BlockTower Launches $150 Million Fund Backed by BPI France and Mass Mutual

Crypto-native asset management firm BlockTower is launching a dedicated venture arm as well as a new $150 million fund. Recent BlockTower investments in startups such as Aptos, Lighthouse Labs and Maple Finance all fall within this new fund. Limited partners in the fund include Mass Mutual, VanEck Equities, BPI France, Circle and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. The investing thesis for the fund skews towards DeFi and crypto infrastructure companies. Around 90% of the fund will be deployed to a core portfolio of between 20 to 25 positions. Checks can run anywhere from $500,000 to $6 million with the firm targeting ownership of between 5% to 10% on the equity side or between 2% to 5% on the token side.