Boost VC has officially backed crypto startup number 100.
With the news, confirmed Tuesday by CoinDesk, the San Mateo incubator has finally fulfilled a funding pledge made all the way back in March 2014, when co-founders Adam Draper and Brayton Williams boldly declared they would invest in 100 bitcoin startups over the next three years.
Depending on how the deals get counted, Boost VC now says it's made a little over 100 crypto investments.
A few of its companies have pivoted away from crypto over time, so Draper no longer counts those toward the total, even if Boost initially wrote its check with the technology in mind.
For Draper, the crypto portfolio has been a strong net positive.
Despite hitting its goal, Boost hasn't quit seeking crypto deals.
When Boost made its 100 investment commitment, he said it attracted all kinds of talented entrepreneurs starved for funding and support to Boost.
Additional rounds of funding have been secured by 45 percent of the companies they backed, while 25 percent of the companies are dead. It's had five crypto exits: Lawnmower, Leet, Bitquick, Bitwall and Clevercoin.
Swell Rewards, also exited, but that's an example of a company that Boost backed as a crypto company but that pivoted away from crypto by the time it sold.
Then ethereum came along and it offered the ERC-20 smart contract, which opened up a new way for funding starved crypto companies to raise money.
Boost VC Just Fulfilled a Crypto Funding Pledge 4 Years in the Making
Published on Oct 24, 2018
by Coindesk | Published on Coinage
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