Crypto.com's venture arm has scaled back its investment activities as the sustainability of the sector's rally becomes less sustainable.
Crypto.com Capital, the venture arm of the company of the same name, had $500 million set aside to invest in startups in the space as of January 2022, but has not made any investments in the past 18 months, according to a Bloomberg report. They say they have reduced their activities.
Dealroom analysts note that investment in crypto.com has declined compared to previous years since the beginning of 2023, compared to only four deals the company has made since the beginning of 2023. , he said the two years before that, there were 35 cases.
In comments with Bloomberg, crypto.com CEO Chris Marszalek acknowledged the reduction in fundraising activity and said that “the valuations being thrown by the project team are very generous” at this time. But the company said it was “trying to be reasonable about this.” Marszalek also noted that the venture arm has made about 70 investments to date, but declined to provide exact numbers.
Despite the overall caution, the industry's recent venture capital deals have raised large sums of money, Bloomberg notes, and crypto.com Capital is a blockchain network run by anonymous founders. He noted that he participated in funding Berachain and secured $100 million at a $100 million valuation. At least $1 billion.
Crypto.com is not the only company in the cryptocurrency market to suspend investment activities; other companies in the market have also slowed down their investments. For example, venture giant Andreessen Horowitz has redirected his focus to artificial intelligence, diverting his attention from investing in cryptocurrencies for now.
