Cypher Capital launches $100 million Seed fund focused on blockchain projects 

Cypher Capital, a private venture capital firm rooted in the UAE and MENA region, announced today the launch of one of the region's biggest seed funds. The $100 million seed fund will focus on investments in blockchain, crypto and other digital asset projects who have genuine value propositions.

"We are very proud and honoured to be launching our first and the biggest crypto, digital asset and blockchain private seed fund from the UAE and the Middle East Region," said Bijan Alizadeh, Founder and General Partner at Cypher Capital. Bijan is an experienced crypto and blockchain investor with more than 60 projects under his belt and a strong track record of spearheading blockchain and crypto adoption.

"This fund reflects our vision to be the leading global partner for projects in the blockchain, crypto and the digital asset community. We will collaborate closely with our portfolio projects, offering them access to our network and equipping them with our knowledge, as well as investing alongside other venture capital partners into innovative blockchain, crypto and digital asset projects," added Bijan.

Cypher Capital will take an entrepreneurial approach to building its portfolio and will focus on seed funding, but taking stakes in GPs and LPs as part of its value proposition as well. 

Cypher Capital has already invested $1.5 million into Crypto Oasis Sentio, showcasing its belief that cooperating with other private venture capital funds builds the blockchain ecosystem. "We aim to cooperate with and expand the ecosystem by working with visionary innovators, outstanding talent and other venture capital partners to create a holistic blockchain community with will in turn, foster the growth of the ecosystem," commented Bijan.

Bijan has his sights set on making Cypher Capital an industry leader by working alongside other industry leaders, innovators and people with a vision.

Cypher Capital also plans to take a very hands-on approach when it comes to mentoring the projects that it invests in and equipping entrepreneurs with the tools they need to succeed. Its 10,000 square foot crypto, blockchain and digital asset hub, under construction in JBR Dubai, is anticipated to be completed in August 2022, which will welcome crypto enthusiasts, entrepreneurs and startups, and be "the place to be" offering exclusive access and get-togethers for its members and the community.

Vineet Budki, Managing Partner of Cypher Capital adds, "We have the knowledge and expertise to mentor projects and entrepreneurs and equip them with the tools they need for success. At the moment we are especially interested in projects in the DeFi (decentralized Finance), GameFi, and metaverse space but we are always on the lookout for innovative blockchain projects in general."

According to Crunchbase data, pure venture funding—pre-seed, seed and all venture rounds—in the cryptocurrency space, is already at $3.4 billion after just the first two months of 2022. A PWC report revealed that $34 billion was raised by crypto companies globally in 2021.

Bijan Alizadeh already has a strong track record of investing in successful crypto and blockchain startups, some of the names of which include ACDX, a next-generation cryptocurrency derivatives trading platform, the Graph, an indexing protocol for querying networks that offer APIs, Near Protocol, an open source platform that accelerates the development of decentralized apps, Skale, an open-source Web3 platform intended to bring speed and configurability to the blockchain and CasperLabs which provides enterprise solutions on Casper, an open-source blockchain optimized for enterprise and developer adoption.

Cypher Capital is also working diligently to ensure that the blockchain ecosystem is an environmentally friendly and sustainable industry. One of its initiatives for doing this includes working closely with One Tree Planted, a 501 charity with a mission to help global reforestation efforts and offset carbon emissions, building a greener planet.