kong-based startups, we encounter Mocaverse, a trailblazing NFT project launched in December 2022 by the Hong Kong-based blockchain firm Animoca Brands. Impressively, Mocaverse secured a staggering $20 million in funding in September. Another noteworthy participant is Terminal 3, a pioneering Web3 data infrastructure startup.

This infusion of $100 million into the crypto venture fund arrives amidst a climate of dwindling crypto funding, exacerbated by the bear market and the aftermath of the FTX collapse. Pitchbook data underscores this stark decline, revealing a 70.9% year-on-year drop in the value of global venture capital investments in crypto firms, accompanied by a 55% reduction in the number of deals. This sharp contrast with the bullish crypto market, where crypto-based startups were securing billions in funding and unicorns were emerging almost monthly, is quite evident.

The launch of this crypto VC fund in Hong Kong carries profound implications, signifying the city’s growing prominence as a secure haven for the crypto sphere. Yen Shiau Sin, the Managing Director of Titan Fund, points to a notable shift in dynamics, with a crackdown on crypto activities in the United States prompting Asian projects to consider Hong Kong as an appealing destination for collaboration.

Notably, Hong Kong unveiled a substantial shift in its crypto policy in October 2022, with the government’s clear intent to foster Web3 development through regulation. Regulators doubled down on this commitment by formulating pro-crypto regulations, paving the way for regulated crypto exchanges and extending services to retail customers.

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