Algo VC Fund Raises $200 Million to Fast-Track Ethereum Rival

Algo Capital has raised $200 million — double its original goal — for its venture capital fund.

According to a news release shared with Cointelegraph on Aug. 27, the new fund will invest in businesses helping to build infrastructure for the Algorand blockchain — an open-source public ledger and cryptocurrency payment system that utilizes a Byzantine Agreement message-passing protocol.

The fund will also be investing in businesses focused on accelerating the adoption of the platform’s native token, Algo, as a means of payment.

As previously reported, Algorand was founded by Silvio Micali, a cryptographer and Turing Award winner who is currently a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Investors and goals

Algo Capital’s news release states that the Algo VC fund has sealed backing from an international group of financial and blockchain industry investors, including Brainchild, NGC Ventures (the venture arm of NEO Global,) Eterna Capital, GSR, Cognitive Blockchain, Rokk3r Inc., Wibson, 11-11 Ventures, DG Ventures, Winslow Strong, Invermaster, and others.

The fund — which reportedly holds a large stake in Algos — has revealed that its initial portfolio companies include security token issuance platform Securitize, decentralized exchange Idex, blockchain infrastructure and middleware orchestration platform BlockDaemon, and institutional exchange and cross-custodian settlement platform OTCXN.

The VC fund is led by blockchain investor David Garcia, entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist Arul Murugan, and blockchain technology specialist Pablo Yabo.

All commitments to the fund were reportedly accepted in Algos rather than in U.S. dollars, with the token being used as the primary currency for all capital calls. Moreover, a portion of the fund’s capital investments comprises Algos in order to enable portfolio firms to use the digital token as a means of payment within the Algorand network.

Algo Capital says it is pursuing joint ventures with various international accelerators and venture studios to further investment in blockchain enterprises across North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Ethereum’s rival?

As reported this summer, Algorand raised more than $60 million in its Algo token sale on financial services platform CoinList. This capital was in addition to the $66 million the firm had raised over the past year from investors, including VC firms Union Square Ventures and Pillar Venture Capital.

In light of its development of a proof-of-stake (PoS) protocol and aspiration to host an app development platform for enterprises, Algorand is considered by some to be the closest competitor to Ethereum (ETH).