Algo VC Fund Raises $200 Million to Fast Track Ethereum Rival

Algo Capital has raised $200 million — twice its original $100 million goal — for its Algo VC fund. 

According to a press release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 27, the new fund will focus on investments in businesses that will help build infrastructure for the Algorand blockchain — an open-source public ledger and cryptocurrency payment system that utilizes a Byzantine Agreement message-passing protocol.  

The fund will also be investing in businesses whose focus is to accelerate the adoption of the platform’s native token, Algo, as a means of payment.

As previously reported, Algorand was founded by Silvio Micali, a cryptographer and Turing award winner and currently a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Investors, Goals

Algo Capital’s press release states that the Algo VC fund has sealed backing from an international group of financial and blockchain industry investors, including Brainchild, NGC Ventures (the venture arm of NEO Global), Eterna Capital, GSR, Cognitive Blockchain, Rokk3r Inc, Wibson, 11-11 Ventures, DG Ventures, Winslow Strong, Invermaster and others.

The fund — which reportedly holds a large stake in Algos — has revealed that its initial portfolio companies include security token issuance platform Securitize, decentralized exchange Idex, blockchain infrastructure and middleware orchestration platform BlockDaemon and institutional exchange and cross-custodian settlement platform OTCXN.

The VC fund is led by blockchain investor David Garcia, entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist Arul Muragan and blockchain technology specialist Pablo Yabo.

All commitments to the fund were reportedly accepted in Algos rather than in U.S. dollars, with the token being used as the primary currency for all capital calls. Moreover, a portion of the fund’s capital investments comprises Algos in order to enable portfolio firms to use the digital token as a means of payment within the Algorand network.

Algo Capital notes it is pursuing joint ventures with various international accelerators and venture studios to further investment in blockchain enterprises across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Ethereum’s rival?

As reported this summer, Algorand raised over $60 million in its Algo token sale on financial services platform CoinList. The capital raised via the offering came on top of $66 million the firm had raised over the past year from investors including VC firms Union Square Ventures and Pillar Venture Capital.

In light of its founder Mical’s development of a proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol and aspiration to host an app development platform for enterprises, Algorand is considered by some to be Ethereum (ETH)’s closest competitor.