Tezos, the startup whose recent ICO raised $109 million in less than 15 hours and a total $232 million in just three days, has announced its plan to open a $50 million venture fund.
The $232 Million ICO
With the recent hype surrounding ICOs, more and more startups are trying to raise money through token sales. This July, the U.S.-based startup launched its initial coin offering and was able to raise $232 million, which at this time is the second largest amount any ICO has raised, coming in just behind the Filecoin ICO, which managed to raise the record breaking $250 million.
The blockchain startup is offering what they describe as a “self-amending cryptographic ledger”, a decentralized platform for smart-contract verification and validation, which is primarily focused on banks, financial institutions, and corporations. Not content to rest on their recent laurels, Tezos have been focusing on the development of their own VC fund, which they announced in their August update.
The VC Fund
Usually, when start-ups raise huge amounts of funding, they primarily invest it in growth, research and development, or marketing initiatives. Tezos decided to take a slightly different approach for their funding distribution. According to an article by Crowdfund Insider, Tezos’ new $50 million VC fund will mainly focus on investing in startups and companies that use the Tezos platform. The remaining funds are being slowly diversified and invested in more traditional investment vehicles like stocks, bonds, and precious metals.
The idea of the venture capital fund is to drive more third-party development for the Tezos blockchain, and thus help grow the Tezos platform. The fund will also invest in projects that they feel will help promote general blockchain development. It is also worth noting that due to the blockchain split on August 1, in addition to the bitcoins that were raised through the ICO, the startup has also received the equivalent amount of BCH which they are planning to invest into various assets.
In their August update, the Tezos team had the following to say about their new venture capital fund:
We are extremely pleased to announce a commitment of $50 million in venture capital funding to companies looking to build on the Tezos platform. This capital will be partially deployed through venture capital partners to be announced, as well as through a direct venture arm. The innovation and growth of the ecosystem is the top priority of the Tezos Foundation.
Currently, the team is actively coding on the long-awaited platform that will power a new kind of smart contracts.
What are your thoughts on the new $50 million venture capital fund from Tezos? Do you think that it will help promote their platform? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Pexels, TezosFoundation