Bankless Ventures

ActiveVenture Capital

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Oct 1, 2025	Altitude	$5.0M Seed	—	AlleyCorp, FMFW.io, LAUNCHub Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Matchstick Ventures, Meta Change Capital, Outlier Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Plug & Play Ventures, Jeff Clarke, Tyler Scott Ward
May 1, 2025	Rover	$4.0M Seed	—	A Capital, Foundry Group, Gigafund, K2 Global, Menlo Ventures, Pioneer Square Labs, Plug & Play Ventures, Radical Ventures, Sound Ventures, Anil Dharni, Megan Quinn
Dec 1, 2024	Neptune Protocol	$4.0M Seed	—	A Capital, General Catalyst, GFR Fund, Spatial Capital, Aayush Phumbhra
Oct 1, 2024	Crescendo	$50.0M Series C	—	A Capital, Celesta, General Catalyst, GFR Fund, Mayfield, Modern Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures, Spatial Capital, Aayush Phumbhra, Thomas Tull
Oct 1, 2024	Fluid Protocol	$4.0M Seed	—	A Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Electric Capital, OVO Fund, Nakul Gupta, David Hoffman
Oct 1, 2024	Magma	$4.0M Seed	—	A Capital
Jul 1, 2024	Edgen	$6.0M Venture Round	—	Framework Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Mechanism Capital, Multicoin Capital, North Island Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Polygon
May 1, 2024	Orange	$19.0M Seed	—	A Capital, General Catalyst, GFR Fund, Spatial Capital, Aayush Phumbhra
Mar 1, 2024	Hedgehog Protocol	$2.0M Seed	—	AlleyCorp, FMFW.io, Kindred Capital VC, LAUNCHub Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Meta Change Capital, Octopus Ventures, Outlier Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Plug & Play Ventures, Speedinvest, Target Global, Ian Hogarth, Jeff Clarke, Tyler Scott Ward
Mar 1, 2024	Key	$4.0M Seed	—	Alumni Ventures, AperiamVentures, Bowery Capital, Converge Venture Partners, Electric Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Everywhere Ventures (The Fund), Flex Capital, Foundamental, Hoxton Ventures, Initialized Capital, Kleiner Perkins, Lightbank, NextView Ventures, Oceans, Nakul Gupta, RiverPark Ventures, Saka Ventures, WGI Group, Ali Moiz, Andy Rankin, Anthony Lacavera, Bradley Horowitz, Christopher Langford, David Hoffman, David Yaffe, Kunal Shah, Noah Goodhart, Vibhu Mittal
Oct 1, 2023	Induced AI	$2.0M Seed	—	10100, 20VC, Kevin Hartz, AirAngels, Bain Capital, Bedrock Capital, Buckley Ventures, C2 Investment, CapitalX, Chemistry VC, Coalition Operators, Convective Capital, Daffy, Earl Grey Capital, Electric Capital, Emergent Ventures, Gaingels, JLL Spark, Kepler Operator’s Fund, Mantis VC, Pareto Holdings, Polygon, rali_cap, Ravelin Capital, REMUS Capital, Seven Seven Six, Shrug Capital, Slow Ventures, Soma Capital, Starship Ventures, Trust Fund, Vibe Capital, Volition Capital, Adam Guild, Baron Davis, Baylor Adams, Bryce Hall, Claire Hughes Johnson, David Hoffman, Dylan Field, Evan Moore, George Ruan, Griffin Johnson, Jonathan Wasserstrum, Julian Shapiro, Louis Beryl, Manik Gupta, Mathilde Collin, Melissa Tan, Moshe Lifschitz, Ryan Tedder, Sam Altman, Scott Belsky, Siqi Chen, Vindi Banga, Zach Segal
Sep 1, 2023	Pimlico	$2.0M Seed	—	Electric Capital, Nakul Gupta, Robot Ventures, The Hit Forge, Balaji Srinivasan
Jun 1, 2023	Outdid	$3.0M Seed	—	AirAngels, Andreessen Horowitz, Archetype, Audacity, Awesome People Ventures, Battery Ventures, Chapter One Ventures, CoinFund, Divergence Ventures, Divergent Capital, Electric Ant, Electric Capital, Ethereal Ventures, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Far Out Ventures, Future Perfect Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Hack VC, Hashed, Iluminar Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Kearny Jackson, Kleiner Perkins, M34 Capital, Makers Fund, Matterscale Ventures, Nascent, NFX, Not Boring Capital, Picus Capital, Redpoint eventures, Robot Ventures, Seed Club Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, SID Venture Partners, Solana Ventures, Sound Ventures, TBD Angels, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Urbanist Ventures, Version One Ventures, Ryan Zurrer, Weekend Fund, WPP Ventures, Xochi Ventures, Adam Jackson, Alex Pack, Aliaksandr Hudzilin, Alice Lloyd George, Anastasia Andrianova, Andrew Steinwold, Balaji Srinivasan, Biz Stone, Bo Shao, Brad Holden, Charlie Songhurst, Claire Diaz-Ortiz, David Nage, David Vélez, Dileep Thazhmon, Do Kwon, Eric Wu, Immad Akhund, Imran Khan, Jeff Morris, Jess Sloss, Loreanne Garcia, Luis Cuende, Martin Varsavsky, Matias Woloski, Mike Krieger, Nathaniel Whittemore, Regan Bozman, Rene Reinsberg, Ricardo Weder, Scott Belsky, Sergio Fogel, Sergio Furio, Simon Borrero, Sina Habibi, Stani Kulechov, Stefan George, Stelleo Tolda, Steve Weinstein, Tegan Kline, Trevor McFedries, Tyler Scott Ward
May 1, 2023	Openfort	$3.0M Seed	—	Animoca Brands, Bain Capital Crypto, Gumi Cryptos Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, KR1, Maven 11 Capital, Mechanism Capital, Pareto Holdings, Pioneer Fund, Placeholder, Scalar Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, Frederic Montagnon, Jutta Steiner, Pascal Gauthier, Sebastien Borget, Tegan Kline, Thibaud Elziere
May 1, 2023	Anoma	$25.0M Series C	—	CMCC Global, Ali Tamaseb, Electric Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, ParaFi Capital, Nakul Gupta, Seed Club Ventures, Vine Ventures (vine.vc), David Hoffman
Mar 1, 2023	Soul Wallet	$3.0M Seed	—	AlleyCorp, Alt Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, C2 Investment, Electric Capital, FMFW.io, Founders Fund, Khosla Ventures, LAUNCHub Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Meta Change Capital, Microtraction, MKT1 Capital, Outlier Ventures, Patron, Pioneer Fund, Plaid, Plug & Play Ventures, rali_cap, Resonado, Ribbit Capital, Scalar Capital, Susa Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, Chase Gilbert, Derrick Li, Jeff Clarke, Matt Macinnis, Parker Conrad, Stani Kulechov, Tyler Scott Ward
Nov 1, 2022	Finery Markets	$6.0M Seed	—	6th Man Ventures, 8VC, AirAngels, AlleyCorp, Angelic Ventures, AngelPad, Earlybird Venture Capital, FMFW.io, General Catalyst, Global Ventures, Goat Capital, Gumi Cryptos Capital, LAUNCHub Ventures, L Catterton Growth, Lerer Hippeau, Meta Change Capital, Outlier Ventures, Picus Capital, Pioneer Fund, Plug & Play Ventures, Rembrandt Venture Partners, Shima Capital, Tribeca Venture Partners, Vocap Investment Partners, Andrej Henkler, Holger Hengstler, Jeff Clarke, Michael Wax, Moritz Thiele, Tyler Scott Ward
Aug 1, 2022	Contribution Labs, Inc.	$2.0M Seed	—	Animoca Brands, CapitalX, Exponent Founders Capital, Gumi Cryptos Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Mechanism Capital, Scalar Capital, The Hit Forge, Balaji Srinivasan, Cat Lee, D’Arcy Coolican, Gokul Rajaram, Nikhil Dixit, Sebastien Borget, Shivaas Gulati, Tom Williams
Jul 1, 2022	reNFT	$5.0M Seed	—	Animoca Brands, Gumi Cryptos Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Mechanism Capital, Scalar Capital, Sebastien Borget
Jun 1, 2022	Altitude	$2.0M Seed	—	040 Capital, Alchemy Ventures, AlleyCorp, Archetype, Blockchain.com Ventures, FMFW.io, Founders Fund, Hack VC, LAUNCHub Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Meta Change Capital, Mosaic Ventures, Outlier Ventures, Pioneer Fund, Plug & Play Ventures, Union Square Ventures, Ryan Zurrer, Ajit Tripathi, Alex Pack, Anastasia Andrianova, Balaji Srinivasan, Charlie Songhurst, Fernando Martinelli, Jeff Clarke, Mariano Conti, Preethi Kasireddy, Stani Kulechov, Stefan George, Tyler Scott Ward
Apr 1, 2022	Adadot	$1.0M Seed	—	LAUNCHub Ventures, Outrun Ventures, Passion Capital, Seaya Ventures, Ryan Zurrer, Charles Delingpole, John Taysom, Moubin Faizullah-Khan, Pete Hutton, Stefan George, Stuart Gardner, Tyler Scott Ward, Will Martin, Yi Luo
Apr 1, 2022	Our Happy Company	$8.0M Seed	—	Animoca Brands, Gumi Cryptos Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Khosla Ventures, Mechanism Capital, monashees, Scalar Capital, Sequoia Capital, Sebastien Borget
Mar 1, 2022	Nilos	$5.0M Seed	—	Alven, Animoca Brands, backtrace capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Breega, Chausson Partners, Crane Venture Partners, Entrepreneur First, Fabric Ventures, Founders Future, Gumi Cryptos Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Mechanism Capital, Motier Ventures, NFX, Optum Ventures, Picus Capital, PS Investments, Rainfall Ventures, Roosh Ventures, Scalar Capital, StageOne Ventures, Team8, TeClub, Tusk Venture Partners, Venga!Labs, Viola Ventures, Alexis Le-Quoc, Amirhossein Malekzadeh, Didier Valet, Gideon Hayden, Kristian Segerstrale, Ott Kaukver, Ross Devor, Scott Belsky, Sebastien Borget, Tamir Carmi, Tom Blomfield, Valentine Baudouin
Mar 1, 2022	prePO	$2.0M Seed	—	Animoca Brands, Gumi Cryptos Capital, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Jlabs, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, Mechanism Capital, ParaFi Capital, Polychain Capital, Polygon, Scalar Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, Charlie Cheever, Furqan Rydhan, Sebastien Borget, Stani Kulechov
Dec 1, 2021	AcadArena	$4.0M Seed	—	1k(x), 2045 ventures, Active Capital, Afore Capital, Alpaca VC, Alumni Ventures, Animoca Brands, Aux21 Capital, BITKRAFT Ventures, Chapter One Ventures, Cortical Ventures, Craft Ventures, Matt Ocko, Golden Ventures, Gumi Cryptos Capital, Hashed, Haystack, Hustle Fund, Incisive Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Innovation Endeavors, Kindred Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Long Journey Ventures, M13, Madrona Ventures, Makers Fund, Mechanism Capital, Multicoin Capital, Scalar Capital, Sterling Equity, Threshold Ventures, Tribe Capital, Trucks Venture Capital, Furqan Rydhan, Jeff Morris, Matt Gibstein, Scott Belsky, Sebastien Borget, Siqi Chen

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Bankless Ventures.

Ben Lakoff

General Partner

Leadership Team

Key people at Bankless Ventures.

Ben Lakoff

General Partner

Deep Dive

Bankless Ventures is an early-stage venture capital fund focused on investing in decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain projects within the Web3 ecosystem. Its mission is to empower pioneers exploring the frontier of Web3 by providing capital and support to early-stage crypto-native startups. The firm leverages its deep roots in the crypto community, co-founded by Bankless founders David Hoffman and Ryan Sean Adams, to back innovative projects that align with their vision of a decentralized financial future. With an initial fund size of approximately $35 million and backing from prominent crypto and venture figures, Bankless Ventures plays a significant role in nurturing the startup ecosystem around blockchain and DeFi technologies[1][2][4][6].

Founded in 2023, Bankless Ventures emerged from the founders’ experience with Bankless Media, a platform educating and growing the crypto community. The idea to launch a dedicated venture fund was floated in 2021 as a natural extension of their angel investing and advisory activities. The fund aims to capitalize on bear market opportunities by investing early in promising projects that can shape the future of crypto finance. Key partners include David Hoffman, Ryan Sean Adams, and Ben Lakoff, with notable limited partners such as Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon from a16z, as well as Ethereum and Polygon ecosystem leaders[1][4][5].

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Combines media influence and venture capital, leveraging the Bankless Media platform to share their crypto thesis while funding aligned startups.
Network Strength: Strong backing from top-tier crypto investors and ecosystem leaders, providing portfolio companies with valuable connections.
Track Record: Active in early-stage rounds with over 48 historical investments and 56 portfolio companies, demonstrating a focus on crypto-native innovation.
Operating Support: Partners bring deep crypto expertise and community engagement, supporting founders beyond capital.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Bankless Ventures rides the wave of the growing decentralization and Web3 movement, which aims to reshape finance, governance, and digital ownership. The timing is critical as blockchain technology matures and regulatory clarity improves, creating fertile ground for innovation. By focusing on early-stage DeFi and blockchain projects, the firm influences the broader ecosystem by identifying and accelerating pioneers who build foundational infrastructure and applications for a decentralized future. Their dual role as media educators and investors uniquely positions them to shape both market narratives and capital flows in crypto[4][6].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Bankless Ventures is poised to expand its fund size and deepen its portfolio as Web3 adoption accelerates. Trends such as modular blockchains, privacy solutions, and decentralized governance will likely shape their investment focus. Their influence may grow as they continue to bridge media, community, and venture capital, potentially becoming a leading force in defining the next generation of decentralized finance and blockchain innovation. The firm’s evolution reflects a broader shift in venture capital towards crypto-native, community-driven investment models that align financial incentives with the ethos of decentralization[4][6].

Sources

Core Differentiators

Unique Investment Model: Combines media influence and venture capital, leveraging the Bankless Media platform to share their crypto thesis while funding aligned startups.
Network Strength: Strong backing from top-tier crypto investors and ecosystem leaders, providing portfolio companies with valuable connections.
Track Record: Active in early-stage rounds with over 48 historical investments and 56 portfolio companies, demonstrating a focus on crypto-native innovation.
Operating Support: Partners bring deep crypto expertise and community engagement, supporting founders beyond capital.