Galaxy Raises $175 Million for Crypto Venture Fund

Galaxy, a prominent player in the crypto industry, has successfully raised $175 million for its inaugural venture fund. The fund, which exceeded its initial target of $150 million, marks a significant expansion of Galaxy's venture capital operations. The company, founded by Mike Novogratz in 2018, aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the crypto world.

Galaxy's general partner, Mike Giampapa, highlighted the shift in the industry from speculative use cases of blockchain to more tangible applications, such as stablecoins and decentralized finance. This new fund will allow Galaxy to broaden its investments in startups operating at the intersection of traditional finance and crypto.

The fund is Galaxy's first to accept outside capital, although the company is anchoring the fund through its own balance sheet capital. Galaxy serves as both a limited partner and a general partner in the fund. As a publicly traded company, Galaxy's new fund provides retail investors with a unique opportunity to gain exposure to a crypto venture portfolio.

Galaxy's business lines are diverse, ranging from asset management to crypto mining and even its own Bitcoin ETF, launched in early 2024 in partnership with Invesco. The company is also exploring the launch of a Solana ETF. Despite a rocky history, including a failed investment in the stablecoin Luna, Galaxy has grown into one of the most influential U.S. crypto empires.

In May, Galaxy reported around $7 billion of assets under management, although it incurred a net loss of $295 million in the first quarter of 2025 due to dropping crypto prices and costs related to winding down some of its mining operations. Galaxy has been a major player in the crypto venture space, investing in startups such as the crypto custodian Fireblocks.

The decision to raise outside capital for a dedicated venture fund came after the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX in 2022 and the subsequent downturn in prices. Galaxy began raising capital in 2024, with many of the limited partners being institutional investors, including family offices and fund of funds, that work with Galaxy’s asset management business. Galaxy announced an initial close of $113 million last July.

Galaxy has already deployed around $50 million of the fund, investing in companies including the trading-focused blockchain Monad and the synthetic dollar protocol Ethena, which issues a yield-bearing stablecoin backed by crypto assets. The fund is run by Giampapa and Will Nuelle, both of whom have extensive experience in venture capital.

As part of Galaxy’s broader crypto operation, the venture fund has strategic overlap with other parts of the business, such as helping connect them with its institutional customer base. Galaxy's thesis since its inception has been that the worlds of traditional finance and crypto are colliding, and the company aims to invest at the earliest stages of this convergence.