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.   

Lietuva paskelbė karą Baltarusijai

Taip rašo lenkiškas dienraštis. O Lietuvoje apie tai tyla. Niekas nesigiria. Kodėl? Mes esame pritrenti naujų kainų, todėl pradedamas brangus ekonominis karas prieš Baltarusija, kartu su ekonominiu karu prieš Kiniją, mums jau yra pernelyg daug. Kalba eina ne apie dviejų ministrų atsistatydinimą. Kalba eina apie neregėtus protestus ir priešlaikinius Seimo rinkimus. Todėl valdantieji tyli, paspaudę uodegas, tikisi, kad nepastebėsime, ko jie čia pridarė.

"Lietuvos geležinkelių bendradarbiavimo su Baltarusija nutraukimas yra pati blogiausia sankcija, kurią kada nors patyrė Minskas.

Vasario 1 dieną nutrūko Lietuvos geležinkelių ir Baltarusijos kalio trąšų įmonės „Belaruškalij“ bendradarbiavimas – Klaipėdos uoste įstrigo keli šimtai iš Soligorsko siųstų vagonų su kalio chloridu, kuriuos iki vasario 7 dienos ketinama išvežti į Baltarusiją. Praėjusiais JAV sankcijų metais Vilniuje kilo skandalas, kuris vos nesibaigė kelių ministrų atsistatydinimu, kai paaiškėjo, kad Baltarusijos įmonė savo produkciją vis dar parduoda, naudodamasi Lietuvos valstybinių geležinkelių paslaugomis.

Baltarusija taip pat iki 2023 metų turi sutartį su Klaipėdos uostu, per kurį buvo parduodama beveik visa Soligorės gamyklos produkcija. Tai susiję su daugiau nei 10 mln. tonų prekių per metus. Bet į šė uostą pristatyti negalės, nes, valstybiniams geležinkeliams nutraukus sutartį, Lietuvoje neatsirado norinčių bendradarbiauti privačių transporto įmonių.

Latvija taip pat nusprendė nesudaryti sutarties su Minsku. Viena svarbiausių Baltarusijos eksportuotojų buvo atkirsta nuo Baltijos jūros.

Lietuvos geležinkeliai sustabdė Baltarusijos kalio trąšų tranzitinį gabenimą. Įmonė grąžins gautą avansą. Baltarusijos režimas grasina kerštu Lietuvos verslui. Lietuviai renkasi tranzitą per Lenkiją. Orlenas taip pat.

– Tai reiškia, kad Baltarusija neteks 1,5–2 mlrd. pelno 2022 m. Tai sukels rimtų nuostolių Baltarusijos biudžetui ir daugelio rinkų praradimą. Lietuvos geležinkelių bendradarbiavimo su „Belaruśkalij“ nutrūkimas yra skaudžiausias smūgis Baltarusijos ekonomikai iš visų sankcijų, kurias Minskas patyrė per pastaruosius tris dešimtmečius, Žečpospolitai sako žymiausias Baltarusijos ekonomistas Jarosławas Romanczukas.

Prie to prisidėjo demokratinės opozicijos lyderės Swiatlanos Cichanouskos Vilniaus biuras, dėl kurio neseniai Norvegijos trąšų gamintoja „Yara“ nutraukė bendradarbiavimą su Baltarusija. Įmonė Soligore jai tiekė 15 proc. savo produkcijos kasmet. Taigi, be kita ko, yra Kinija, Indija ir kiti partneriai, nebijantys JAV finansų ministerijos sankcijų. Bet kaip juos pasiekti? Minsko valdžia kelis mėnesius ginčijasi, kad, nutrūkus bendradarbiavimui su Lietuva keliaus į Rusijos uostus. Tačiau ten, kaip neseniai nustatė dienraštis „Kommersant“, laisvų pajėgumų nėra, be to, vietinėje rinkoje kortas dalija baltarusių konkurentas – Uralkalis.

Baltarusija niekaip negali į užsienį siųsti cheminių trąšų, kurios daugiausiai užsienio valiutos aprūpina Baltarusijos iždą. Lietuvos geležinkeliai ir privatūs Latvijos vežėjai atsisakė vežti. Tačiau jie nekantrauja šio produkto.

Lukašenkai „Belaruśkalij“ yra ne tik įmonė, kurios būklė tiesiogiai nulemia daugiau, nei 100 000 gyventojų turinčio Soligorsko gyvenimą. Tai viena svarbiausių šalies įmonių, ne vienerius metus prisidedanti prie visos valstybės biudžeto. 2020 metais Baltarusija iš kalio chlorido pardavimo uždirbo per 2,4 mlrd. dolerių, tai yra beveik 10 proc. viso Baltarusijos eksporto.

Minskas teigia, kad nutraukdama bendradarbiavimą su Baltarusija Lietuva „praras apie 1 mlrd. eurų“, ir skelbia apie teisminius procesus.

 

A. Lukašenkos kontroliuojamos vyriausybės ministras pirmininkas

Ramanas Halouczanka antradienį taip pat paskelbė „griežtą atsaką“. Jis teigė, kad apribojimai gali turėti įtakos geležinkelių transportui.

 "Gali iš Baltarusijos išspirti visas Lietuvos įmones, gali blokuoti ir tranzitą. 

 

Gali būti, kad tai vėl išprovokuos migracijos krizę – priduria Romańczuk. – Tačiau nemanau, kad Lukašenka sušvelnins jo politiką. Jis turi Kremliaus paramą ir dalyvauja geopolitiniuose žaidimuose", – mano ekonomistas."

 

 

Lithuania declares war on Belarus

This is what the Polish daily writes. And in Lithuania there is silence about it. No one boasts. Why? We are suffering with new prices, so the start of an expensive economic war against Belarus, along with an economic war against China, is already too much for us. It is not about the resignation of two ministers. It is about unprecedented protests and early Seimas elections. Therefore, those who rule, sit silently, pressing their tails to their rear ends, hoping that we will not notice what they have done here. 

 "The severance of cooperation with Belarus by the Lithuanian railways is the worst sanction ever experienced by Minsk.

On February 1, the cooperation between Lithuanian railways and the Belarusian potash fertilizer company, Belaruśkalij, was severed. Several hundred wagons with potassium chloride sent from Soligorsk were stuck in the port of Klaipėda. All of them are to be withdrawn to Belarus by February 7. Last year of US sanctions, a scandal broke out in Vilnius, which almost ended with the resignation of several ministers, when it turned out that the Belarusian company was still selling its production using the services of Lithuanian state railways.

Belarus also has an agreement with the port in Klaipėda until 2023, through which almost all of the production of the Soligore plant was sold. It concerns over 10 million tons of goods per year. But it will not be able to deliver it there, because after the contract was terminated by the state railways in Lithuania, there are no private companies willing to cooperate.

Latvia has also decided not to contract with Minsk. One of the most important Belarusian exporters has been cut off from the Baltic Sea.

Lithuanian railways have stopped transit transport of Belarusian potash fertilizers. The company will refund the advance payment received. The Belarusian regime is threatening retaliation against Lithuanian business. Lithuanians choose transit through Poland. Orlen too.

- This means that Belarus will lose 1.5-2 billion dollars of profits in 2022. This will cause serious losses to the Belarusian budget and the loss of many markets. The break-up of cooperation by the Lithuanian railways with "Belaruśkalij" is the most painful blow to the Belarusian economy of all the sanctions that Minsk has experienced over the last three decades, says Jarosław Romanczuk, a leading Belarusian economist, to Rzeczpospolita.

The Vilnius office of the leader of the democratic opposition, Swiatlana Cichanouska, which recently led to the termination of cooperation with Belarus by the Norwegian fertilizer manufacturer Yara, contributed to this. The company in Soligore supplied 15 percent of the total of its production annually. So there are, inter alia, China, India and partners who are not afraid of sanctions by the US Ministry of Finance. But how do you get to them? The authorities in Minsk have been arguing for months that in the event of breaking cooperation with Lithuania, they will go to Russian ports. But there, as the daily "Kommersant" has recently established, there is no spare capacity. Besides, on the local market the cards are dealt by a competitor of Belarusians - Uralkali.

Belarus has no way of sending chemical fertilizers abroad, which supply the most foreign currency to the regime's coffers. Lithuanian railways and private Latvian carriers refused to transport. However, they are eager for this product.

For Lukashenka, Belaruśkalij is not only a company whose condition directly determines the life of Soligorsk, a population of over 100,000. It is one of the most important enterprises in the country, which has been contributing to the budget of the entire state for years. In 2020, Belarus earned over 2.4 billion dollars on the sale of potassium chloride, which is almost 10 percent of all Belarusian exports.

Minsk claims that Lithuania will "lose around EUR 1 billion" in breaking cooperation with Belarus and announces court trials. The prime minister of the government controlled by Lukashenka, Raman Halouczanka, also announced a "tough response" on Tuesday. He suggested that restrictions could affect rail transport.

- It can kick out all Lithuanian companies from Belarus, it can also block the transit. It is possible that it will provoke the migration crisis again - adds Romańczuk. - However, I do not think that Lukashenko will soften his policy. He has the support of the Kremlin and participates in geopolitical games."