Pantera Capital Closes Its Crypto Fund with Nearly $165 Million

Pantera Capital, a well-known blockchain venture fund, has received $164.7 million from under 200 investors for one of its funds, the company revealed in a recent Form D filing with the US Securities and Commission Exchange (SEC).

The San Francisco-based firm launched the Venture Fund III in July 2018 and was actively raising capital for it for the last two years. Initially, it secured more than $71 million with another $96 million the next year. 

The regulatory filing shows that the fund’s capital has jumped by 130 percent since the last disclosure. However, the fund is still short of its original goal of raising $175 million.

Replying to the crypto publication The Block, Pantera clarified that the recently disclosed amount is not the result of any recent funding round, rather it was the legal closure of its Venture Fund III.

Pantera is one of the popular crypto venture funds with investments in a range of startups, including Abra, Ampleforth, Bakkt, Circle, BitGo, and many more. The fund also invested in many initial coin offerings of crypto projects like Ankr, Celer, and Filecoin.

The dead ICO market

Though at the peak of the ICO market, crypto projects were primarily taking the ICO route for fundraising, they are now heading over traditional venture capitals for investment.

Most of these funds are utilizing the Form D regulations that allow the funds to raise capital from the accredited investors without registering with the SEC.

Finance Magnates earlier reported that the New York Digital Investments Group (NYDIG) took the same route to secure $190 million for one of its Bitcoin funds. Benjamin Lawsky, the creator of the controversial BitLicense, is a part of NYDIG, and interestingly the fund also holds the same license from the New York state regulator.