The digital asset and fintech investment business, Fineqia, has announced plans to start a new venture capital fund that will invest in innovative companies in the digital asset industry.
Fineqia will transfer a selection of its investments to a new company called Fineqia Glass Slipper Ventures (FGSV), which will form part of FGSV’s portfolio. In lieu, Fineqia will receive a proportionate equity interest in the Fund.
The firm writes that FGSV will leverage Fineqia’s expertise in digital assets and its focus on investing in early and growth-stage technology companies to identify emerging organisations and protocols across the new digital asset economy. Fineqia has previously invested in digital asset manager Wave Digital Assets LLC, the Wave NFT Fund, blockchain gaming platform company Forte Labs, Inc. and the IDEO CoLab Fund 1 from its balance sheet.
“We have a proven track record of investments that are generating extraordinary returns,” says Fineqia’s CEO Bundeep Singh Rangar. “An investment fund will give us more firepower to invest in the most promising firms among the scores we see monthly and take advantage of entry valuations not frothy as they were 18 months ago. That means the same investment sum can be deployed across more companies.”
The Company intends to set up FSGV as a private closed-end fund in the European Economic Area (EEA), with the aim of generating significant returns by investing in promising firms that hold substantial growth potential. Fineqia has identified segments such as blockchain infrastructure, decentralised finance (DeFi), and metaverse including gaming, media and entertainment, as key investment areas.
It writes that it will also allocate some funds toward opportunistic deals such as distressed companies and to back entrepreneurs tapping into new emerging technology applications within the blockchain industry. It will take a chain-agnostic approach, recognising that the future of blockchain will be multi-chain and borderless, premised on interoperability, seamless customer onboarding and tangible revenue traction.
The firm writes that FSGV will be set up with the appropriate approval of a regulator located within the EEA, which includes the European Union countries as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. The set-up cost of FSGV will be CHF100,000 (C$150,000). The Company anticipates an initial closing, which is the first time that investors commit to making their investment, by Q3 2023.
