Ripple Invests $25 Million in XRP in Blockchain Capital’s $150 Million VC Fund
Ripple has announced a $25 million investment with its own cryptocurrency, XRP, in Blockchain Capital – the oldest investment fund for the crypto industry.
Ripple has confirmed its participation in the Blockchain Capital Parallel IV LP Fund, a part of the latter’s fourth venture round which only accepts contributions in cryptocurrencies.
In a statement to Fortune, a spokesperson from Blockchain Capital explained:
We created the parallel fund to separate our other LPs from the risk of any change in valuation associated with accepting Ripple’s investment in XRP.
Described by Ripple as the ‘first fund to accept capital calls in digital assets’, the parallel investment vehicle now joins the Blockchain Capital IV LP fund – raising $125 million on its own – in bringing the total to $150 million in the San Francisco-based venture capital firm’s fourth fundraising round.
With its largest fundraising round to date, Blockchain Capital now manages $250 million in assets with companies including the likes of Coinbase, Kraken, Circle, and notably Ripple, under its investment portfolio.
The $150 million fund will invest in startups and entrepreneurial teams utilizing blockchain technology for industry verticals and use cases.
“The investment will also provide an opportunity to identify new use cases for the XRP Ledger and Interledger Protocol,” Ripple’s announcement added, pointing to applications of both open-source platforms in areas beyond payments.
“There are entire verticals – such as healthcare or identity management – that could benefit from blockchain or distributed ledger technology,” said Blockchain Capital’s co-founder Stephens.
He added:
Whether it’s using XRP, bitcoin or just the underlying blockchain technology, our goal is to find the best projects and give them the resources to be successful companies that deliver value to customers for the long term.
After investments in a total of 23 bitcoin and blockchain firms in 2015, Blockchain Capital announced its second venture round raising $13 million in early 2016, as reported by CCN.com at the time. The VC firm subsequently raised $10 million in its third venture round, the first to do so entirely by a digital fund offering in an ICO.
Ripple, meanwhile, has hinted that it will continue contributing to other venture capital funds to support and fuel startups and businesses developing blockchain applications.
“This is the first fund that we’ve contributed to, and it won’t be the last,” said Ripple’s senior vice president of Strategic Growth, Patrick Griffin. “We plan to be major players in shaping the future generation of blockchain or crypto companies.”
Ripple’s $25 million investment was bested in recent weeks by its own $29 million donation to educational non-profit DonorsChoose, a move that singularly funded all 35,000 classroom projects listed on the crowdfunding platform.
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