Firm backed by Alan Howard, Winklevoss twins closes $100 million Metaverse fund

Last week, social media giant Facebook staked out a plan to invest billions of dollars on the development of virtual worlds -- the so-called Metaverse -- and a name change to Meta as a reflection of that ambition.

Efforts to support decentralized approaches to virtual world development are also gathering steam, as shown by the closure of a $100 million fund from an investment firm backed by the likes of Alan Howard, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and others. 

On Monday, Sfermion — a Chicago-based investing firm — announced the close of its new fund, which will make investments in companies operating in the decentralized Metaverse, which use distributed networks and protocols to underpin the creation and use of digital objects, items and more. The new fund is backed by billionaire Alan Howard, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, Bloq's Matthew Roszak, and a16z's Chris Dixon. 

Managing partner Andrew Steinwold told The Block in an interview that the firm would invest via token and equity deals as well as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) themselves. The fund's bets will focus in part on companies that are building NFT infrastructure, he said. 

About Author

Frank Chaparro is Host of The Scoop podcast and Director of Special Projects. He also writes a biweekly newsletter. Chaparro started his career at Business Insider, where he specialized in the intersection of digital assets and Wall Street, market structure, and financial technology. Soon after joining Business Insider out of Fordham University, Chaparro was interviewing top finance and tech executives, including billionaire Mark Cuban, “Flash Boys” star Brad Katsuyama, Cboe Global Markets CEO Ed Tilly, and New York Stock Exchange President Tom Farley. In 2018, he become a sought after reporter in the crypto world, interviewing luminaries such as Tyler Winklevoss, the cofounder of Gemini, Jeremy Allaire, the CEO of Circle, and Fundstrat head Tom Lee. For inquiries or tips, email [email protected].

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