Amsterdam-based Theta Capital Administration has raised over $175 million for its newest fund-of-funds, aimed toward supporting early-stage blockchain startups by way of specialised enterprise capital (VC) corporations.
The brand new car, Theta Blockchain Ventures IV, will channel capital into crypto-native VC corporations with a observe file in backing blockchain innovation, Theta’s managing accomplice and chief funding officer Ruud Smets instructed Bloomberg.
Smets mentioned the technique focuses on specialist managers who can outperform generalist traders within the earliest funding rounds.
“We’ve all the time been searching for areas the place specialization and energetic administration present a sustainable edge,” Smets famous. He mentioned that the expertise and positioning of devoted crypto VCs “has compounded over time,” creating obstacles for much less centered traders making an attempt to enter the area.
Based in 2001, Theta shifted its focus to digital property in 2018 and now manages roughly $1.2 billion. The agency has beforehand backed main crypto funding names similar to Polychain Capital, CoinFund and Fort Island Ventures.
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Crypto VC offers rebound
The fund’s shut comes as crypto enterprise capital begins to rebound. In keeping with Galaxy Digital, VC funding in digital property rose 54% within the first quarter 2025 to $4.8 billion, signaling renewed confidence within the sector after a protracted downturn.
One other report from PitchBook revealed that crypto enterprise capital funding surged in early 2025, at the same time as deal exercise declined.
The report confirmed that 405 VC offers had been accomplished in Q1 2025, a 39.5% drop from the 670 recorded in the identical interval final yr. Nevertheless, that’s a modest uptick from the 372 offers seen in This autumn 2024.
Regardless of fewer offers, complete funding greater than doubled year-over-year, reaching $6 billion in Q1 in comparison with $2.6 billion in Q1 2024 and doubling from the earlier quarter’s $3 billion.
PitchBook’s senior crypto analyst Robert Le famous that even amid macroeconomic uncertainty, “capital continued to hunt crypto’s core utility rails.”
The majority of the funding — round $2.55 billion throughout simply 16 offers — went into corporations in asset administration, buying and selling platforms and crypto monetary companies. Infrastructure and improvement corporations adopted, elevating practically $955 million throughout 30 offers.
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Circle IPO might be crypto’s subsequent benchmark
PitchBook additionally mentioned that Circle’s anticipated IPO might be essentially the most vital crypto fairness pricing occasion since Coinbase’s 2021 debut.
If Circle secures a valuation above the rumored $4 to $5 billion vary, it “might due to this fact crowd in new late-stage capital and reset valuation expectations upward throughout the funds and infrastructure stack,” Le mentioned.
With $1.18 billion in VC funding raised up to now, PitchBook estimates a 64% likelihood that Circle will in the end go public.
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