Shima Capital was established in 2021 and focuses on decentralized social media, DAOs (DeFi), metaverse, zero-knowledgeproofs, layer-1 solutions, and decentralized social media.
Shima Capital is a venture firm that focuses on early-stage blockchain projects. It has received significant backing to launch its first fund to support emerging digital assets companies.
The company announced Wednesday that the Shima Capital Fund I received $200 million in combined funding from several prominent crypto investors including Dragonfly Capital and Animoca Brands. The fund will provide pre-seed funding of between $500,000 to $2 million for crypto- or blockchain-focused companies that are at the intersection with consumer products, decentralized infrastructure, and futuristic Blockchain technology.
Shima specifically identified the following areas as targets: decentralized identity, decentralized media and decentralized autonomous organisations (DAOs), decentralized finance (DeFi), and blockchain gaming. The fund plans to also invest in layer-1 technology and layer-2 technology as well as projects that focus on security and the creation of zero knowledge proofs.
Shima stated that capital injected into companies at the early stages will be used to hire and retain talent, build communities, and conduct technical research and development.
Shima Capital was founded in 2021 by Yida Gao (crypto hedge fund investor), and has hired an executive team which includes the former head DeFi at Ripple labs, the former venture partner at Old Fashion Research, and the former head talent at Atomic VC.
The new venture fund launched by Shima demonstrates that VCs still love crypto and Web3’s value proposition despite the current bear market. Even by crypto standards, the downtrend has been severe. It has wiped out overleveraged investors, poorly managed stablecoin projects, and centralized finance firms that have failed to implement proper risk management.
Venture capital continues to invest in blockchain startups, particularly those with Web3 ambitions. Cointelegraph Research found that 42% of crypto VC funds were raised by Web3 companies in the second quarter.
