Rapper LL Cool J and hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones are among a number of limited partners backing a new $72 million Crypto fund created by North Island Ventures. Other big names involved include Apollo Group co-founder Josh Harris, SoFi CEO Anthony Noto and former PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi.
The fund itself was created by Glenn Hutchins, his son James Hutchins, and former Digital Currency Group investor Travis Scher. This fund has been quietly making investments in crypto and blockchain projects since early 2020.
The fund has already invested in seven projects which includes Dapper Labs. The company that created gaming dApp CryptoKitties as well as the Flow blockchain and NBA Top Shot. They have also invested in startup Nori which is working on a carbon removal marketplace. As well as Axelar which is focused on scaling cross-chain communication.
The elder Hutchins has been a proponent of crypto since 2015 and first invested in January of 2016. “Crypto promises not just to revolutionize finance but also to invent a new computing paradigm that will be as transformational as the PC, the internet, mobility, and the cloud.”
Scher also praised Glenn Hutchins as being one of the original crypto backers. “Some people might see this story and think Glenn Hutchins is jumping on the bandwagon,” Travis Scher told CoinDesk in an interview. “The truth is that Glenn was one of the earliest very established leaders from the finance community to get behind this technology.”
Scher also tweeted about the fund itself and what they hope to accomplish with it. “We believe that crypto offers solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems. Through this fund, they are supporting those that are bringing these solutions to life.”
Furthermore, Scher admitted that speaking with LL Cool J was unlike anything else he’s experienced. “I would say that pitching LL Cool J about our fund was a surreal experience,” said Scher. “I think people across a variety of industries, including entertainment, are curious about what opportunities this technology presents for them.”
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