Theta Capital Management plans to raise $200 million for its latest blockchain funds-of-funds. The company said it’s raising funds to capitalize on early-stage blockchain opportunities despite venture funding in the sector remaining subdued.
According to the company’s report, its new vehicle, Theta Blockchain Ventures V, will distribute the capital to between 10 and 15 venture firms specializing in digital assets. Theta Capital also aims for a net internal rate of return of 25% from the investment.
Theta continues its Blockchain Venture series
Bloomberg reported that a spokesperson from Theta Capital confirmed the details of the $200 million capital raise. The Amsterdam-based investment firm was founded in 2001 and shifted its focus to digital assets in 2018. The investment manager currently manages about $1.2 billion.
Theta Capital previously had five funds in the Theta Blockchain Venture series, and it managed to deliver a 32.7% net IRR from January 2018 through December 2024. The investment manager’s portfolio includes marquee crypto VCs, including Pantera Capital, CoinFund, Polychain Capital, and Dragonfly.
Theta closed a $175 million funding round in May to support its blockchain fund-of-funds initiatives. The firm believes that targeting managers deeply involved in blockchain technology creates a competitive edge in the market.
The company’s managing partner and chief investment officer, Ruud Smets, argued that venture capital was the best class to capture long-term upside in the crypto sector, especially in its early funding rounds. He added that Theta Capital’s strategy focuses on specialist managers who can outperform generalist investors in the earliest funding round.
“We’ve always been looking for areas where specialization and active management provide a sustainable edge.”
–Ruud Smets, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Theta Capital.
Smets also noted that the experience and positioning of dedicated crypto VCs have compounded over time, arguing that it has created barriers for less focused investors trying to enter the space.
Despite Theta’s latest funding initiative, the crypto venture investing sector has been challenging, especially this year. Data from Galaxy Digital shows that only $1.7 billion was allocated to 21 crypto-focused venture funds in the second quarter of 2025. The data lies well below levels seen in prior bull markets. The data also showed that VC investment saw a 54% year-over-year increase to $4.8 billion in Q1 2025.
PitchBook noted $6 billion in VC funding in the same period, despite a 39.5% decline in funding volume from 670 recorded deals in the same period last year. The global capital market researcher revealed that capital is increasingly flowing into trading, asset management, and crypto financial services, with $2.55 billion allocated to 16 deals in Q1 2025.
PitchBook also found that infrastructure and development firms raised around $955 million across 30 deals. PitchBook’s senior crypto analyst Robert Le argued that capital continued to seek crypto’s core utility rails despite macroeconomic uncertainty.
Galaxy Digital reported that increased interest in artificial intelligence has funneled some attention from crypto investing. The company noted that the drift occurred when spot ETFs and now treasury companies are competing for institutional investment. If successful, Theta’s new funding could mark its sixth fund under the series.
Theta Capital announces Legends4Legends blockchain conference
Theta is holding its premier blockchain conference for institutional allocators, the Legends4Legends charity conference this year on October 16th in Amsterdam. The company said the event offers a full-day program featuring the world’s leading experts to help allocators navigate the blockchain industry.
According to the company’s report, qualified institutions will attend for free. Theta also confirmed that the conference aims to raise funds through donations supporting the Alternatives4Children charity. The theme of the conference will be ‘Blockchain Goes Mainstream: Stablecoins & Beyond’.
Theta plans to explore key developments in the blockchain space, including the rise of blockchain-native financial infrastructure, with stablecoins as the backbone of global digital payments. The company will also dive into the convergence of AI and crypto, among other things.
