ABCDE Capital is a Web3 venture capital fund established in 2022, with assets reaching $400 million. Founded by Huobi co-founder Du Juan and Chinese crypto OG BMAN, the fund is headquartered in Singapore. With its profound industry experience and forward-looking investment strategy, it has become one of the most influential funds in the crypto venture capital field.
However, during the recent continued weakness in the cryptocurrency market, Du Juan announced today that ABCDE has officially stopped investing in new projects and suspended the fundraising plan for its second fund. The original team will continue to support and manage existing project post-investment and exit arrangements, ensuring that commitments to entrepreneurs and LPs are seriously fulfilled.
My personal work focus will gradually shift from financial investments in the primary market to strategic investments combined with in-depth incubation, focusing more on industry collaboration and long-term value creation.
Du Juan added that he has launched a new incubator brand called Vernal, and will announce the incubator shareholders, incubation rules, and first batch of incubated projects in May. He will also release the first purchase list in May, explaining exactly how much was bought and why:
Over the past three years, ABCDE's first fund has invested nearly $40 million, supporting over 30 projects, with more than half led by us. In the current market environment, our IRR returns remain at a global leading level.
Besides capital support, ABCDE has also continuously contributed to the open-source ecosystem, accumulating hundreds of Stars on GitHub and bringing substantial contributions to the community.
Du Juan: Cannot Agree with the Primary Market Ecosystem
Du Juan further explained in a subsequent tweet that ABCDE's stoppage of new project investments and second-round fundraising is entirely his personal decision to change approach and rethink how to participate in industry development:
The team is great, and fundraising has no issues. The two cornerstone LPs have sufficient funds and are willing to continue supporting. This is not a problem of funds or capabilities, but a choice of direction.
To be honest, I increasingly cannot agree with the current primary market ecosystem: many projects are extremely short-sighted, only thinking about how to quickly list on exchanges, often leaving behind a mess. More worryingly, some primary funds not only lack reflection on this but also extensively promote the "listed projects" and short-term market value performance, never mentioning the project's value creation or whether these projects survive healthily after listing.
This is not a game I want to participate in, nor the original intention of establishing ABCDE. For me, such work is wasting time, not creating value, and I neither lack nor want to earn this money.
Du Juan stated that he hopes to invest his time and resources in truly promoting industry progress, spending time, making efforts, developing strategies, accompanying teams with a sense of mission, and incubating enterprises that can bring long-term value to the industry and society:
As a member of the industry, I believe we have a responsibility to promote the ecosystem's return to rationality and health, rather than being swept up in short-term games.
It is worth noting that in this market downturn, with trading heat cooling and funds clearly contracting, even traditional venture capital seems unable to maintain a reasonable operating rhythm. Both project parties and investors are facing a dual test of confidence and direction.
