Gumi Cryptos Capital, the US-based venture capital firm backed by Japan-headquartered mobile game publisher Gumi that invests in blockchain technology, closed its second fund at $110m yesterday.
Formed in 2018, Gumi Cryptos Capital provides funding for developers of technology in areas such as cryptocurrency, the blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), gaming guilds and decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), at seed and series A stage.
The firm has so far invested out of a $21m first fund, building a portfolio which includes OpenSea, the NFT marketplace valued in excess of $13bn as of January this year, and crypto lending platform developer Celsius Network, which last raised money at a valuation of over $3bn.
Gumi Cryptos Capital’s Fund II will provide between $500,000 and $5m per investment, with portfolio companies able to access its network of founders, legal and financial advisers, global investors, token economy designers and token liquidity and market makers.
Gumi was confirmed as a limited partner in the firm along with Celsius Network, financial services firm Shinsei Bank, video game developer Cygames, retail group Marui, blockchain technology provider Polygon, Mistletoe Venture Partners and GMF Capital.
Miko Matsumura, managing partner of Gumi Cryptos Capital, said: “We live in the Experimental Age. The existing institutions and infrastructure including social infrastructure, governance, financial services and big tech are demonstrably failing us. Because the way forward is unknown, there’s a strong appetite for experimentation.
“Tokens represent monetary experimentation powering Web3, DAOs and guilds are governance experiments. Avatars represent ‘personality experiments’ whether backed by individuals, bots or groups. NFTs are experimental digital assets. The metaverse is a collection of experimental realities.”
Matsumura is one of three managing directors at the firm, together with Hironao Kunimitsu and Rui Zhang.
Kunimitsu added: “We have unique access to both Silicon Valley startup culture and capital markets as well as access to the Japan market. Japan is also home to unique intellectual property assets especially in the fast-growing gaming sector. With our unique geographic advantage, we can help ambitious projects grow faster.”
