According to multiple reports, Luno Expeditions has exited stealth mode after making approximately 20 investments in early-stage crypto firms.
Luno Expeditions is an offshoot of Luno a crypto investing platform that is owned by the Digital Currency Group, Barry Silbert’s holding company and investment company.
Luno CEO Jocelyn Cheng explained that the VC arm intends on backing between 200 to 300 startups a year targeting crypto companies as well as the broader Fintech market.
Cheng told Techcrunch that “Luno Expeditions will focus on the group’s early-stage investing in equity and convertible rounds,” adding “there are very few truly global and very early-stage Fintech funds in the world; we see an exciting opportunity here to build one. The reason why it’s not just pure crypto is that over the past few years, as operators scaling some of the largest crypto businesses in the world, we have noticed that there is such a strong intersection between some of the traditional fintechs and crypto.”
DCG is one of the most active investors in the crypto industry, with investments in over 130 companies in 30 different countries, including ownership of CoinDesk, Genesis, and Foundry.
Luno Expectations said it will invest approximately $50K to $250,000 in target firms.
Other digital asset platforms have leveraged their revenue-generating trading platforms to augment operations by acquisitions or by investing in promising early-stage firms as portfolio investments. This past January, FTX announced a $2 billion venture fund to back web3, social, gaming, Fintech, and more. The VC said it would provide flexible funding and strategic support from FTX and its network of global partners.