quick shot:

• HashKey has closed its third fund with $500 million in commitments.
• HashKey FinTech Investment Fund III will focus on global cryptocurrency and blockchain opportunities.
• The fund is primarily targeting projects in blockchain infrastructure, consumer-facing tools and applications.

HashKey has closed its third fund with $500 million in commitments. The digital asset-focused venture capital firm said the new fund dubbed HashKey FinTech Investment Fund III will focus on global cryptocurrency and blockchain opportunities.

HashKey has been one of the most active web3-focused VC firms despite the crypto winter. The company has concentrated its venture investments in web3 on the blockchain infrastructure and data protocols.

In December, HashKey was one of the investors in the $20 million fundraiser of blockchain infrastructure and decentralized storage platform Nillion.

In October, the company also backed a $40 million round from Reap, the Hong Kong-based web3 payment infrastructure platform. HashKey is also an investor in Chainsafe, another web3 infrastructure company. He also invested in the web3 Space and Time data platform in September last year.

Other notable projects supported by HashKey include Cosmos, Coinlist, Aztec, Blockdaemon, dYdX, imToken, Animoca Brands, Mask Network, FalconX, Polkadot, Moonbeam, Space and Time, and Galxe.

Fund III will be managed through general partner HashKey FinTech Investment, which is part of HashKey Capital. The fund received strong backing from sovereign wealth funds, corporations and family offices.

The main objective of the fund is to advance promising crypto and blockchain projects globally, with a key focus on emerging markets.

Commenting on the fundraising, Deng Chao, CEO of HashKey Capital and Head of HashKey Singapore, said: “HashKey Capital has weathered at least three cycles in the industry. These unique experiences and insights will be invaluable in navigating through the turmoil. We are one of the few crypto investors to have been granted a license to manage funds involving digital assets in Hong Kong, with another approval in principle received for fund management in Singapore.”

Chao, who also highlighted HashKey’s experience during turbulent market times, said the company was one of the first to support crypto and blockchain technology. “We are pleased to continue to assume this responsibility and to work with our partners to set the gold standard for sustainable growth in the industry.”

Over the last 13 months, the crypto industry has lost a whopping $2 trillion in market capitalization after reaching an all-time high of around $3 trillion in November 2021. The effects of the crypto winter hit 100% of capital companies. risk later in the time frame, with web3 funding slows down significantly from July 2022.

Things took a turn for the worse in Q4 2022, with CrunchBase estimating a 74% decline in funding for web3 startups.

But HashKey, which has been one of the pioneers in backing blockchain and cryptocurrency technology projects, continued to invest throughout the quarter, as highlighted by selected headlines.

The company also claims to have inspired the name ‘Shanghai Upgrade’ for Ethereum (a process that would make Layer 2 transactions on Ethereum several times cheaper and faster).

“As one of the first institutional investors in Ethereum and host of Devcon2, we have argued from day one that the power of blockchain and crypto innovation can create a better future. Fund III will follow our time-tested investment principles while also looking for game-changers that will propel the industry to the next stage.” said Dr. Xiao Feng, President of HashKey Group.

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