Crypto VC Sino Global changes name to Ryze Labs

China-based Sino Global Capital has decided to change its moniker to Ryze Labs as the venture firm looks to move on from its regional focus.

“Our firm has grown so much over the past eight years, and as a result, it’s time to upgrade our brand,” founder Matthew Graham said in a statement. “Given our growing focus outside of the Asia region we felt the timing was right for us to build a brand name that more accurately represented our global ambitions.”

Since Graham started Sino Global in 2015 it has primarily focused on Asian tech companies. The crypto venture firm has also invested in top blockchain-based projects like Solana, LayerZero, Polygon and Wintermute, it said in its statement.

When asked where the new name comes from Graham told The Block Ryze Labs is based on a couple of the firm's core principles. "The name is a combination of rise and raze and is designed to represent both our goal to help raise up our founders and our desire to back projects that aim to tear down the status quo that currently exists in TradFi," he said.

Distancing from FTX

Graham changing his firm’s name to Ryze Labs might also help the VC distance itself from a close association with disgraced cryptocurrency platform FTX. When Sino Global launched a $200 million fund in 2021, FTX was the anchor investor.

Sino Global was also known as a big backer of both FTX and FTX-adjacent projects. In 2022, Graham also posted to then Twitter a rather chummy photo of himself and FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried posing together and smiling.

Ryze Labs, however, may not be completely prepared to distance itself from FTX. Former Bankman-Fried lieutenant and FTX COO Constance Wang recently joined Sino Global.