Even as crypto companies line up in droves to go public, venture capital firms that back blockchain startups have struggled to drum up cash amid a broader dry spell for funds. One exception is Chicago-based CMT Digital, which has managed to secure a sizable new stash of capital, investment partner Sam Hallene told Fortune.
The digital assets-focused VC has raised $136 million for its fourth venture fund, he said. The fundraise closed in early October and attracted a mix of family offices, high-net worth individuals, and some larger institutions. Hallene declined to name specific contributors.
In June 2024, he told Fortune that his firm planned to raise $150 million for its fourth fund. The amount it ultimately secured from limited partners, or LPs, came in below that initial target, but Hallene said that CMT Digital was able to largely buck the tough macroeconomic trends afflicting VCs.
“It was a difficult environment, but we got a lot of trust from our LPs—existing LPs and new LPs,” he said.
Circle, Figure, and Consensys
Venture capital firms are on pace for another down year for fundraising. VCs raised only $50 billion in the first half of the year, putting the industry on pace for its worst finish since at least 2015, according to data from Pitchbook. Analysts have pointed to high interest rates and an IPO drought that’s only recently subsiding as two main culprits for declines in venture allocations.
The tough fundraising environment has bled into crypto—despite record prices in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Crypto venture firms deployed almost $7 billion into startups in the first half of the year, per Pitchbook. While that puts the industry on pace to surpass recent annual totals, it’s a far cry from the last crypto boom, where investors deployed more than $30 billion in both 2021 and 2022.
CMT Digital is no stranger to crypto’s ups and downs. The firm is an offshoot of the Chicago-based CMT Group, a quantitative trading firm founded in 1997. In the mid-2010s, the company established its digital assets arm, which has since become CMT Group’s biggest vertical, said Hallene.
The company has backed some big names in crypto, including the stablecoin giant Circle, the blockchain-based lender Figure, and the Ethereum developer Consensys. Circle and Figure recently went public in better-than-expected IPOs, and Consensys has hired bankers for its planned debut on the stock market, reported Axios.
CMT Digital has already distributed about 25% of its $136 million stash, including investments in the buzzy stablecoin sector with bets on the startups Coinflow and Codex, said Hallene. Companies that aim to displace traditional financial institutions will continue to be a part of the VC’s investment strategy, but Hallene stressed that CMT Digital has an open mind.
“I would hope that we would see one or two new categories that pop up and have a very compelling reason to exist,” he said, “and we are looked back on—when this vintage is all wrapped up—as one of the earliest backers of that new category.”