Nic Carter's Castle Island Ventures Closes $50M Investment Fund

The early-stage VC will continue to invest around its primary thesis, that public blockchains are changing the world.

AccessTimeIconFeb 8, 2021 at 6:42 p.m. UTC
Updated May 9, 2023 at 3:15 a.m. UTC

Castle Island Ventures, the early-stage crypto fund helmed by Nic Carter and Matt Walsh, has raised $50 million for its second fund.

"We believe that public blockchains are a transformative technology and will change the way that we interact with money, value transfer, trusted third parties and even the fundamental architecture of the internet itself," Walsh wrote in an announcement post published Monday.

  • What Do EigenLayer's Outflows of $2.3B Signal?
    00:57
    What Do EigenLayer's Outflows of $2.3B Signal?
  • What Do TradFi Crypto Moves Mean for Decentralization?
    04:20
    What Do TradFi Crypto Moves Mean for Decentralization?
  • Marathon Digital Buys $100M BTC; India's Special Task Force for Crypto-Related Drug Trafficking
    02:02
    Marathon Digital Buys $100M BTC; India's Special Task Force for Crypto-Related Drug Trafficking
  • Ether Slides as Grayscale's ETHE Outflows Ramp Up
    00:53
    Ether Slides as Grayscale's ETHE Outflows Ramp Up
  • In a call with CoinDesk, Carter said the fund's investors include high-net-worth individuals, family offices and others. The firm raised $30 million in June 2018 for its first fund, which invested in 20 startups including BlockFi, ErisX, River Financial and Casa, among others.

    “My first love is bitcoin and we’re not abandoning bitcoin,” said Carter, who is also a CoinDesk columnist. “Our focus has always been crypto financial market infrastructure and bitcoin is not the only part of that.”

    Carter pointed to the growth of stablecoins and decentralized approaches to internet infrastructure as potential areas of interest for the new $50 million war chest.

    "There are adjacencies that are interesting to us," Carter said. "There's a slight broadening of our focus to reflect the maturity of that space."

    The second fund will target about 20 startup investments with slightly larger check sizes than the first, Carter added.

    Disclosure

    Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

    CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.