Author: Nian Qing
Recently, ABCDE co-founder Du Jun officially announced that ABCDE Capital has stopped investing in new projects and suspended the fundraising for its second-phase fund, and launched a new incubator product called Vernal. ABCDE made 19 investments in the past year, which is not particularly conservative, but despite having sufficient funds, it still could not withstand the current dull crypto market.
After the FUD VC revolution, Crypto VC began to press the pause button under hellish difficulty, with some choosing to stop investing and only maintain core personnel for post-investment services, while some VCs began to seek transformation towards secondary investment, project development, incubators, and crypto marketing.
Compared to European and American VCs of the same period, Asian VCs seem to be more conservative. One month ago, ABCDE investment research partner Lao Bai raised a question - why are we "silent" in Asia while Europeans and Americans are still "firing", and what makes them dare to Pull the Trigger at this valuation? He speculated that the reasons might include different exit cycles, different investment decisions, and the fact that Asian VCs care more about returns, while European and American counterparts are more idealistic and long-term oriented.
Additionally, according to RootData platform's investor data, most Chinese-speaking VCs adopted a more conservative investment strategy in the past year, with fewer than 10 investments. Of course, top VCs such as Animoca Brands, OKX Ventures, HashKey Capital, SNZ Holding, Waterdrip Capital, Mask Network, Nomad Capital, and NGC Ventures still maintained high-frequency trading, with over 20 investments in the past year. IOSG Ventures, Fenbushi Capital, SevenX Ventures, LongHash Ventures, and PAKA made more than 10 investments in the past year, but their investment frequency was significantly lower compared to the previous year.
This article reviews the current situation of major Chinese-speaking VCs and VCs founded by Chinese entrepreneurs with fewer investments in the past year.
(Note: The above data is based on publicly disclosed investments and does not rule out possible undisclosed internal operations or investments.)
Continue Captial
Continue Captial, founded by crypto OG Pima, made zero investments in the past year, with the last investment being in March last year, participating in io.net's Series A financing. Pima is a veteran crypto investor who entered the digital currency field in 2013 and has invested in multiple well-known blockchain projects. Currently, both co-founders and Continue Captial are in a "lying flat" state, with no operation on their official blog and Twitter. The most recent update about Continue Captial was in October last year, when Continue Capital co-founder Lin Xiahong was allegedly stolen 35 million USD, to which Lin Xiahong responded on the X platform: "I accidentally exposed that I haven't retired, and became a charity headline."
(Translation continues in the same manner for the rest of the text)DeFiance Capital
DeFiance Capital has made only 1 investment in the past year, with the latest investment being in May last year. The number of investments has significantly decreased. The most recent investment was the founder's personal angel round financing for the MIT-Harvard team Optimum. Despite the reduced investment frequency, DeFiance Capital remains active on social media and was still hiring at the beginning of the year. The founder Arthur Cheong, a well-known KOL, continues to share insights. Recently, he stated that project and market maker collusion to manipulate prices, with CEXs turning a blind eye, is the main reason why the market cannot be invested in currently.
Matrixport Ventures
Matrixport Ventures has made only 2 investments in the past year, with the latest investment in December last year. They invested 8 times in 2024. Matrixport Ventures is the venture capital arm of Matrixport, Asia's largest crypto financial services platform. The founder is Wu Jihan, and Matrixport's products include Cactus Custody, OTC spot trading, fixed income, structured products, loans, and asset management.
Basics Capital
Basics Capital has made only 4 investments in the past year, with the latest investment in December last year, which is significantly fewer compared to the number of investments in 2024.
7 O'Clock Capital
7 O'Clock Capital has made 0 investments in the past year, with the latest investment in April last year. Their social platforms continue routine operations, but investment research has essentially stagnated.
Old Fashion Research
Old Fashion Research has made only 1 investment in the past year, with the latest investment in September last year. OFR is a multi-strategy blockchain investment fund, founded in July 2021 by former Binance executives and investment team. At the beginning of last year, multiple partners left.
Puzzle Ventures
Puzzle Ventures has made only 3 investments in the past year, with the latest investment in December last year. Its founder Qi Wang is also the co-founder and COO of decentralized exchange DODO, and a co-founder and general partner of secondary market liquidity fund Metrics Ventures. Puzzle Ventures' official channels and founder's social media are inactive.
Redline DAO
Redline DAO has made only 1 investment in the past year, with the latest investment in August last year. In early 2024, Redline DAO announced an upgrade to Redline Labs, shifting from investment to comprehensive project incubation. The project's research focus will be on continuing to monitor the development and ecosystem growth of blockchains like BTC and Solana. Its founder and managing partner Kris Li is a successful trader focusing on the secondary market.
In addition to these crypto-native funds, some comprehensive venture capital firms in the Chinese-speaking region have significantly reduced their investments in the crypto field
- Zonff Partners has made only 2 investments in the past year, with the latest in November;
- DHVC has made 0 investments in the past year, with the latest in June last year;
- Sky9 has made only 5 investments in the past year, with the latest in August last year. The partner responsible for crypto investments, Niu Fengxuan, left in April last year;
- Initiate Capital has made only 2 investments in the past year, with the latest in November last year.
