Ethereum Startup ConsenSys Launches $50 Million Blockchain Fund

ConsenSys, the ethereum-based blockchain development firm, has announced a $50 million venture capital fund for startups working with the technology.

By Rachel-Rose O'Leary

Sep 7, 2017 at 2:45 p.m. UTC

Updated Sep 13, 2021 at 6:54 a.m. UTC

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Ethereum startup and incubator ConsenSys has announced a $50 million venture fund for startups working with blockchain technology.

Named ConsenSys Ventures, the new fund is being led by investment specialist Kavita Gupta. Explaining the fund to Axios, Gupta stated that initial coin offerings (ICOs), the blockchain funding method that has swept the investment landscape this year, still have a lot to learn from traditional venture capital.

According to CoinDesk data, by June 2017, ICOs had surpassed early-stage VC funding.

Yet, despite the impressive figures, Gupta stated:

"There is still value to due diligence and even if two PhD kids have sold tokens based on a brilliant white paper, they still have to figure out how to deliver a company. That's not necessarily something they have experience doing."

Gupta, who won the UN Social Finance Innovator Award of the year 2015, is particularly interested in blockchain projects with social and environmental inclinations.

The investment expert told Impact Alpha that he believes blockchain is the solution to nearly all of the sustainable development goals adopted by the UN.

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