The new giant in the Web3 world, the Crypto layout of Lightspeed Venture Capital

  Original Author: 0xclancularius, Rhythm BlockBeats

If we say that a few days ago, the nostalgic scene of Web2 investors and Web3 freshmen practitioners chatting about whether to drop out of school with the heads of tens of thousands of dollars in the live broadcast has already made everyone feel the separation between Web2 and Web3, then On the evening of March 30th, the enthusiasm of the Web3 world's primary market brought the severance to a climax.

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A few hours, several hours The project announced the completion of financing, ranging from several million dollars to as much as 620 million dollars. According to rough statistics, the Web3 world completed more than 1 billion dollars in financing overnight. Sequoia Capital, a16z, Tiger Global, Lightspeed, these top investment institutions that once slammed the Internet world frequently appeared, and they chose the future in their eyes.

Old faces such as Sequoia and a16z are already familiar to everyone, and the rhythm is also in "All In Crypto". Shan Capital, how many crypto projects have you invested in this year? " and "Black Cat White Cat", and today I will introduce another giant Lightspeed (Lightspeed Capital). This article was originally published in January this year. Their attention to encryption is bound to make Lightspeed's name appear frequently. In a Web3 world.

The name Lightspeed Venture Partners has recently appeared in the crypto world The frequency is a bit high.

At the beginning of 2022, FTX dropped a blockbuster news, announcing the launch of $2 billion FTX Ventures, the Web3 venture capital fund, has recruited Amy Wu, a partner of Lightspeed Venture Partners, to manage it. As soon as the news came out, the focus of the market immediately fell on Lightspeed, which has a 20-year history of VC.

The long bull market in the Crypto market in 2021 has spawned a large number of native Encryption institutions have also attracted the attention of more traditional financial institutions, and Lightspeed Venture Capital is one of them. This year, Lightspeed Venture Capital not only made frequent moves in the Crypto primary market, but also jointly launched a $100 million chain game fund with FTX and Solana, and the layout of NFT, GameFi, DeFi, public chain and infrastructure has fully blossomed.

Lightspeed Venture Partners Mercedes Bent previously stated in an interview that Lightspeed has so far invested nearly $500 million in 40 blockchain/Web3 investments by 2021. Investments this year include FTX, Solana, Terra, Alchemy, Parallel Finance, LedgerX, Blockchain.com, etc., and will continue to increase investment in the Web3 and NFT fields in 2022.

As a traditional Internet venture capital fund established in 2000 , Lightspeed Venture Capital may not be able to become the benchmark and leading capital of the encryption industry like a16z or Coinbase Ventures, but the investment strength accumulated over the years is also a force that cannot be underestimated.

For investment institutions, investment income is the absolute proof of strength. To understand the record of this established institution in the new world of encryption, we have to speak with facts.

Crypto Investment Map

The following is a review of the speed of light Analysis and arrangement of basic data:

- After sorting out the official website and public information of Lightspeed Venture Capital (USA), Rhythm’s incomplete statistics found that since 2013, Lightspeed Venture Capital has invested in a total of 19 online encryption projects , of which 14 projects will be invested after 2021, accounting for as high as 74%.

In contrast, a16z In 2021, 63 projects will be launched, including 29 from Three Arrows Capital, 25 from Alameda Research, 24 from DCG, and 24 from Multicoin Capital.

- As a veteran Internet VC , Lightspeed's obsession with token issuance by the project party is obviously not that deep. Among the 19 projects, the tokens of only 5 projects have been launched, accounting for only 26%.

- on the investment class , Lightspeed Venture Capital's range of shots includes NFT, DeFi, GameFi, public chain and infrastructure fields. Among them, there are 2 public chain projects, 10 infrastructure projects, 2 DeFi projects, 2 NFT-related projects, 2 Web3 decentralized applications, and 1 GameFi. Infrastructure projects accounted for 53%.

- Strictly speaking , Lightspeed Venture Capital is not counted as a native encryption VC, but it still has 7 leading investment shares, accounting for 37%. The performance is commendable.

In-depth look at Lightspeed Venture Capital’s crypto investment history, you will find that each There are good opportunities to make good shots in the cycle.

- In 2013, betting on the old public chain Ripple, you can get a super high increase of 354 times XRP.

- In 2018 A In the round, the decentralized music application Audius was invested, and the token increased by 16 times at the highest.

- 2021, the speed of light Venture Capital has successively invested in Terra, one of the most popular public chains in China, and FTX, the most popular trading platform, and led the seed round of Hawku, an NFT trading platform that is optimistic about many capitals, all of which have performed well.

Deep binding FTX?

With FTX appointing Lightspeed Partners to manage the new fund, the relationship between the two institutions Relations also attract attention. One is an established institution that grew up with the Internet, and the other is an emerging force that has risen rapidly in a short period of time. The two seem to have established a connection.

A closer look at the investment history of Lightspeed Venture Capital, the projects that FTX participated in in various ways include: 9, including investing in FTX itself, the proportion reached 47%. Coupled with the joint launch of the encryption fund by the two, it seems that Lightspeed Venture Capital has been deeply bound with the new encryption force FTX.

However, after further analysis, it will be found that among the above 9 items, 6 items are It is led by Amy Wu. At present, although Amy Wu himself claims to retain the title of Lightspeed Venture Partners, his Twitter introduction has become FTX Ventures. With the change of Amy Wu's position, Lightspeed Venture Capital will inevitably become a thing of the past. It remains to be seen how deeply FTX is bound to Lightspeed.

Interestingly, Amy Wu Lightspeed isn't the only crypto talent losing ground.

In the investment history of Lightspeed Venture Capital in 2021, except In addition to FTX, another eye-catching name is Terra. The former partner of Lightspeed Venture Capital who led this investment is Natalie Luu. In December 2021, Luu has announced that it will join Terra as the head of ecosystem development.

Partners keep going to the original Behind the encryption company, it may reflect that Lightspeed Venture Capital still has reservations about Crypto. At present, Lightspeed Venture Capital itself has not established an independent fund for the encryption industry, and the pace of investment is still slow compared with VCs such as a16z. In the ever-changing encryption industry, this kind of caution will undoubtedly appear passive.

How to judge a VC

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In the encrypted world full of gangs and different styles, what kind of VC is a good VC?

From serving entrepreneurs From a perspective, Richard Malone, director of operations at Advanced Blockchain AG, divides funds into three basic categories: Brand Funds (brand funds), Specific Value Add Funds (special value empowerment), All-Purpose Service/Value Add Funds (usually used as Incubators and accelerators start and go).

In general, Brand Funds play the role of endorsement, and these Brand Funds often refer to well-known funds. Startups receiving investment from these funds are the equivalent of attending an Ivy League university or owning a Hermès Birkin bag. When a company’s investment institution adds the name of these Brand Funds, it will trigger a FOMO sentiment among other funds and retail investors, which will bring more resources.

Lightspeed Venture Capital has nothing Doubt belongs to one of the Brand Funds. As a well-established institution familiar to the financial world, this name will undoubtedly give startups a layer of gold.

However, Brand Funds is very It is easy to sit on past achievements and "eat laurels". Lightspeed Venture Capital has made a lot of achievements in the traditional Internet field, and it cannot cover up its slightly passive situation in the encryption industry. With a16z, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital and other VCs advancing rapidly in the Crypto world, the slower speed of light seems to be going backwards.

Standing in an objective and neutral position From the perspective of a third party, a good investment institution needs to be able to discover good companies and tracks in advance, and then present them to the world. As Chen Yuetian said in the article "Spark Prediction 2021", VC should be the person who reserves the possibility of various changes for this world. Prometheus brought the fire, and VC should be the one who spread the fire.

Reflected in investment behavior , at the same transaction price, institutions investing on the left side of the peak of the price curve have a higher level than institutions investing on the right side. An organization that grabs Alpha at the seed round is better than an organization that FOMOs into it later. For Lightspeed Venture Capital, whether it is in the investment opportunities of Terra or FTX, it is of course great to be able to capture Alpha, but it still has not yet achieved the fastest and top level.

In the ever-changing crypto VC industry, when other players are running with all their strength, Lightspeed Venture Capital, which still has spare capacity, will inevitably not be able to occupy the leading position in the head. By the time it really pays attention to the growing Crypto world, it may be too late for the industry to play completely differently by then.

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