Orange Fund (Orange DAO)

This VC firm invests in crypto ecosystem founders, focusing on empowering builders to create a more equitable future through strategic partnerships and resou...

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Updated: Jan 22, 2026 ·

About

Orange Fund supports past, present, and aspiring Y Combinator founders who are building the future of the crypto ecosystem. The company believes that founders and builders are best suited to spark, advance, and distribute opportunities to anyone hungry for a fairer future. Orange fund is the venture partner of Orange DAO. Founded in 2021 and itsheadquarters is located in San Francisco, California.

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Investments Made

Date	Company	Round	Lead Investor(s)	Co-Investor(s)
Feb 1, 2024	Analog	$16.0M Seed	—	Accelr8, Alumni Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Better Capital, Greylock, Index Ventures, Majinx Capital, Master Ventures, Master Ventures Investment Management, Ben Huh, Orion Willow Parrott, Paradigm, Shaan's All Access Fund, Spark Capital, SRB Ventures, Stellar Capital, Stellation Capital, Trajectory Ventures, Tribe Capital, Balaji Srinivasan, Joi Ito, Peter Sonsini, Vipul Ved Prakash
Nov 1, 2022	Yakoa	$5.0M Seed	—	Accelr8, Alumni Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Awesome People Ventures, Better Capital, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Chaotic Capital, CoinFund, Collab+Currency, Conversion Capital, Digital Currency Group, FAST — by GETTYLAB, Aniq Kassam, Flori Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Majinx Capital, Master Ventures, Master Ventures Investment Management, Morgan Creek Capital Management, Octopus Ventures, Ben Huh, Orion Willow Parrott, Pantera Capital, Pareto Holdings, Placeholder, Race Capital, Shaan's All Access Fund, Softbank Latin America Fund, SRB Ventures, Sunset Ventures, Trajectory Ventures, Tribe Capital, Volt Capital, Y Combinator, Balaji Srinivasan, Chris Kurdziel, David Rutter, Dylan Field, Imran Khan, Joi Ito
Aug 1, 2022	Cashmere	$3.0M Seed	—	100X.VC, Animoca Brands, Asylum Ventures, Climate Capital, Hack VC, KRM Interests LLC, MAGIC Fund, Moonfire Ventures, Alex Pack, Balaji Srinivasan, Charles Delingpole, Greg Kidd, Jeremy Edberg, Louis Beryl, Phillip Chambers, Rubin Ritter, Will Prendergast
Apr 1, 2022	Origami	$6.0M Seed	—	Alchemy Ventures, Ambush Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Arrive, Atlantic Bridge University Fund, Awesome People Ventures, Batalion Capital, Bennu, Broadstone, Browder Capital, Capital Factory, Flex Capital, Form Capital, Founder Collective, Gigascale Capital, Greylock, Haun Ventures, HawksHead Capital, Horizon 3 Venture Studio, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Not Boring Capital, Operator Ventures, Pantera Capital, Pharos Capital Group, Redpoint Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Robot Ventures, Scalar Capital, Seven Seven Six, Silicon Ventures, Sound Ventures, TenOneTen Ventures, The Hit Forge, Timespan Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Union Square Ventures, Aaron Levie, Amy Chang, Anthony Pompliano, Balaji Srinivasan, Bobby Goodlatte, Chris Kurdziel, Courtney Guertin, Curtis Lee, Elliot Shmukler, Eric Wei, Eric Wu, Ethan Beard, Fernando Martinelli, Gina Bianchini, Gokul Rajaram, Harris Barton, Hunter Horsley, Itamar Lesuisse, Jess Sloss, Joe Stump, Joshua Reeves, Mark Pincus, Matias Woloski, Michael Dunworth, Narendra Rocherolle, Paul Stamatiou, Reggie James, Ricky Engelberg, Scott Belsky, Scott Kleper, Shishir Mehrotra, Stani Kulechov, Tegan Kline, William Boebel
Mar 1, 2022	Hatchfi	$1.0M Seed	—	Bonfire Ventures, Delta Blockchain Fund, SOSV
Aug 1, 2021	XMTP	$20.0M Series A	—	01 Advisors, 040 Capital, 10T Holdings, 20VC, 75 & Sunny, Accel, Active Capital, Adapt Ventures, Aglae Ventures, AirAngels, Alchemy Ventures, Alt Capital, Alumni Ventures, Ambush Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Jana Messerschmidt, Archetype, Arkitekt Ventures, Atlassian Ventures, August Capital, Authentic Ventures, Awesome People Ventures, Bailhe, Batalion Capital, Blockchain Capital, Blockchain.com Ventures, Blockchange Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, Boosted Commerce, Boost VC, BoxGroup, Broadstone, Browder Capital, C2 Investment, Caffeinated Capital, Capital Factory, CapitalX, Celesta, Coatue, Coinbase Ventures, CoinFund, Craft Ventures, Curie.Bio, Curious Capital, Daffy, DFJ, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Earl Grey Capital, Emergence Capital, Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Fenway Summer, Fifth Wall, First Round Capital, FJ Labs, Form Capital, Foundation Capital, Founder Collective, Founders Fund, Foundry Group, Framework Ventures, FTX Ventures, Golden Section Ventures, GSV Acceleration, Gutter Capital, Hack VC, Hashed, Haun Ventures, HawksHead Capital, Heretic Ventures, Hyper, IDEO CoLab Ventures, Indeed.com, Independent, Infinite Niches, Initialized Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Insight Partners, IVP, J12 Ventures, Jude Gomila Rolling Fund, Kepler Operator’s Fund, KRM Interests LLC, LAUNCHub Ventures, Left Lane Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lux Capital, MATR Ventures, Maven Ventures, Maverick Capital, Metanoia, Mosaic Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Tiffany Luck, Next Play Ventures, NextView Ventures, Northside Ventures, Northzone, Not Boring Capital, Offline Ventures, Operator Partners, Ben Huh, Overtly Covert, Owl Ventures, Pantera Capital, Paradigm, Paradox Capital, ParaFi Capital, Pareto Holdings, Pharos Capital Group, Placeholder, Polychain Capital, Predictive VC, Rebel Fund, Redpoint Ventures, Revolution, Robot Ventures, rocketship.vc, Roosh Ventures, Saga, Sarona Ventures, Scalar Capital, SciFi VC, Sequoia Capital, Seven Seven Six, Slack Fund, SNR, Sound Ventures, Speciale Invest, SRB Ventures, Stellar Capital, SV Angel, Greg Bettinelli, Team Global, The Hit Forge, Thirty Five Ventures, Timespan Ventures, Todd and Rahul's Angel Fund, Uncork Capital, Union Square Ventures, UpHonest Capital, Vera Equity, Volt Capital, Wave Financial, Wedbush Ventures, Weekend Fund, White Loop Capital, White Star Capital, Wing Venture Capital, WorkLife Ventures, Y Combinator, Adam Guild, Akash Garg, Alex Adelman, Alexander Salnikov, Alex Pack, Alice Zhang, Amit Agarwal, Anastasia Andrianova, Andrew Steinwold, Anthony Pompliano, Ashley Larson, Aston Motes, Balaji Srinivasan, Baron Davis, Ben Davenport, Ben Porterfield, Bill Tai, Bobby Goodlatte, Bryan Bulte, Casey Neistat, Charlie Cheever, Chris Kurdziel, Christina Cacioppo, Claire Hughes Johnson, Cory Levy, Courtney Guertin, Dan Martell, Dan Shapiro, David Hauser, David Hoffman, Dean Bartosh, Dennis Yang, Dharmesh Shah, Douglas Stark, DROdio - Daniel R. Odio, Dylan Field, Elias Aalto, Elliott Cohen, Ethan Beard, Fernando Martinelli, Fidji Simo, Florian Huber, Fredrik Hjelm, Gokul Rajaram, Howie Liu, Immad Akhund, Inbal Leshem, Itamar Lesuisse, Jacqueline Reses, Jeff Chang, Jeffrey Wald, Jeffrey Wilke, Jeremy Yap, Jess Sloss, Joe Stump, John Collison, John Fontein, Julia DeWahl, Kevin Lin, Koen Bok, Lauren Loktev, Marc Benioff, Marc McCabe, Mariano Conti, Maria Raga, Mark Chou, Mathilde Collin, Mats Diedrichsen, Max Mullen, Michael Dunworth, Michael Stoppelman, Mike Krieger, Narendra Rocherolle, Neil Parikh, Parker Conrad, Paul Stamatiou, Paul Yacoubian, Priyank Chandra, Quinn Slack, Regan Bozman, Reggie James, Rich Miner, Ricky Engelberg, Robert Gentz, Sahil Lavingia, Sahin Boydas, Sam Altman, Scott Belsky, Scot Wingo, Shayne Coplan, Shishir Mehrotra, Stani Kulechov, Steve Chen, Stewart Butterfield, Tegan Kline, Tikhon Bernstam, Tony Sheng, Tony Xu, Varsha Rao, William Boebel
Jun 1, 2021	Claap	$3.0M Seed	—	2.12 Angels, 50 Partners, 8VC, AirAngels, Air Street Capital, Alsop Louie Partners, ARCH Venture Partners, Atomico, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Breega, Broadway Angels, Connect Ventures, Cool Climate Collective, Craft Ventures, Diaspora Ventures, eFounders, Entrée Capital Ventures, Essence VC, Felicis Ventures, FJ Labs, Flex Capital, Flybridge Capital Partners, Ganas Ventures, GV (Google Ventures), Hyper, Kima Ventures, LocalGlobe, Logos Labs, Lux Capital, Menlo Ventures, mExpand Family Office, MMC Ventures, Musha Ventures, Scott Gottlieb, Otherwise Fund, Passion Capital, Picus Capital, Polymath Capital Partners, Project A Ventures, Prototype Capital, Red Beard Ventures, Roosh Ventures, #SecretFund, Seed Club Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Speedinvest, Techstars, The Refiners, Upfront Ventures, Vibe Capital, Witz Ventures, Alexander Ljung, Alexandre Prot, Alexandros Bottenbruch, Alex Pattis, Andrew Gazdecki, Andrew Nutter, Arthur Kosten, Ben Lang, Ben Tossell, Casey Neistat, Chris Herd, Chris Schagen, David Peterson, David Rosenberg, Didier Valet, Eden Chen, Elad Gil, Eric Demuth, Frank Sagnier, Frederic Montagnon, Gina Bianchini, Harsh Sinha, Ian Hogarth, James Beshara, Janis Krums, Jean Charles Samuelian, Julia DeWahl, Mark Casady, Märt Kelder, Mathilde Collin, Nkechi Iregbulem, Othman Laraki, Peter Kazanjy, Philippe Teixeira da Mota, Raphael Vullierme, Roxanne Varza, Sahin Boydas, Sam Corcos, Steve Anavi, Thibaud Elziere, Tony Jamous, Vinay Hiremath, Zachary Sims
Nov 1, 2014	HONK	$2.0M Seed	—	Acrew Capital, Act One Ventures, Addition, Anthemis Group, Audrey Capital, Baseline Ventures, Batalion Capital, Betaworks Ventures, Bonfire Ventures, BoxGroup, Broadstone, Browder Capital, Buckley Ventures, CapitalX, Catapult Capital, Coelius Capital, Composite Ventures, Crosscut Ventures, Kevin Ding, Drive Capital, E14 Fund, ENIAC Ventures, Evolve VC, Far Out Ventures, Founders Fund, General Atlantic, Highbury Group, LAUNCH, Lytical Ventures, Matchstick Ventures, Maveron, Mozilla Ventures, Scott Sandell, NFX, Offline Ventures, Outlander Labs, Pareto Holdings, Path Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Revolution Growth, SCOR Ventures, Scout Ventures, SignalFire, Slow Ventures, SOSV, Springdale Ventures, Storm Ventures, Structure Capital, Techstars, The Hit Forge, Vayner RSE, Winklevoss Capital, Adam Foroughi, Chris Kelly, Chung Ng, Clark Landry, Daren Cotter, Ding Zhou, Jiake Liu, Josh Spear, Lev Ekster, Matt Brezina, Merlin Kauffman, Michael Birch, Oleg Rogynskyy, Rashaun Williams, Ryan Wyatt, Sahil Lavingia, Scott Belsky, Tim Ferriss, Tyler Willis
Apr 1, 2013	Circa	$1.0M Seed	—	Advisors Fund LLC, Audrey Capital, Chemistry VC, Freestyle Capital, ICONIQ Capital, InterWest, Offline Ventures, South Park Commons, True Ventures, Jevon MacDonald, Don Hutchison, LOI Venture, Long Journey Ventures, Mark Cuban, Matt Mazzeo, Scott Banister, Scout Ventures, SeedInvest, Techstars

Financial History

Total Raised

N/A

Valuation

N/A

Leadership Team

Key people at Orange Fund (Orange DAO).

Limited Partner (Orange Fund)

Alejandro Garcia-Amaya

Anh-Tho Chuong Degroote

Leadership Team

Key people at Orange Fund (Orange DAO).

Limited Partner (Orange Fund)

Alejandro Garcia-Amaya

Anh-Tho Chuong Degroote

Deep Dive

Orange Fund (Orange DAO) is a decentralized venture capital firm founded in 2021 by Y Combinator alumni, focused on investing in early-stage crypto and Web3 startups. Its mission is to empower builders in the crypto ecosystem to create a more equitable future by providing not only capital—typically around $100K to $300K per startup—but also deep mentorship, strategic partnerships, and access to a strong community of venture-backed founders and investors. Orange DAO operates a 12-week accelerator program called the Orange Fellowship, which supports founders from ideation through growth, emphasizing founder-first support and tailored guidance for the unique challenges of building in Web3[1][2][4].

The firm’s investment philosophy centers on flipping the traditional VC model by democratizing decision-making through its DAO structure, where members actively participate in vetting and mentoring startups. This community-driven approach fosters transparency and a nuanced understanding of promising projects. Orange DAO focuses on sectors including blockchain, financial software, Web3, gaming, and decentralized technologies, aiming to help startups achieve product-market fit and scale effectively. Its impact on the startup ecosystem is significant, having backed over 200 companies and facilitated connections to top-tier investors like Y Combinator and a16z, with portfolio companies collectively raising over $150 million[1][2][4].

Orange DAO was founded in 2021 by experienced founders from YC-backed crypto companies, including general partners Ben Huh and Don Ho, based in San Francisco. The idea emerged from the recognition that Web3 startups require specialized support beyond traditional venture capital, particularly in tokenomics and decentralized go-to-market strategies. Early traction came from building a strong founder community and launching the Orange Fellowship accelerator, which culminates in a Demo Day attended by hundreds of investors, helping startups secure follow-on funding and partnerships[1][2][4].

Core Differentiators

DAO-driven investment model: Community members, many of whom are successful crypto founders, collectively review applications and guide startups, ensuring founder-centric and transparent decision-making[1].
Strong network: Access to a broad network of venture-backed founders and top investors, including Y Combinator and a16z, providing mentorship and fundraising support[1][2][4].
Tailored accelerator program: A 12-week fellowship designed specifically for Web3 startups, addressing unique challenges like tokenomics and decentralized growth strategies[1].
Founder-first ethos: Emphasis on building real value for customers rather than chasing virality, with ongoing support across different business stages[1][4].

In the broader tech landscape, Orange DAO rides the wave of increasing decentralization and the rise of Web3 technologies. The timing is critical as blockchain and crypto projects mature, requiring more sophisticated support ecosystems. Market forces such as growing institutional interest in crypto, the expansion of decentralized finance (DeFi), and the mainstreaming of NFTs and metaverse projects create fertile ground for Orange DAO’s community-driven venture model. By empowering founders with capital, mentorship, and network effects, Orange DAO influences the broader ecosystem by accelerating innovation and adoption of decentralized technologies[1][2].

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Looking ahead, Orange DAO is poised to expand its portfolio and deepen its influence in the Web3 space by continuing to refine its accelerator program and leveraging its growing community of founders and investors. Trends such as increased regulatory clarity, cross-chain interoperability, and the rise of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) themselves will shape its journey. Orange DAO’s model of decentralized, community-driven venture capital may become a blueprint for future investment firms aiming to support complex, rapidly evolving tech sectors. Its continued success will likely hinge on maintaining its founder-first approach while scaling its network and resources[1][2][4].

Sources

Core Differentiators

DAO-driven investment model: Community members, many of whom are successful crypto founders, collectively review applications and guide startups, ensuring founder-centric and transparent decision-making[1].
Strong network: Access to a broad network of venture-backed founders and top investors, including Y Combinator and a16z, providing mentorship and fundraising support[1][2][4].
Tailored accelerator program: A 12-week fellowship designed specifically for Web3 startups, addressing unique challenges like tokenomics and decentralized growth strategies[1].
Founder-first ethos: Emphasis on building real value for customers rather than chasing virality, with ongoing support across different business stages[1][4].