VanEck, a prominent global investment management firm overseeing over $118 billion in assets, has officially entered the venture capital arena with the launch of VanEck Ventures. The firm is seeking to raise $30 million for its inaugural fund, which will focus on early-stage startups at the crossroads of fintech, digital assets, and artificial intelligence, as announced on Wednesday.
The fund will be spearheaded by Wyatt Lonergan and Juan Lopez, both former leaders at Circle Ventures who now join VanEck as general partners. Lonergan left Circle Ventures in May after six years, while Lopez departed in July after three years. "Since then, we've been working in stealth to set up the VanEck Ventures fund, solidify our thesis, and make our initial investments," Lonergan shared.
Though VanEck has made corporate investments in several early-stage companies and funds previously, this marks the firm’s first dedicated venture capital fund. Lonergan explained that about two and a half years ago, VanEck expanded into liquid asset investing and is now broadening its strategy with this venture fund, which encompasses both liquid and illiquid crypto investments.
VanEck was an early entrant in the crypto landscape, being the first asset manager to file for a bitcoin-linked ETF in 2017 and among the first to file for a spot bitcoin ETF in 2018, followed by a spot ether ETF in 2021. Both spot crypto ETFs received approval and were launched earlier this year.
With the VanEck Ventures Fund, the firm aims to make between 25 and 35 investments, targeting check sizes from $500,000 to $1 million. The fund is open to both equity and token projects and has already made four undisclosed investments. Lonergan emphasized that the fund will primarily focus on startups that enhance tokenization and stablecoin platforms.
Lopez noted that stablecoins represent a significant product-market fit today, outside of Bitcoin, predicting a “fintech explosion built on stablecoins,” which he describes as “the open-source banking-as-a-service layer.” He highlighted the expanding $39 trillion business-to-business cross-border payments market, asserting that stablecoins on blockchains like Solana will facilitate near-instant and nearly cost-free transfers over the next five years.
VanEck’s venture into capital funding is timely, coinciding with a surge in fundraising by crypto VCs this year. According to recent reports, crypto venture firms have raised over $2.2 billion in new capital through closed funds as of August.
