Tekin Salimi, founder of Dao5, reported that the VC company’s second fund was concentrated in 15 limited partners, including family offices and notable individuals. He assessed that the previous fund’s success influenced the level of participation in this one.
Crypto VC Firm Dao5 Closes $222M Fund to Focus on Institutional Adoption Projects
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Crypto Firm Dao5 Swims Against the Current: Closes $222M Fund
Even with the reported problems that traditional firms are having to raise capital, 2022-founded Dao5 has reached a milestone. The company recently reported having closed a $222 million crypto fund, an achievement given the recent rout in the initial public offering (IPO) arena.
Tekin Salimi, founder and managing partner at Dao5, stated that the latest fund was concentrated in a small group of high-net-worth individuals and family offices. Speaking to Fortune, Salimi disclosed that investors of Dao5’s first fund had already recovered what was invested at that time.
“I credit that to a big part of why we’re able to have a successful fundraise in this market,” Salini stated, considering the overall state of the fundraising ecosystem.
He also believes that part of the advantages of Dao5 are related to the full suite of services offered to the companies it supports. “Sometimes the job of VC can range from everything to investor to close friend and then therapist of these young founders,” he noted, explaining that Dao5 tries to be very close to its partners.
Also, Dao5 has a successful record despite battling unrelated challenges. In 2022, Dao5 raised $125 million on the eve of FTX’s debacle, a black swan event that affected the whole crypto industry. Even so, the fund completed its participation in projects like Berachain and Bittensor.
Nonetheless, Salimi explains that things have changed since the days of its first fund, which invested in what he called “extremely sci-fi projects.” These newly raised $222 million will be invested in more down-to-earth projects, focusing on products to facilitate institutional adoption, including stablecoins and asset tokenization.
“It’s almost like the less sexy products are now more important,” he concluded.
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