Hong Kong based Web3 and blockchain fintech fund launches with USD100m in first close.
CMCC Global raised USD100m to launch a new venture capital fund that will empower entrepreneurs in Hong Kong and beyond to build innovative Web3 companies.
HONG KONG, Oct. 4, 2023 /CNW/ - Hong Kong's push towards Blockchain enabled Fintech and Web3 innovation received strong tailwind through a new fund that CMCC Global launched this week. CMCC Global, one of Asia's earliest venture capital investors to entirely focus on blockchain technology and Web3 innovation, today announced the launch of a new venture fund that will empower entrepreneurs to build companies in the space. The fund, which invests into the equity of blockchain companies as opposed to digital assets, is called Titan Fund and will focus on early-stage start-up investments along the three key verticals of Infrastructure, Fintech, and Consumer applications such as gaming, metaverse and NFTs.
The Titan Fund has reached its fundraising target of USD100m in the first close and is supported by a number of world leading blockchain investors. The anchor investor is Block.one (B1), which committed USD50m to the fund, CMCC Global itself participates with a 15% GP commitment, alongside notable investors such as Richard Li's Pacific Century Group, Hong Kong's Jebsen Capital, Winklevoss Capital, alongside personal investments from notable innovators such as Yat Siu from Animoca Brands and other prominent blockchain entrepreneurs.
"CMCC Global has been one of the earliest venture capital investors in the industry and their team has built a strong track record in identifying future winners," said Brendan Blumer, founder of B1, Bullish and other notable blockchain companies. "At B1, we have developed and innovated on blockchain software solutions, pioneered scaling solutions and incubated new technologies that build trust and increase efficiencies in Web3. The Titan Fund shares these goals and will support a new generation of entrepreneurs as they build the next wave of leading companies in our industry."
To launch and run the fund, CMCC Global was joined by a new managing partner, Yen Shiau Sin, who joined from his previous role as Director, Strategic Investments at B1. Prior to his role at B1, Yen ran a Fintech fund for CLSA and began his career in investment banking (M&A) at UBS in Hong Kong and New York. The team is further complemented by Investment Principal Jonathan Cheung, who has joined the Titan Fund investment team from Brevan Howard Digital. CMCC Global's Co-founders Charlie Morris and Martin Baumann are co-managing the fund and sit on the investment committee.
The Titan Fund is an institutional grade fund with State Street as the fund administrator and EY as the auditor. The fund is managed by Fintech Investment Group Limited, a wholly owned Hong Kong based subsidiary of CMCC Global, which has been granted respective asset management licenses from Hong Kong's Security and Futures Commission.
"We are excited to have B1 as the anchor investor in our Titan Fund," said Martin Baumann, co-founder of CMCC Global. "Having worked closely together for several years at various investment deals we have found tight alignment in our investment approach and numerous synergies through shared investments. B1 has been a pioneer in the digital asset space and this strategic investment in the Titan Fund will further our mission to accelerate innovation in blockchain technology and the digital asset ecosystem."
As part of this strategic investment, B1 will also become a minority shareholder in CMCC Global's holding entity which is backed by notable investors including Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li and Gemini Trust Co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
"Having B1 joining CMCC Global's holding company as part of this transaction will be a valuable addition to the cap table and will unlock strategic potential for both companies down the road," added Daniel Wong, who oversees the investment into CMCC Global's holding entity for Pacific Century Group.
"The Titan Fund will accelerate Web3 innovation in Hong Kong and beyond. CMCC Global and their team are known to be conviction driven investors that have identified numerous breakthrough innovators early on," added Yat Siu, founder of Animoca Brands, who received one of the first investments from the Titan Fund via a warehoused deal into his Mocaverse project. Other warehoused deals include the Hong Kong company Terminal 3, a blockchain-based digital identity company which was founded by Hong Kong entrepreneurs Gary Liu, Malcom Ong and Joey Liu. International deals warehoused for the fund include Informal Systems, founded by crypto veteran and Cosmos Co-founder Ethan Buchman, NFT ecommerce platform KickzMeta and its Mooncourt, as well as a San Francisco based Y-combinator team that has set out to revolutionize the tokenization process for enterprises and assets.
"The Titan Fund will empower great entrepreneurs to build the next wave of Web3 and blockchain powered fintech applications," added Cameron Winklevoss co-founder of Gemini. "The last five years have seen a set of new unicorn companies emerge, the next five to ten years will see this trend continue to accelerate as mainstream adoption of blockchain technology proliferates."
"With extremely high internet penetration and a relatively large unbanked population, Asia is primed to experience an explosion in consumer adoption of Web3 applications. Already, a third of global blockchain deals originate out of Asia today and this is a growing trend. Our Titan Fund is well positioned to capture value in the region," concluded Charlie Morris, who is Co-founder of CMCC Global and runs the North American business.
CMCC Global is one of Asia's first venture capital companies focused solely on blockchain and Web3 investments. CMCC Global has an enviable record of investing early in leading projects such as Ethereum (ETH) at USD7, Solana (SOL) at USD0.20 and Cosmos (ATOM) at USD0.10. CMCC Global has reached assets under management (AUM) of over USD500 million across its funds and is known as a high-conviction investor. Today the company has offices in Asia, North America and Europe and operates several funds with different strategies including the CMCC Global Digital Asset Fund, the Titan Fund and its two funds of quantitative trading hedge funds Crest and SYZCrest.
More information can be found at www.cmcc.vc
Titan Fund offers accredited investors exposure to attractive growth opportunities within the blockchain ecosystem through a traditional equity venture capital investment strategy focusing on seed to series A/B along the key investment verticals of Infrastructure, Fintech and Consumer Applications. The Titan Fund is CMCC Global's latest fund strategy and complements its Digital Asset Funds, which have been investing directly into protocols and digital assets since 2016, and its Crest family of funds that invests into crypto quant funds.
More information can be found at www.titan.fund
SOURCE CMCC Global
If you have any questions or require more information or visual material please contact: CMCC Global, [email protected]
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