Hong Kong Crypto VC opens $100M fund for Asian blockchain startups

Hong Kong-based crypto-focused venture capital firm CMCCC Global has raised $100 million to fund Asian blockchain startups.

The crypto fund, called Titan Fund, closed its opening round of funding on October 4 with participation from 30 investors, including blockchain company Block.one, Hong Kong investor Richard Lee of Pacific Century Group, Winklevoss Capital, Jebson Capital and Animoka Brands founder Yat Hsu. South China Morning Post reported.

Titan Fund focuses on three key areas: blockchain infrastructure, consumer applications such as gaming and intangible tokens (NFTs), and financial services including exchanges, wallets, and lending and borrowing platforms.

The crypto fund from CMCCC Global will be the fourth to provide equity investments to early-stage blockchain startups with a Hong Kong focus. The fund has already made five investment rounds, with two of those investments going to Hong Kong-based startups.

The two Hong Kong startups include Mokaverse, an NFT project launched in December 2022 by Hong Kong blockchain Animoka Brands, which raised $20 million in September. Prior to that, in August, Titan Fund participated in the pre-seed funding round of Terminal 3, a Hong Kong-based Web3 data infrastructure startup.

The $100 million crypto venture fund comes amid a crypto funding drought linked to the bear market and FTX collapse. According to data from PitchBook, the value of global venture capital investment in crypto companies fell by 70.9 percent year-on-year, while the number of transactions fell by 55 percent. This is in stark contrast to the bull market when crypto-based startups raise millions and the crypto space sees a new unicorn every month.

Related: America's ‘lone country' crypto startups should stay away, says Ripple CEO

The launch of a crypto VC fund in Hong Kong also highlights the city's growing status as a crypto safe haven. The managing director of Titan Fund, Yen Shiu Xin, said that a move against crypto in the US means that Asian companies are benefiting, because “the projects are coming here and are thinking of talking to us.”

Hong Kong announced a change in its crypto policy in October last year. The regulators doubled down on the policy shift and drafted pro-crypto regulations that would open up services to regulated crypto exchanges and even retail clients.

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