Nic Carter’s Castle Island Ventures Raises $250M for Third Crypto Fund

Castle Island Ventures, a integer plus steadfast founded by Fidelity alums Nic Carter and Matt Walsh, has raised $250 cardinal for a caller crypto money targeting startups successful the monetary network, fiscal services and net architecture spaces, including Web 3.

The Castle Island Ventures III money is the largest money ever for Castle Island since it was founded successful 2018, pursuing its archetypal $30 cardinal money and past a $50 cardinal 2nd fund that closed successful February 2021. Investors successful the 3rd money included endowments, plus managers, household offices and money of money groups, according to the announcement station on Medium.

The Castle Island portfolio of early-stage crypto investments has included plus absorption steadfast Bitwise and crypto lender BlockFi.

The caller money volition proceed Castle Island’s investments astatine the “convergence of blockchains and the much regulated fiscal services market,” said Carter, a CoinDesk columnist, successful a telephone call. “That’s going to stay a large component. Anything from brokerage to custody to exchanges to lenders and banks.”

“Of late, we’ve besides go overmuch much progressive successful Web 3, whether that’s net infrastructure oregon decentralized applications that let radical to interact with the net without relying connected the Silicon Valley oligopolies,” Carter continued.

Castle Island besides said it promoted Ria Bhutoria, different Fidelity alum, to wide partner, joining Carter, Walsh and Sean Judge.

Carter said Castle Island Ventures differs from different funds successful its equity concern approach, which tin beryllium charismatic to imaginable constricted partners (LP) who are funny successful crypto but much acquainted with equity arsenic opposed to token sales.

For imaginable portfolio companies, the steadfast offers heavy connections to the plus absorption and fiscal services world, a payment for those wanting to go much integrated with accepted finance.

Cryptocurrencies pulled backmost astatine the commencement of the year, but the little prices and trading volumes haven’t discouraged task capitalists from making investments.

Carter acknowledged that the deployment model exposes the steadfast to “what’s happening successful presumption of valuations,” but Castle Island Venture has a past of launching successful choppy waters.

“When we launched our archetypal money successful aboriginal 2018, it was an astonishing clip to deploy. There was a prolonged carnivore market. The founders we met were the ones that cared precise profoundly astir this stuff. And the valuations were humble astatine the time,” said Carter.

“A sell-off would marque consciousness for us. I don’t privation anyone to suffer money. But from the position of being an allocator, the froth coming retired of the marketplace a small spot would beryllium beauteous welcome,” Carter noted.