Venture capital firm Shorooq Partners launches second $150m seed stage fund

RIYADH: Dubai-based venture capital company, Cypher Capital, is launching a $100 million seed fund aimed at investing in digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.

The fund, financed by the company’s founder, Bijan Alizadeh, will also invest in decentralized finance platforms, blockchain applications, and cryptocurrency gaming, according to Reuters.

“It’s going to be 100 percent digital assets,” Alizadeh told Reuters.

Cypher, which has $10 million in assets under management, plans to deploy on average $2 million to $5 million each month. It will focus on investing in the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia regions, and will also invest elsewhere.

The company, which may raise capital in the future for new investment funds, aims to manage $1 billion in assets within three years.

Cypher is also planning to open a crypto, blockchain, and digital asset hub in Dubai, to offer a workspace where startups can pitch their ideas to potential investors, Alizadeh said.

They would also be offered mentoring, legal advice and technical advice, he said, hoping to develop the hub into an industry-focused networking community.

Daily trading

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded lower on Wednesday, falling by 2.21 percent to $41,959 at 3:21 p.m. Riyadh time.

Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $2,945, down by 2.10 percent, according to data from Coindesk.

IPO

Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck revealed on Tuesday its plan to go public in the US.

It plans to merge with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in a $1.25 billion deal, which is expected to close in the second half of this year.

The combined entity will be called Coincheck Group NV. It is expected to be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol ‘CNCK’, Bitcoin.com reported.

SPACs are publicly listed shell companies that carry out initial public offerings to raise funds for acquiring a private entity at a later date.

Tokyo-headquartered Coincheck operates one of the largest multi-cryptocurrency marketplaces and digital asset exchanges in Japan.

The company is regulated by the Financial Services Agency, the largest financial regulator in Japan.

The platform has about 1.5 million verified customers, according to Bitcoin.com.