MEET THE BLOCKCHAIN UNICORNS - YEAR END 2021

Blockchain Coinvestors Newsletter

Vol. 3, No. 25, December 2021

MEET THE BLOCKCHAIN UNICORNS - YEAR END 2021

Today we announced our year end 2021 list of blockchain unicorns – private blockchain enterprises and crypto projects with valuations exceeding $1 billion. In this newsletter we focus on the acceleration in value that has occurred in blockchain in 2021 and the evidence that this analysis of unicorns provides. In summary:

  • The blockchain sector has seen an acceleration of value creation in 2021 with a doubling of unicorns in the second half of the year

  • There are now 62 blockchain enterprise unicorns and 133 crypto projects worth more than $1bn each

  • These figures exclude recent public listings - there are now 13 pureplay public blockchain companies worth more than $1bn

We are excited that through the Blockchain Coinvestors investment strategy, we now have capital invested in 55% of the blockchain enterprise, and 38% of the crypto project unicorns. See the entire Blockchain Coinvestors portfolio at www.blockchaincoinvestors.com/portfolio.

You can listen to the recorded webinar of the complete report by going to www.blockchaincoinvestors.com/webinars.

Blockchain Enterprise Unicorns

The number of new blockchain enterprise unicorns created in 2021, and more specifically in the second half of 2021, is nothing short of remarkable. There are now 62 blockchain enterprise unicorns across all of the 8 blockchain investment themes that we invest into. Our fund of funds have capital exposure to 55% of these blockchain enterprise unicorns shared in blue.

The distribution of the blockchain enterprise unicorns closely aligns with our fund of fund allocation strategy. The greatest concentrations of the unicorns are in North America (29), followed by Asia (15) and then Europe (8). Our target allocation is 50% North America, and roughly 25% to each of Asia and Europe. We believe we have good coverage of all of the major blockchain hubs globally.

Crypto Project Unicorns

As we have previously explained, blockchain teams have the option of either raising equity through traditional funding rounds, or by launching crypto tokens to their communities and supporters to raise their capital. On December 1st, when we went to press, there were 133 crypto projects with tokens trading at more than $1 billion of market value across a range of cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, crypto commodities, protocol, DeFi, and NFT platform tokens.

Here at Blockchain Coinvestors we have capital invested in 38% of these crypto project unicorns, focused on the protocol, DeFi, and NFT platform tokens. We believe that the most attractive time to invest into crypto projects is during their formation and seed phases if you can add value to the project leads and if they will provide you an allocation. This is the focus of our early stage token fund strategy.

The full list of crypto project unicorns can be seen by watching our recording or by visiting CoinStats.

Public Blockchain Unicorns

In 2021 we saw a number of blockchain enterprises go public through IPOs and de-SPAC mergers. Coinbase was the one that got most media attention, however, there are now 13 public blockchain companies worth more than $1bn at year end as well as a list of others that do not make the $1bn cutoff for this report. This means that for the first time, there is now a critical mass of public pureplay blockchain companies to support traditional products such as ETPs, ETF's, and no doubt soon sector focused indices

As we said in our mid year report on blockchain unicorns, we continue to believe that this acceleration of value creation in blockchain is driven by fundamental tailwinds which are not going to stop any time soon. The world is moving towards a global digital economy that we call the Fifth Era, and yet we can't get there without complementing today's Internet with more powerful approaches to Security, Identity, Decentralization, Digital Monies, and Digital Assets as outlined in our book, Blockchain Competitive Advantage, that can be downloaded for free.

This is where we at Blockchain Coinvestors focus our investment thesis.

Thank you for reading.

Alison Davis
Matthew C. Le Merle

ABOUT BLOCKCHAIN COINVESTORS

Launched in 2014, our goal is to provide broad coverage of the emerging unicorns and fastest growth blockchain companies and crypto projects. The strategy is now in its 8th year and has to date invested in more than 30 pure play blockchain venture funds in the Americas, Asia and Europe; and in a combined portfolio of 300+ blockchain and crypto projects including 30+ blockchain unicorns. Our funds rank in the top decile amongst all funds in their respective categories on both Pitchbook and Preqin. Headquartered in San Francisco with a presence in Grand Cayman, London, New York, Zug and Zurich, the alternative investment management firm was co-founded by Alison Davis and Matthew Le Merle. 

FUND PERFORMANCE

Blockchain Coinvestors Funds are continuing to generate strong returns. As of Q2 2021 our funds rank in the top decile amongst all funds in their respective categories on both Pitchbook and Preqin with Net IRR exceeding 60% for Funds I and II. This remarkable performance results from powerful tailwinds driving the world towards a future in which digital monies and digital assets are ubiquitous and the businesses and projects providing blockchain and crypto products, services, and infrastructure benefit disproportionately.

BLOCKCHAIN COINVESTORS FUNDS

Blockchain Coinvestors’ goals are to provide broad coverage of the emerging unicorns and fastest growth blockchain companies and to capture superior returns from investing in the leading blockchain venture partnerships:

  • Fund III is open only to investors who meet the Qualified Purchaser definition with a minimum subscription of $250,000.

    • A “qualified purchaser” is an individual or a family-owned business that owns $5 million or more in investments. The term “investments” shouldn't include a primary residence or any property used for business.

  • Fund III Parallel is open to investors who meet the Qualified Client definition with a minimum subscription level of $250,000 at the discretion of the Manager. Please contact ir@blockchaincoinvestors.com if the minimum is of concern.

    • Currently, an individual or entity is a qualified client if he, she, or it: (i) has a net worth of $2,200,000 prior to investment in the fund (excluding the value of his or her primary residence).

While the two funds are substantially the same, there may be some funds and investments that are only available in the Qualified Purchaser vehicle. Blockchain Coinvestors funds can take investments via IRAs. We support several providers, including AlgoIRA, Kingdom Trust, Millennium Trust Company and Pacific Premier Trust Company (Pensco).

Blockchain Coinvestors has launched an Early Stage Token Fund that is open to investors who meet the Qualified Client definition with a minimum subscription level of $250,000 at the discretion of the Manager. This Fund expects to have access to early stage tokenized projects that few others can access through its relationships with other leading blockchain investors. The Fund will target 20 to 30 SAFTs as well as positions in traded tokens when excess capital is on hand. This is a continuation of the direct token investing strategy of the Fund Manager that has included private stage investments in Acala, Filecoin, NEAR, Polkadot, Structure, and others.

Please visit the Blockchain Coinvestors website to learn more about our offerings. You can also reach our Investor Relations team directly at ir@blockchaincoinvestors.com.

BLOCKCHAIN COINVESTORS SWISS

We are excited to announce that Blockchain Coinvestors Funds are now available through Swiss certificates for those of our non-US investors who prefer this approach. The underlying fund is the same, however, our Zurich based team at Blockchain Coinvestors Swiss, who will introduce in future weeks, can provide detailed information regarding this investment option. Email us at mlemerle@fifthera.com to learn more.

LINQTO
'Private Investing Made Simple'

While our funds are only available to Accredited Investors who are also Qualified Clients we believe in the democratization of investment access to all investors and look forward to that day. In the interim, we have partnered with Linqto which is an easy to use Mobile and Web app that makes it exceptionally easy to invest into attractive opportunities. The provide access to Accredited not Qualified Client investors as well as much lower minimums. Go to Linqto.com or download the app from your App store to use this approach.

BLOCKCHAIN COINVESTORS ANGELLIST SYNDICATE

Continuing the theme of the democratization of investing, we have a rapidly growing Blockchain Coinvestors syndicate on AngelList providing access to selected coinvestments. Please join us and our partner Lou Kerner on AngelList.

Click here to receive the insightful weekly crypto newsletter and webinar invitations from our Blockchain Coinvestors partner Lou Kerner.

Join Matthew Le Merle on December 7th at 2:30pm PT at the Linqto Global Investor Conference. I will discuss how the digital asset tailwinds have made now the time for the digitalization of all assets. Registration is free for all attendees.

Matthew is also presenting at the Keiretsu Forum Northwest & Rockies Virtual Meetings in December. Register for free to learn more about Blockchain Coinvestors and the blockchain and crypto industries.

REGISTER NOW FOR UPCOMING WEBINARS AND CALLS

Our investment team hosts bi-monthly webinars and calls to help educate our community about the Fifth Era, fintech, blockchain and crypto. We discuss important trends, tailwinds and investment themes including what we have learned and how we are using our knowledge to inform our own investment thesis and actions. Below is a list of upcoming webinars for which you can register by clicking the links:

Blockchain Coinvestors 2021 Wrap-Up

- December 20th, 7:00am PST


Recordings of past webinars and calls can be found at www.blockchaincoinvestors.com/webinars.

RECENT PRESS

"The best way to invest in Blockchain businesses"

Matthew Le Merle