What Metalayer Ventures does

Metalayer Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2024–2025 that invests at the seed stage in blockchain technology companies building new financial infrastructure. The firm operates Metalayer Fund I, a $25 million fund backed by institutions, family offices, fund of funds, and executives from the financial services and crypto ecosystems. Metalayer takes a "high-conviction, first-check" approach, positioning itself as the earliest institutional investor in founders it backs. Its three co-founders — Andy Kangpan, David Winton, and Mickey Graham — each serve as General Partner and bring experience from Two Sigma and other quantitative investment firms, applying a data-driven investment methodology to crypto venture sourcing and diligence.

The firm's underlying differentiator is a quantitative investment infrastructure inspired by Two Sigma's approach to financial markets, intended to provide an analytical edge across sourcing, evaluation, and portfolio support. The portfolio of nine disclosed companies is concentrated in onchain financial infrastructure: 3F Labs (leverage for tokenized real-world assets), AnchorZero (retirement wrappers for pre-launch tokens/equity), ClearToken (clearing and settlement), Crossover Markets (institutional crypto execution), Ethena (synthetic dollar), Inversion Labs (legacy business tokenization), Multiliquid (stablecoin/RWA liquidity on Solana, co-founded with Uniform Labs), Station70 (disaster recovery), and Theo (onchain-to-traditional trading infrastructure). Metalayer also co-founded Multiliquid operationally rather than as a passive check.

The business model follows standard VC economics: Metalayer earns management fees on Fund I's $25M committed capital and is entitled to carried interest on fund profits realized through future exits (acquisitions, IPOs, or secondary sales). Deal flow is sourced through founder networks, direct outreach, and strategic relationships, and investments are typically syndicated with other crypto-native and traditional finance investors including Dragonfly, VanEck, Fidelity (F-Prime), ParaFi, GSR, Hack VC, and Susquehanna Crypto.

Name

Metalayer Ventures

Legal name

Metalayer Ventures

Website

https://metalayer.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Metalayer Ventures is a $25 million, first-check venture capital firm that invests at the seed stage in blockchain startups building onchain financial infrastructure, leveraging a quantitative investment approach inspired by Two Sigma.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital

NAICS

All Other Financial Investment Activities (52399)

SIC

Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)

akta.pro primary industry

Financial Services / Fintech Growth Equity (FSANACAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Digital Asset Risk, Security & Audit Tooling (Smart Contract Audit, Threat Monitoring) (FSAGAMAJ)

Keywords

• Venture capital funding
• Blockchain investments
• Early stage startups
• Crypto venture capital
• Decentralized finance

Headquarters

HQ city

Wilmington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Venture Capital Returns: Metalayer Ventures generates returns through equity investments in early-stage blockchain and crypto startups. As a VC firm, they take equity stakes in portfolio companies and return profits through exits via acquisitions, IPOs, or secondary sales. Metalayer Fund I is a $25M fund focused on early-stage crypto investments.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Metalayer Ventures is a high-conviction, first-check venture capital firm that invests equity capital from its Metalayer Fund I ($25M) into early-stage founders building new financial rails and onchain systems using blockchain technology. The firm sources deals through founder networks and direct outreach, applies a quantitative investment process inspired by Two Sigma, and supports portfolio companies with strategic guidance and access to its institutional and crypto-native investor network.

Product overview

Metalayer Ventures is a venture capital firm (Fund I, $25M) that invests in early-stage blockchain founders, not a product company. The company does not offer its own products or services for sale. Its portfolio includes 3F Labs, AnchorZero, ClearToken, Crossover Markets, Ethena, Inversion Labs, Multiliquid, Station70, and Theo.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Metalayer Fund I: $25M venture capital fund dedicated to investing in early-stage founders driving the global economy onchain.

Products and services

• Metalayer Fund I A $25M venture capital fund that takes first-check equity positions in early-stage blockchain and crypto founders building new financial rails and onchain systems for the global economy. The fund is backed by leading institutions, family offices, fund of funds, and prominent founders and executives from the financial services and crypto ecosystem.

Quantifiable outcome

• Metalayer Fund I: $25M raised from leading institutions, family offices, and prominent ecosystem participants
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Uniform LabscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 February 2026Co-founded Multiliquid with Metalayer Ventures - the first institutional liquidity facility on Solana providing instant redemption capacity for tokenized real-world assets. Uniform Labs provides infrastructure for smart contracts, pricing, compliance, and settlement.
• VanEckminorOthers · 5 February 2026Initial supported issuer for Multiliquid's 24/7 instant stablecoin redemption facility on Solana. VanEck provides tokenized real-world assets for the redemption facility.
• Janus HendersonminorOthers · 5 February 2026Initial supported issuer for Multiliquid's 24/7 instant stablecoin redemption facility on Solana.
• FasanaraminorOthers · 5 February 2026Initial supported issuer for Multiliquid's 24/7 instant stablecoin redemption facility on Solana.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Dragonfly Capital: Crypto-native venture firm investing across early-stage blockchain infrastructure and financial applications. Direct peer as Metalayer's most frequent co-investor (e.g., Inversion Labs), serving the same founder segment.
• ParaFi Capital: Crypto-focused investment firm with venture and liquid strategies across DeFi, tokenization, and onchain finance. Direct peer as a recurring Metalayer co-investor with overlapping thesis on blockchain financial rails.
• Multicoin Capital: Thesis-driven crypto venture fund investing in early-stage tokens and equity across DeFi and crypto infrastructure. Highly comparable to Metalayer's first-check, conviction-driven approach in blockchain finance.
• Hack VC: Operator-led crypto venture firm writing first checks into early-stage blockchain and crypto startups. Direct peer — co-led Theo's $20M round alongside Metalayer and shares the first-check, blockchain-finance mandate.
• 1kx: Crypto-native venture fund investing across early-stage networks, DeFi, and onchain financial infrastructure. Direct peer given similar fund size, stage focus, and blockchain-finance thesis.
• Variant Fund: Early-stage crypto venture fund backing founders building crypto networks and applications. Direct peer given the shared emphasis on early-stage, thesis-driven bets on crypto financial infrastructure.
• Maven11: Crypto-native investment firm focused on early-stage blockchain and DeFi protocols. Direct peer — co-invested with Metalayer in 3F Labs' seed round, sharing the early-stage, crypto-finance focus.

Broad incumbents

• Pantera Capital: Largest crypto-focused asset manager spanning venture, liquid token, and early-stage stages. Comparable as a broad incumbent in the same blockchain-finance investing category, though at much larger scale and longer track record.
• Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto): Major venture firm with a dedicated crypto fund investing across blockchain infrastructure, DeFi, and onchain applications. Comparable in thesis (blockchain financial rails) but operates as a broad incumbent with significantly more capital.
• Galaxy Digital: Diversified crypto financial services and asset management firm with venture and liquid strategies. Comparable as a broad incumbent in crypto investing, though more diversified across trading, asset management, and venture.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments7 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Metalayer Ventures