Exclusive: Portal Ventures raises oversubscribed $75 million crypto fund backed by Chris Dixon and Marc Andreessen

Readers, I fear the answer, but at the very least, I can report one trend: Venture firms focused on blockchain investments are raising again, although not quite like it’s 2021. 

The pre-seed crypto venture fund Portal Ventures is close to the final close of its second fund, a $75 million vehicle that its founder and general partner, Evan Fisher, tells me was oversubscribed to the tune of $90 million. An August SEC filing reflects an initial fund target size of $70 million, although Portal later decided to expand the cap by another $5 million. 

Portal’s new fund is the latest in a string of recent raises across crypto funds, including Hack VC and the funds of funds Lennertz and Accolade. The latter is an investor in Portal, alongside a16z’s Chris Dixon and Marc Andreessen through a shared family office, KKR’s Henry Kravis, and managing directors from Insight Partners, where Fisher used to work. 

Portal has mostly flown under the radar amid flashier crypto megafunds like Paradigm, Haun Ventures, and a16z crypto, and its latest fund reflects a more muted fundraising environment than the days when firms were out raising billions of dollars. But Fisher and Catrina Wang, Portal’s other general partner, tell me that it has carved out a path different from other firms in the space: writing first checks into companies and finding the “deals before deals,” as Wang put it. The caliber of Portal’s LPs reflects its success so far. 

“Before you have a product, you’re just an idea: Is this real or not?” Fisher said. “That’s what we’re best at, and when you do that right, the result is you just have really outsized ownership relative to fund size.” 

Fisher and Wang both came up through more staid institutions than crypto—Fisher, working at Goldman Sachs and Insight, and Wang at Deloitte. They both discovered blockchain around the same time however and tried to persuade their employers to show interest. Fisher admits that Insight’s multibillion-dollars in assets under management meant it probably wouldn’t be interested in million-dollar token deals. But he convinced several of its directors—and Insight portfolio company founders—to back Portal when he founded the firm in 2022. And Wang cofounded Deloitte’s blockchain venture program before decamping to the crypto industry. 

Portal closed its first $40 million fund at the height of the crypto craze in early 2022, but Fisher said he made most of its investments the next year during the sector’s winter when there were more opportunities for greenfields. The first fund has been fully deployed since this May, with Fisher telling me that he expects to begin making distributions next year. 

The second fund will have a similar strategy of pre-seed, first checks into companies, though Fisher said that capital will also be used to support investments from the first fund. While it might seem strange that crypto titans like Dixon and Andreessen are backing another blockchain fund, Fisher reasoned that they’re attracted by Portal’s investment thesis. 

“What we’re doing is the highest alpha and the highest risk-reward,” he said.” Fisher added that about 50% of its LPs have a crypto background, while the other 50% want Portal to be their crypto exposure. 

In an industry that seems to shed its identity in search for a new buzzword every month (or week), racing from shiny baubles like tokenization to memecoins to stablecoins to RWAs (real world assets, for those not in the know) at breakneck speeds, Fisher and Wang point to one trend they predicted in 2023 and built investments around: The supremacy of Bitcoin. Now a foregone conclusion with the cryptocurrency nearing $100,000, Bitcoin was still in the doldrums at around $30,000 when Portal made bets on platforms like Arch, a Bitcoin-native DeFi platform that later raised additional funding from Multicoin. 

So what’s next for Portal—and for crypto? Wang said she’s looking at the tokenization of “dormant asset classes” like air rights (for drone use and real estate development), which would create new marketplaces for seldom traded holdings. Another one? Tokenized uranium, which Wang argued could spur trading of yet another commodity, albeit without physical settlement, for obvious reasons. 

“There’s really nothing that’s too early for us,” said Wang. 

Welcome back to the rollercoaster.

Leo Schwartz
Twitter: @leomschwartz
Email: [email protected]
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VENTURE DEALS

– Ualá, a Buenos Aires-based financial solutions provider, raised $300 million in Series E funding. Allianz X led the round and was joined by Stone Ridge Holdings Group, Tencent, Pershing Square Foundation, and others.

– CHAOS Industries, a Los Angeles-based defense and critical industry technologies developer, raised $145 million in Series B funding. Accel led the round and was joined by 8VC, Overmatch Ventures, Lerner Enterprises, and others.

– Zero Gravity Labs, a San Francisco-based decentralized AI operating system software developer, raised $40 million in seed funding from Hack VC, Delphi Digital, OKX Ventures, and others.

– Stepful, a Detroit-based healthcare educational training provider, raised $31.5 million in Series B funding. Oak HC/FT led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, Reach Capital, AlleyCorp, and others.

– Starfish Space, a Tukwila, Wash.-based Otter satellite servicing vehicle developer, raised $29 million in funding. Shield Capital led the round and was joined by Point72 Ventures, Booz Allen Ventures, existing investors Munich Re Ventures, Toyota Ventures, NFX, and Industrious Ventures, and others.

– Vecna Robotics, a Waltham, Mass.-based material handling robotics developer, raised $14.5 million in funding from Tiger Global, Drive Capital, and other existing investors.

– Affiniti, a New York City-based financial stack for small businesses, raised $11 million in seed funding from Indicator Ventures, Emigrant Capital Corporation, Day One Ventures, and RiverPark Ventures.

– Upheal, a New York City-based documentation and note-taking AI platform for therapists, raised $10 million in Series A funding. Headline led the round and was joined by Credo Ventures and Kaya Ventures.

– Quantune Technologies, a Berlin-based wearable heart monitoring technology developer, raised €8.5 million ($9 million) in seed funding from Point72 Ventures and Vsquared Ventures.

– OneSkin, a San Francisco-based skin health brand, raised $7 million in Series A funding. Selva Ventures led the round and was joined by PLUS Capital, Unilever Ventures, Able Partners, existing investors SOSV and Meta Planet, and others.

– SurePath AI, a Denver-based governing generative AI platform for enterprises, raised $5.2 million in seed funding. Uncork Capital led the round and was joined by Operator Collective.

– Workflow, a London-based design, marketing, and product AI software developer, raised $3 million in pre-seed funding. Venrex led the round and was joined by 8VC, Sequoia, Octopus, Index Ventures, and others.

– Zeplyn, a New York City-based AI assistant for financial advisors, raised $3 million in seed funding. Leo Capital led the round and was joined by Converge and angel investors.

– Coopah, a London-based run coaching app, raised £1.5 million ($1.9 million) in seed funding. Redrice Ventures and Active Partners led the round and were joined by Amrock Ventures, Tom Singh, Alistair Brownlee, Ricky Simms, and existing investor London Marathon Events.

– Airbound, a Bangalore, India-based delivery drone developer, raised $1.7 million in seed funding. Lightspeed led the round and was joined by gradCapital and angel investors.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Warburg Pincus invested $525 million in MB2 Dental, a Dallas-based dental partnership organization. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Garnett Station Partners acquired a majority stake in Bristol Environmental, a Bristol, Pa.-based environmental remediation services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Ardian agreed to acquire a minority stake in Vecos, an Eindhoven, the Netherlands-based smart locker solutions provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– ATIS, a portfolio company of Thompson Street Capital Partners, acquired the assets of Vermont Elevator Inspection Services, a Northfield, Vt.-based elevator and escalator safety and services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Bluestone Equity Partners acquired a minority stake in Volo Sports, a Baltimore-based social and recreational sports events provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Coregistics, a portfolio company of Red Arts Capital, acquired Belvika Trade & Packaging, a Mississauga, Canada-based contract packaging provider for the food and beverage industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Envoy Global, backed by Palladium Equity Partners, acquired Smith Stone Walters, a London-based global immigration practice. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Lynx Software Technologies, backed by OceanSound Partners, acquired Core Avionics & Industrial, an Atlanta-based development tools and software company for GPU computing. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Schellman, backed by Lightyear Capital, acquired Sustas, a Boise-based financial and sustainability accounting firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

– Morgan Street Holdings acquired Continental Service, a Troy, Mich.-based corporate foodservice provider, from New Heritage Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

– BellTower Partners acquired a minority stake in Ascot, a Bermuda-based insurance company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Charter Communications agreed to acquire Liberty Broadband Corporation, an Englewood, Colo.-based communications businesses owner in an all-stock transaction.

– Foley Company acquired SALSCO, a Cheshire, Conn.-based turf maintenance equipment company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Silverfort acquired Rezonate, a Boston-based identity security platform. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– RealWear acquired Almer Technologies, a Bern, Switzerland-based AR headsets developer. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– TPG agreed to acquire a minority stake in Demopolis Equity Partners, a New York City-based technology-focused growth and buyout firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

– Bek Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm formerly named Earlybird Digital East Fund, raised $250 million for its third fund focused on early-stage technology companies.

– Founderful, a Zurich-based venture capital firm, raised $140 million for its second fund focused on technology companies.

PEOPLE

– Planven, a Luxembourg-based investment funds group, added Eran Westman as a managing partner. Previously, he was at Viola Growth.

– TDK Ventures, the San Jose, Calif.-based corporate venture capital arm of TDK Corporation, added Ravi Jain as an investment director. Previously, he was at Krutrim.