Fenbushi Capital

Fenbushi Capital is an Asia-based venture capital firm that specializes in investing in blockchain technology and cryptocurrency companies. The firm has a portfolio of over 60 leading blockchain projects across four continents and works closely with portfolio companies to drive growth in the blockchain ecosystem. ^[1]^[2]

Overview

Fenbushi Capital was founded in Shanghai in 2015 by Bo Shen, Vitalik Buterin, and Dr. Feng Xiao. Fenbushi Capital is the first China-based venture capital firm to invest exclusively in blockchain startups. The firm has been instrumental in reshaping various industries such as finance, healthcare, supply chain, and consumer goods through its support of leading blockchain projects across the world. ^[3]^[4]

Fenbushi Capital's investment philosophy centers around driving healthy and sustainable growth in the global blockchain ecosystem. The firm acts as a long-term strategic partner to its portfolio companies, providing them with not just financial support but also technical expertise and industry insights. ^[1]^[3]

Investments

Fenbushi Capital participated in the series B funding round for Hex Trust, a digital asset custodian, which raised $88 million in January 2019. Other participants in the round included Animoca Brands, Liberty City Ventures, Ripple, Terra, Morgan Creek, and Primavera Venture Partners. The funding was intended to expand Hex Trust's business in Europe and the Middle East, develop its digital asset custody platform, Hex Safe, and create new business services. ^[5]

In February 2020, Fenbushi Capital led a $300 million Series C funding round for Amber Group, a Singapore-based digital asset firm. The funding was used to enhance the quality of the company's digital asset services, with a focus on serving its institutional and high-net-worth clients. Fenbushi Capital's founder, Bo Shen, expressed confidence in Amber Group's ability to adapt to the changing market environment. ^[6]

Fenbushi Capital was among the investors that participated in a private sale for BitDAO in June 2021, which raised over $230 million. Other investors included Peter Thiel, Founders Fund, and Pantera Capital. BitDAO's goal was to support the growth of DeFi through funding, R&D, and liquidity. The company aimed to foster the mass adoption of decentralized tokenized economies. ^[7]

CoinList, a platform for trading and launching digital assets, raised $100 million in Series A funding in October 2021. Fenbushi Capital was one of the investors in the round, which focused on expanding CoinList's operations and services and launching new products. The company's CEO, Graham Jenkin, emphasized the importance of deepening relationships with existing users and partners in the regions where CoinList was growing. ^[8]

“In this round, we focused on deepening relationships with our existing community rather than signing new venture capital. And our community is truly global. While we have some great U.S. investors, our new investors are mostly active users and partners in the regions where we are growing fastest - Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. We’re very excited to have them join us." -CoinList CEO, Graham Jenkin.

Fenbushi Capital participated in a Series B funding round for The 1inch Network, a decentralized exchange aggregator, which raised $175 million from institutional investors in December 2021. Other investors included Amber Group, Jane Street, VanEck, Alameda Research, Celsius, Nexo, Tribe Capital, and Gemini Frontier Fund. The funding was intended to facilitate entry for institutional investors into the DeFi space and to navigate the regulatory landscape for DeFi in Europe and the US. ^[9]

In May 2022, Fenbushi Capital was among the venture capital partners that committed to invest $300 million in the NYM Innovation Fund, which was established by Nym Technologies SA. The fund aimed to increase the portfolio of privacy companies building on top of Nym, a privacy infrastructure for the internet. The Nym Innovation Fund also established a Nym Foundation and appointed advisors. ^[10]

Fenbushi Capital participated in a strategic funding round for Safe, formerly known as Gnosis Safe, in July 2022. The round raised $100 million and was led by 1kx, with participation from other investors. Safe is a platform that enables secure management of digital assets, data, and identity across DAOs, retail and institutional users, built infrastructure serving the biggest DAO treasuries, financial institutions and enterprises. The funding was intended for the Safe Ecosystem Foundation, a non-profit organization protecting strategic assets and contributing to the further development of Safe. ^[11]

In December 2022, Fenbushi Capital was among the investors that participated in a $100 million Series B funding round for Aztec Network, a company that aimed to expand the capabilities of Ethereum. The round was led by a16z, and other investors included A Capital, King River, Variant, SV Angel, Hash Key, and AVG. Aztec planned to build the next-generation architecture that allows users to verify blockchain rules without revealing any underlying information. Its encrypted architecture ensures transactions. ^[12]