Exclusive | Hong Kong crypto venture capital firm CMCC Global launches US$100 million fund amid industry slump
- The Titan Fund completed its first round of US$100 million on Wednesday, with more than 30 investors participating, including Winklevoss Capital and Jebsen Capital
- The fund was a leading investor in Mocaverse, a new non-fungible token (NFT) project launched last December by Hong Kong blockchain unicorn Animoca Brands
CMCC Global, a cryptocurrency-focused venture capital firm based in Hong Kong, has raised US$100 million for a new fund aimed at backing Asian blockchain start-ups amid Hong Kong’s virtual asset push, defying a funding crunch in the crypto sector set off by a series of collapses last year.
The firm’s new Titan Fund completed its first round of US$100 million on Wednesday, with more than 30 investors participating, CMCC Global co-founder Martin Baumann told the South China Morning Post in an interview.
These include blockchain company Block.one, Hong Kong tycoon Richard Li’s Pacific Century Group, Winklevoss Capital, Jebsen Capital and Animoca Brands founder Yat Siu.
The Titan Fund, CMCC Global’s fourth fund, will offer equity investments in early-stage blockchain start-ups with a heavy focus on Hong Kong, Baumann said. Among five investments it has already made, two are Hong Kong companies, he added.
The fund was a leading investor in Mocaverse, a new non-fungible token (NFT) project launched last December by Hong Kong blockchain unicorn Animoca Brands that raised US$20 million in September, and in August it participated in a pre-seed funding round for Terminal 3, a Hong Kong-based Web3 data infrastructure start-up.
But Titan Fund does not have a strict mandate for how much capital will be allocated to Hong Kong companies, and aims to invest in “the best entrepreneurs globally”, Baumann said. However, CMCC Global, which was established in Hong Kong in 2016, has a “natural attachment” to the city and believes it offers “a lot of potential” in fintech innovation, he added.
