Pantera Capital Nears $175 Million Target for Third Venture Fund

Cryptocurrency hedge fund Pantera Capital is close to completing funding for its third venture fund, already raising $160 million, the company announced in a blog post оn March 27.

Pantera, which debuted its first fund in 2013, has since risen to become a conspicuous player in the crypto startup industry.

Its latest project, dubbed Venture Fund III, has a fundraising target of $175 million.

"We project making a total of 35 investments, with an average deal size of $3.5 million, and an 11% target average equity stake," the blog post revealed.

Activity among entities building out the cryptocurrency-related ecosystem has remained brisk despite the ongoing market downturn.

To date, Pantera says, Venture Fund III has already injected $38 million of capital in 11 portfolio companies, leading five of those rounds itself.

Pantera invested in forthcoming institutional trading platform Bakkt in the fund's first investment, the blog post notes.

Bakkt's regulatory discussions are continue prior to its long-awaited debut offering of physically settled Bitcoin futures.

Accompanying the fund news was a Bitcoin prediction: continuing a popular train of thought in the crypto industry, Pantera suggested the 2020 Bitcoin block reward halving would have a positive impact on prices.

Noting the pattern of previous block reward events, the company suggested that a pivotal point in Bitcoin's bear market could occur around June this year.