SparkChain Capital, a New $100 Million Blockchain Focused Fund, Launches with Joyce Kim as Managing Partner
PALO ALTO, Calif. (PRWEB) October 19, 2017 -- SparkLabs Group (http://www.sparklabsgroup.com), a network of accelerators and venture capital funds, has launched a new $100 million early-stage fund, SparkChain Capital (http://www.sparkchaincapital.com), focused on innovations in blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Joyce Kim, founder and former Executive Director at Stellar.org and venture capitalist at Freestyle Capital, will be leading this effort. Stellar.org created the first cryptocurrency protocol for the unbanked which is being used by IBM for their blockchain banking solution.
The early-stage fund will be focused on innovative companies in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors across the globe, and leveraging SparkLabs Group’s extensive network in Asia. The most active blockchain and cryptocurrencies markets outside of the U.S. are in China, Japan and South Korea. Through its accelerator in Seoul, SparkLabs already has investments in Blocko, the leading enterprise blockchain company in South Korea, and Sentbe, the leading bitcoin remittance company in South Korea (2015). Through SparkLabs Global (global seed fund), the team invested in Cryex, an early blockchain compatible FX trading, clearing and settlement system based in Stockholm (2014), and other related startups.
“What attracted me to working with the SparkLabs team is their passion to help the next generation of entrepreneurs across the globe. I’m looking forward to helping out entrepreneurs looking to truly change the world through blockchain technologies,” stated Joyce Kim, Co-founder and Managing Partner of SparkChain Capital.
Joyce Kim will be working with Net Jacobsson, Co-founder of SparkLabs Global and former Director of International Business Development at Facebook; William Chu, former Executive Director at Zheng He Capital where he led their $500 milllion Series A round into Lufax; Jay McCarthy, Co-founder of SparkLabs Global and Managing Partner at Pacific Advisers where he advised on deals such as an institution investor’s $175 million investment into JD.com.
“We are very excited to have Joyce onboard to lead our new fund. Her deep experience in and early exposure to blockchain and cryptocurrency will be crucial in sourcing the best companies and navigating this dynamic market. With the rapid pace of innovation moving in this space, it is crucial to have the most experienced advisors involved from the early outset. At SparkChain Capital, we have prepared ourselves by carefully recruiting some of the best securities advisors and fund attorneys to make sure that we always will be SEC compliant no matter how the wind blows. The same is true for the biggest cryptocurrency markets outside the U.S., such as South Korea, Japan and China,” said Net Jacobsson, Co-founder and Partner at SparkChain Capital.
The fund will focus on blockchain and cryptocurrency startups with a small targeted holding of actual cryptocurrencies, which the fund will not actively trade. SparkChain Capital is also planning for an ICO later this year.
The new fund is supported by a world class advisory board from the cryptocurrency and finance sectors: Dan Boneh (Professor of Engineering at Stanford University and renown thought leader in applied cryptography), Wu Choy Peng (CTO at GIC, Singapore’s sovereign fund that manages over $350 billion in assets), Mike Joo (Head of Global Rates and Currencies Origination Business at Bank of America Merrill Lynch), Koichi Miyamoto (Partner at Anderson Mori and Tomotsune), and Ling Hao (Partner at Hylands Law Firm). GIC, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and other firms associated with their advisors did not invest into SparkChain Capital.
About SparkLabs Group
SparkLabs Group (http://www.sparklabsgroup.com) is comprised of the SparkLabs accelerator network, Asia’s premier startup accelerators; SparkLabs Global Ventures, a global seed stage fund; SparkLabs Ventures, an early-stage fund (Series A & B) covering South Korea and SE Asia; SparkChain Capital, a blockchain focused early-stage fund; and SparkLabs Capital, a late stage investment vehicle.
Bernard Moon, SparkChain Capital, http://www.sparkchaincapital.com, +1 6504545244, [email protected]
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