🌎 VanEck Launches $30M Fund for Fintech, Digital Assets, and AI

VanEck has announced the launch of VanEck Ventures, a $30 million early-stage fund focused on fintech, digital assets, and artificial intelligence.

Investment Strategy

The fund will support pre-seed and seed-stage startups, with investment amounts ranging from $500,000 to $1 million per project. VanEck, a global investment firm managing $115 billion in assets, aims to identify and back 25 to 35 startups that offer both financial and strategic upside.

Leadership and Experience

Led by former Circle Ventures heads Wyatt Lonergan and Juan Lopez, the fund benefits from their extensive experience. Lonergan and Lopez successfully invested over $50 million in similar ventures during their tenure at Circle.

Historical Context

This move marks VanEck’s deeper foray into venture capital, continuing its long-standing approach to transformative investments, such as gold in 1968 and Bitcoin in 2017.

Focus Areas

The fund will primarily invest in companies building at the application layer — those focused on tokenized assets, digital financial marketplaces, and next-generation payment systems using technologies like stablecoins and blockchain.

“These technologies represent the evolution of digital finance, enabling faster and more efficient transactions without relying on traditional banks.”

Understanding Digital Assets

For those unfamiliar with the space, digital assets refer to tokenized forms of value, such as cryptocurrencies. Stablecoins are digital currencies pegged to traditional currencies to minimize volatility. VanEck Ventures is betting on these innovations, which are seen as key to the next phase of financial services.