Christopher Heymann is a Founding Partner at 1kx, a crypto-native venture fund. He has a technical background with prior experience as a Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at multiple technology startups before co-founding 1kx. ^{[1] [2]}

Education

Heymann pursued his higher education in Germany, focusing on computer science and information systems. He earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Computer Science from HTWK Leipzig, attending from 2006 to 2010. Following his undergraduate studies, he attended Leipzig University from 2010 to 2012, where he obtained a Master's degree in Business Information Systems. ^{[3] [4] [11]}

Career

Heymann's career began with a series of software engineering and consulting internships at companies including ALVARA Cash Management Group AG in 2008, SKEX, a.s. from 2009 to 2010, and APPSfactory GmbH from 2010 to 2011. He also completed a Junior Consultant internship at the professional services firm PwC between 2011 and 2012, which served as the basis for working with blockchain technology.

Following his education, Heymann took on several technical leadership roles. Between 2012 and 2015, he worked as a self-employed application developer and served as the Mobile Lead for FOUNDD, an application designed to help users discover new movies. During this same period, he was the Chief Technology Officer for MassMatics. In 2015, he became the CTO of Daily Ride, a carpooling service for commuters. Some sources indicate he was a founder of both FOUNDD and Daily Ride.

In May 2017, Heymann transitioned into venture capital, co-founding the crypto-focused firm 1kx as a Founding Partner. At 1kx, he leverages his technical background to invest in and advise early-stage teams in the Web3 and blockchain ecosystem. His work focuses on assisting founders with cryptoeconomic design, decentralized governance, and the technical challenges of scaling open and permissionless systems. The firm's stated mission is to "architect network success" for its portfolio companies and the broader decentralized economy. Heymann has been described as an active angel investor in the blockchain space prior to establishing 1kx. ^{[1] [7] [8] [3] [5] [6] [12]}

Investments and Board Roles

As a Founding Partner at 1kx, Heymann is involved in the firm's investment decisions, which typically focus on Seed and Series A funding rounds in the Web3 and crypto sectors. The firm's typical investment size ranges from $100,000 to $5 million. In addition to his role at 1kx, Heymann serves as a Director on the board of Kiln, an enterprise-grade staking platform headquartered in Paris, France.

Notable investments made by 1kx during his tenure include:

• Impossible Cloud Network: A decentralized cloud infrastructure project.
• Olas: A platform for autonomous AI agents.
• Mawari: A company focused on decentralized 3D and XR content delivery networks.
• Kiln: An enterprise staking platform.
• web3mine: A project building a decentralized marketplace for computing power.
• SPICYEST: A Web3 infrastructure company.
• Staking Rewards: A data provider and platform for crypto staking.

These investments reflect the firm's focus on foundational infrastructure and services for the decentralized web. ^{[9] [5] [4] [6]}

Public Engagements

Heymann is a speaker at various international blockchain and technology conferences, where he discusses topics related to venture capital, decentralized systems, and cryptoeconomics. He has been listed as a speaker for events such as the European Blockchain Convention in Barcelona and Korea Blockchain Week. ^{[8] [7]}