Winklevoss-Backed Crypto Fund Targets $300M Investment

CMCC Global, a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm, is seeking as much as $300 million for its latest crypto fund.

To achieve its goal, CMCC is attracting several investors, including crypto exchange Gemini founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss and billionaire Richard Li, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

According to Charlie Morris, the co-founder of CMCC, a portion of the new crypto fund will be allocated to fast-growing sectors like decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

“The underlying infrastructure is maturing to the point where we basically can have interesting applications,” Morris told Bloomberg. “Particularly in DeFi, we’ve seen higher quality teams.”

Currently, CMCC is said to be in the process of applying for licenses with Hong Kong’s securities regulator to set up a new crypto equity fund.

Launched in April this year, CMCC’s fourth crypto fund has raised almost $90 million in assets under management, targeting the $300 million hard cap by next year.

Richard Li, who—via his investment manager Pacific Century Group—was the key figure behind CMCC’s previous crypto fund, will reportedly back the latest fund as well, taking other existing investors over to a new venture.

Per Bloomberg, CMCC is one of the earliest and largest investors in the proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain platform Solana, having invested $1 million in Solana’s private token sale in 2018.

At the time, Solana’s native token SOL was worth $0.20. Today, it’s the world’s six-largest cryptocurrency with a market cap of around $60 billion, trading just a shade below $200.

CMCC’s other investments, according to the company’s website, include Ethereum, Cosmos, Terra, Hedera Hashgraph, Qtum, and Decentraland.

CMCC Global was founded in 2016 by Martin Baumann and Charlie Morris who hold a majority stake in the firm. Li and the Winklevoss twins are also investors in CMCC’s holding entity.

Tyler Winklevoss, the CEO of Gemini, told Bloomberg that he first met the CMCC team a few years ago while traveling to Asia, and decided to invest in them because of the fund’s approach.

“Their track record is impressive and speaks for itself,” said Tyler Winklevoss.