The Venture Dept
The Venture Dept is a New York-based early-stage venture capital fund founded in 2023 by former NYDFS regulator Matthew Homer, investing in crypto, fintech, and digital asset infrastructure founders with capital and embedded regulatory expertise.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What The Venture Dept does
The Venture Dept is a New York-based venture capital fund founded in 2023 by Matthew Homer, a former Executive Deputy Superintendent at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) who oversaw licensing and supervision of major digital asset firms. The fund partners with early-stage founders building trusted new financial systems across digital assets, stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), decentralized finance, payments infrastructure, and blockchain-native financial services, providing capital alongside regulatory expertise that the firm positions as its primary differentiator.
The fund operates as Department of XYZ IM LLC, headquartered at 1178 Broadway in New York City, and runs a lean 1-10 person team with a network of Limited Partner Advisors drawn from DOJ, FinCEN, SEC, NYDFS, CFPB, and OCC who provide embedded legal, regulatory, policy, compliance, and risk expertise to portfolio companies. The firm's go-to-market is relationship-driven, sourcing deals through founder networks, advisor referrals, and active participation in crypto and fintech conferences (DC FinTech Week, Money20/20, StableConnect, ETHDenver), supplemented by The Briefing Memo newsletter and earned media coverage in Fortune, CoinDesk, CNN Business, WSJ, and Bloomberg.
The Venture Dept's revenue model follows the standard VC fund structure: management fees on committed capital (typically 2% annually) to cover fund operations, plus carried interest (typically 20%) on profits from successful portfolio exits. The fund raised $5.1 million in initial commitments in May 2024 from the Winklevoss twins and Robert Leshner (Compound Labs founder), and has since made 20+ portfolio investments including Bridge, Mountain Protocol, Predicate, Opacity, Etherfuse, Superstate, and others, with geographic coverage spanning the United States, Southeast Asia-to-MENA corridors, and Latin America.
The Venture Dept firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Venture Dept
- Legal name
- Department of XYZ IM LLC
- Website
- https://theventuredept.vc
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- The Venture Dept is a New York-based early-stage venture capital fund founded in 2023 by former NYDFS regulator Matthew Homer, investing in crypto, fintech, and digital asset infrastructure founders with capital and embedded regulatory expertise.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Venture Dept industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Venture Capital
- NAICS
- Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259)
- SIC
- Security Brokers, Dealers & Flotation Companies (6211)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Venture Debt Providers (FSANAAAL)
Keywords
Where The Venture Dept is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
The Venture Dept business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others
Revenue model
- Management Fees: VC funds typically charge management fees on committed capital, typically 2% annually, to cover fund operations and investor reporting.
- Carried Interest: VC funds generate carried interest (typically 20%) on profits from successful portfolio company exits, which is the primary economic upside for fund managers.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels1 record
Marketing channels5 records
The Venture Dept product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Venture Dept is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests capital in founders building trusted new financial systems across crypto, fintech, stablecoins, tokenized assets, decentralized finance, payments infrastructure, and blockchain-native financial services. The fund differentiates by pairing investment capital with deep regulatory expertise, providing portfolio companies with compliance guidance, government connections, and access to a network of former regulators.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- The Venture Dept. The primary brand name for the venture fund focused on crypto and fintech investments.
- The Briefing Memo
Products and services
- The Venture Dept. Fund An early-stage venture capital fund that invests in founders building trusted new financial systems across crypto, fintech, stablecoins, tokenization, decentralized finance, payments infrastructure, and blockchain-native financial services, pairing capital with regulatory expertise and advisor support.
Companies that use The Venture Dept
Customer profileSegments1 record
Ideal customer profiles1 record
The Venture Dept technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
The Venture Dept partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators1 record
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
The Venture Dept competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- 1confirmation: Early-stage crypto venture firm backing founders building decentralized infrastructure and crypto-enabled financial services — comparable as a specialist early-stage crypto VC.
- Polychain Capital: Early-stage crypto VC investing in crypto protocols and infrastructure — comparable as a thesis-driven crypto allocator, though focused more on protocols/tokens than The Venture Dept's fintech-infra tilt.
- Borderless Capital: Crypto VC focused on Algorand ecosystem and blockchain-enabled financial services, with regulatory expertise emphasis — comparable as a smaller crypto-specialist fund.
- Kindred Ventures: Early-stage venture firm investing in fintech, crypto, and consumer — comparable as a seed-stage fintech/crypto investor; led the StableSea round where The Venture Dept participated.
- Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto): a16z's dedicated crypto fund invests in crypto and blockchain startups across stages, with regulatory and policy engagement as a key pillar — highly comparable to The Venture Dept's regulatory-driven thesis, but with multi-billion-dollar scale.
- Paradigm: Leading crypto-native venture firm investing across crypto infrastructure, DeFi, and web3 — directly comparable as a specialist crypto VC targeting similar founders, though at significantly larger scale (multi-billion AUM).
- Multicoin Capital: Thesis-driven crypto VC investing in tokens, DeFi, and crypto infrastructure — comparable as a crypto-specialist investor with similar portfolio overlap (lead investor in Mountain Protocol).
- Dragonfly Capital: Crypto-native investment firm backing early- and growth-stage crypto companies across DeFi, infrastructure, and stablecoins — closely comparable thesis and stage; led the Rhythmic seed where The Venture Dept participated.
- Galaxy Ventures: Crypto-focused venture fund backed by Galaxy Digital, investing across crypto infrastructure, DeFi, and Web3 — comparable crypto-specialist investor with strong regulatory positioning.
- Castle Island Ventures: Crypto-focused VC investing in early-stage blockchain and fintech infrastructure, often with regulatory-compliance focus — directly comparable stage and thesis, and led the Valinor seed alongside The Venture Dept.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks1 record
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
The Venture Dept social profiles
Digital presenceThe Venture Dept financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Venture Dept leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
The Venture Dept funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Venture Dept M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments7 records
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The Venture Dept
What does The Venture Dept do?
The Venture Dept is an early-stage venture capital fund that invests capital in founders building trusted new financial systems across crypto, fintech, stablecoins, tokenized assets, decentralized finance, payments infrastructure, and blockchain-native financial services. The fund differentiates by pairing investment capital with deep regulatory expertise, providing portfolio companies with compliance guidance, government connections, and access to a network of former regulators.
Is The Venture Dept a public or private company?
The Venture Dept is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was The Venture Dept founded?
The Venture Dept was founded in 2023. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is The Venture Dept based?
The Venture Dept is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does The Venture Dept make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Management Fees are the primary driver. The others are carried Interest.
Who are The Venture Dept's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are 1confirmation, Polychain Capital, Borderless Capital, Kindred Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto), Paradigm, Multicoin Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Galaxy Ventures and Castle Island Ventures.
Does The Venture Dept have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Venture Dept.
What industry is The Venture Dept in?
The Venture Dept's product category is Venture Capital. Its primary akta.pro industry code is FSANAAAL, Venture Debt Providers. Its NAICS code is 525 and its SIC code is 6211.