Alchemy Pay co-founder launches $60 million VC fund with former Lightspeed, Harmony execs as partners

Oak Grove Ventures, a new venture capital fund, has been launched to invest in early-stage web3, artificial intelligence (AI) and biotechnology startups.

Oak Grove has $60 million in capital and is founded by Shawn Shi, co-founder of crypto payment solutions provider Alchemy Pay. The fund's other members include Sally Wang, former vice president of Sino Global Capital (now Ryze Labs), and Zac Pan, former associate partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners — who have both joined Oak Grove as investment partners — Wang told The Block.

The fund's technical partners are Ethan Wang, former tech lead of Libra (which later became Diem before being scrapped), and Rongjian Lan, former co-founder and CTO of Harmony, and its technical advisor is Michael Li, former vice president of Coinbase, Wang said.

Investing in a bear market

Oak Grove has been in the crypto investing business since 2019, having previously invested in funds. Wang said Oak has invested over $15 million in different crypto venture funds to date, including Nomad Capital, Draper Dragon and IOSG Ventures. On launching the new venture fund in the current bearish market, Wang said it presents a "unique opportunity for discerning investors."

"A bear market often signifies that asset prices have reached a low point, sometimes even undervalued levels, presenting an optimal time to buy in," Wang said. "History has shown that many of the most successful investments were made during challenging market conditions."

Oak Grove Ventures previously also operated as a family office and invested in over 10 firms, including SpaceX, OpenSea and Consensys.

Several new crypto venture funds have been launched in recent weeks despite challenging market conditions. Earlier this week, Blockchain Capital raised $580 million for two new funds and Thai banking giant KBank set up a $100 million web3 and AI fund. CoinFund recently raised $158 million to back early-stage crypto startups. Meanwhile, Kraken Ventures and Electrical Capital are looking to raise $100 million and $300 million, respectively, in new funds.