Global investment management firm VanEck has recently announced the launch of a new $30 million fund that will focus on investing in early-stage fintech, digital asset, and artificial intelligence (AI) companies. This marks a strategic move by VanEck to expand its presence in the venture capital space.
The fund, named VanEck Ventures, has $30 million in assets under management and will be led by Wyatt Lonergan and Juan Lopez, who have previously led Circle Ventures, the venture arm of stablecoin issuer Circle. VanEck Ventures aims to invest in about 25-30 different projects, with each project receiving funding between $500,000 and $1 million. So far, the fund has already invested in four different projects.
Jan van Eck, the CEO of VanEck, expressed excitement about the new fund, stating, “From pioneering an approach to gold investing in 1968 to recognizing the disruptive potential of Bitcoin in 2017, embracing a long-term view on transformative opportunities has always been part of our investment philosophy. This fund extends that vision into the early-stage venture space. We look forward to supporting founders of what we believe are some of the most disruptive companies in fintech – those building the future of finance.”
The fund is particularly interested in projects that focus on the application layer while maintaining an infrastructure-agnostic approach. This includes companies that work on tokenized assets, internet native financial marketplaces, and next-generation payments middleware and applications that are built on top of stablecoins.
VanEck, a 69-year-old asset manager known for identifying emerging investment trends, has ambitious plans in the digital asset space beyond its current offerings of crypto-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs). In a recent interview with CoinDesk, VanEck Portfolio Manager Pranav Kanade mentioned that the firm’s CEO aims to have 15% of the firm’s assets under management in crypto, a significant increase from the current 1%.
The launch of the VanEck Ventures fund signals the firm’s commitment to exploring and investing in the innovative potential of early-stage companies in the fintech, digital asset, and AI sectors. With a strong focus on strategic and financial upside, VanEck Ventures is poised to support and nurture the growth of disruptive companies that are shaping the future of finance.