Launched on March 31st, 2022, Druid Ventures is one of the only dedicated digital asset funds in the Southeast USA and is on track to complete 25 – 30 investments (including follow-on rounds) by next year.
Druid Ventures, a ~$13 million early-stage venture fund that is actively investing in digital asset infrastructure and interoperability, continues their mission of backing bold founders in a difficult market. The fund is sponsored by SCP&CO, a private investment and fund management firm focused on emerging technology platforms.
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“While there may be more chop in the market, we are confident that the worst has been priced in and that this will be looked back on as an exceptional time to be planting seeds in this space.”
Druid believes blockchain-based infrastructure will serve as the foundational consensus and settlement layer of a distributed and equitable Internet. “Blockchains inherently provide a single source of verifiable truth for all assets that are hosted and transferred across the web without requiring a centralized system or entity. Simply put, blockchain technologies can notarize digital asset authenticity in an increasingly synthetic world,” said Chris Pizzo, founding partner of Druid Ventures. “While there may be more chop in the market, we are confident that the worst has been priced in and that this will be looked back on as an exceptional time to be planting seeds in this space.”
The firm has executed 14 investments in 13 US and internationally based companies (38% with female founders or co-founders), leading six of these investment rounds. These companies span across offensive agent-based cybersecurity tools, security collaboration ecosystem, on-chain identity access management, cross-chain dApp development platforms and inter-blockchain communication protocols. The fund is targeting 20-25 portfolio companies in total by late 2024. The firm has built an international network of over 200 venture capital co-investors, top global academic institutions and their associated blockchain clubs, and leading technology accelerators and incubators which span across North America, Europe, South America, Asia and Australia.
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“The value shift towards builders and creators is happening quickly, but they need sound infrastructure, scalable architecture and strong interoperability in products and protocols. Druid intends to be one of the first partners at the table supporting fundamentally strong companies who fit this profile, driving the creation of better products, and accelerating the accessibility needed for broad adoption of decentralized applications,” said Kyle Schroeder, founding partner of Druid Ventures.
Druid Works for Their Founders
Druid seeks to be one of the first institutional partners – managerially and monetarily. The firm delivers strong post-funding support across strategy, business development, talent recruitment and retention, and most importantly as a sounding board for all matters – professionally and personally. Portfolio founders’ success equals Druid’s success. Through this methodology, Druid’s sourcing, selecting and supporting flywheel has strengthened tremendously.
The fund is led by founding partners Chris Pizzo and Kyle Schroeder, who have extensive experience in early-stage company building, founder coaching, investing, trading and M&A. Druid also leverages significant input from the investment committee, which includes Joey Rosati, Chris Jenkins, Bryan Crino and Scott Feuer; as well as considerable contributions to new investment opportunities and underwriting support from our partner Charlie Shrem and our portfolio founders.
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