Crypto VC Maven 11 raises $107 million for third fund amid cautious LP climate

Maven 11, a European crypto venture capital firm, has closed its third fund at $107 million — slightly exceeding its original $100 million target — the firm's chief investment officer and managing partner Balder Bomans told The Block.

The fundraise closed about nine months later than initially expected, with capital providers or limited partners (LPs) showing increased caution amid challenging crypto market conditions. "We've seen and experienced that capital providers have been more sensitive towards VC funding due to the general market conditions, part of which can be ascribed to the large and wide losses after the many 2022 fallouts," Bomans said.

Maven 11 first announced Fund III in November 2023, aiming for a close in the first half of 2024. Although delayed, the fund secured support from anchor investor Theta Capital Management, as well as new institutional backers across Europe and Asia. While Bomans declined to name all LPs, he noted London-based investment firm Karatage as one participant.

Despite surpassing its target, Fund III is smaller than Maven 11's second fund, which closed at $120 million in May 2023. Bomans declined to disclose the size of the first fund or the firm's current assets under management.

Plans to deploy third fund over the next 3-4 years

Maven 11 began deploying capital from Fund III nearly a year ago and has already backed several startups, including decentralized trading platform GTE, onchain contest platform JokeRace, onchain prime brokerage August and Ethereum scaling startup Spire Labs, Bomans said.

"In total, we probably have deployed around 15% of the fund," he said. "We will deploy in the next 3-4 years from this fund, with a combination of new deals, (pre) seed and Series As, and follow on funding."

Fund III will back both equity and token rounds, with check sizes ranging from $500,000 to $5 million. Its investment focus spans consumer applications, infrastructure and emerging areas like the AI-crypto intersection. Bomans also said the firm is supportive of founders pursuing community sales alongside VC-led funding rounds.

Alongside the close, Maven 11 has also launched its Founder Residency Program to support startups at the earliest stages. Unlike traditional web3 accelerators, Bomans said the program is designed to be more flexible and personalized.

"Accelerators have to operate at a large scale with often 10s of companies per cohort, we want to take a more personalized approach and really offer a tailored program to support these founders optimally," he said. "This approach allows us to optimally prepare them to raise a round in the future and set them up for long-term success."

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