Crypto exchange FTX is launching a $2 billion venture capital fund

markets.businessinsider.com:

FTX

Crypto exchange FTX is launching a $2 billion venture fund that will focus on advancing global blockchain and Web3 adoption, according to an announcement Friday.

FTX Ventures will focus on a broad range of investment themes across social, gaming, fintech, software, and healthcare in multi-stage companies.

The fund will be helmed by Amy Wu, who was most recently a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, a $10 billion venture fund where she led crypto and gaming investments, including the fund's investment in FTX. Wu will also lead the gaming, merger and acquisitions, and commercial initiatives of FTX.

She will be leading a team of eight, including General Partner Ramnik Arora and Advisor Armani Ferrante, and will be based in the Bahamas. She will remain a venture partner at Lightspeed.

«In my career, I've always followed people I was inspired by,» Wu said in a tweet Friday. «This year, as I worked closely with the FTX team after we invested at [Lightspeed], it became obvious [Sam Bankman-Fried] was the extraordinary CEO to follow.»

Amy Wu's Twitter account

Wu told The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news, that the fund will invest funds as it sees fit.

«We could possibly deploy it all next year but it depends on the opportunities we see in the market,» she told WSJ.

FTX, which most recently was valued at $25 billion, made more than a dozen investments in startups before it launched FTX Ventures.

The newest fund joins the ranks of other crypto firms including Coinbase Global and Binance to invest in digital asset startups.