Ohanian Venture Company To Target Crypto Startups

"Alexis Ohanian's venture firm 776 Management LLC has raised $500 million across two new funds with a plan to invest primarily in crypto startups.

"It will be the majority of the portfolio by the end of this year," Mr. Ohanian said about the firm's investments in the crypto sector.

Such companies account for about 40% of the firm's deals to date, including videogaming startup Axie Infinity, bitcoin rewards startup Lolli, and crypto tax company CoinTracker. The firm has made more than three dozen investments in total.

Mr. Ohanian said he expects the firm to invest mainly in crypto startups because entrepreneurial and software development activity in the sector is strong and growing. The firm will also back companies in other sectors such as climate, food, and space exploration.

Mr. Ohanian had previously co-founded social-media company Reddit Inc. and venture firm Initialized Capital. He is married to tennis star and entrepreneur Serena Williams.

Mr. Ohanian launched 776 in 2020 together with founding partner Katelin Holloway and founding chief of staff Lissie Garvin.

The firm, named for 776 B.C., the year of the first recorded Olympic Games, raised its first fund last year with $150 million.

Its new funds are the $300 million 776 Fund II, which backs early-stage startups, making deals from pre-seed to Series A, as well as the $200 million Arete Fund I, focused on companies that are further along, raising larger Series A and B rounds, he said.

Endowments, pensions and foundations participated in the most recent fundraising, according to 776. The firm's investor base is diverse, which Mr. Ohanian made a priority, with the majority of its limited partners identifying as female, 13% as Black or indigenous, and 10% as Latino, according to 776. The fundraising brings 776's assets under management to $750 million, which includes special-purpose vehicles.

The firm's interest in crypto is growing because that is where software developers are gravitating, Mr. Ohanian said.

"Talent has never led me wrong," he said.

Roughly 34,000 new software developers wrote code for open-source crypto projects in 2021, the highest number in history, according to an analysis by venture firm Electric Capital.

Mr. Ohanian said that crypto-based software offers users greater control over their data and investments.

He said he is most interested in technologies that make crypto products easy to use, so that a consumer doesn't have to be aware that the software they are using is based on crypto technology.

"What excites me about crypto are all of the things that no one would know is crypto," Mr. Ohanian said. He added that 776 will also be investing money and time into trying to boost the participation of women in the crypto market." [1]

1. Ohanian Venture Company To Target Crypto Startups
Chernova, Yuliya. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 02 Feb 2022: B.11.