Key Takeaways
- • Ikigai Asset Management, a crypto asset manager founded in 2018, launched its first venture fund, the Ikigai Trust Revolution Opportunities Fund, targeting early-stage Web3 projects with $30 million raised.
- • The fund's capital came entirely from existing investors in Ikigai's flagship hedge fund, which deploys capital for more than 275 investors.
- • The fund will be managed by Founder & CIO Travis Kling and Founder & CEO Anthony Emtman, with support from current and to-be-hired team members.
- • The strategy marks a departure from Ikigai's historical systematic, models-driven Bitcoin exposure aimed at outperforming a Bitcoin buy-and-hold approach on a risk-adjusted basis.
- • Investment themes include Metaverse, X-to-earn, Gaming, GameFi, DeFi, DAOs and NFTs, framed around the 'Trust Revolution' and 'Value Mobility' theses.
Summary
Ikigai Asset Management, a crypto asset management firm founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, announced the launch of its first venture fund, the Ikigai Trust Revolution Opportunities Fund, according to a Business Wire release. The fund focuses on building and investing in early-stage Web3 projects and has raised $30 million from existing investors in Ikigai's flagship hedge fund.
The fund will be managed by Founder & CIO Travis Kling and Founder & CEO Anthony Emtman, with support from current team members and planned hires. Its mandate spans the themes of The Trust Revolution and Value Mobility, including Metaverse, X-to-earn (play-to-earn, learn-to-earn, move-to-earn and similar models), Gaming, GameFi, DeFi, DAOs and NFTs. The stated objective is to back projects that use technology to empower humanity rather than the reverse.
The Trust Revolution thesis holds that growing segments of society distrust institutions and that distributed ledger technology and crypto assets can provide a platform for change. Value Mobility posits that value creation is shifting away from centralized institutions, and that misaligned incentives in those institutions have produced negative consequences that distributed ledger technology may correct.
The launch departs from Ikigai's historical strategy, which over several years centered on systematic, models-driven exposure to Bitcoin intended to outperform holding Bitcoin on a risk-adjusted basis. According to the release, the 2021 rise of Axie Infinity, whose in-game scholarship mechanism enabled thousands of people in developing nations to earn a living wage, was a major factor in the decision. Kling said the firm sees X-to-earn as a trend "in the top of the 1st inning" that could be transformative over coming decades. Emtman said the fund allows the firm to invest early in founders aligned with its mission and principles.
Ikigai describes itself as a multi-strategy crypto asset manager that deploys capital for more than 275 investors globally.
The fund will be managed by Founder & CIO Travis Kling and Founder & CEO Anthony Emtman, with support from current team members and planned hires. Its mandate spans the themes of The Trust Revolution and Value Mobility, including Metaverse, X-to-earn (play-to-earn, learn-to-earn, move-to-earn and similar models), Gaming, GameFi, DeFi, DAOs and NFTs. The stated objective is to back projects that use technology to empower humanity rather than the reverse.
The Trust Revolution thesis holds that growing segments of society distrust institutions and that distributed ledger technology and crypto assets can provide a platform for change. Value Mobility posits that value creation is shifting away from centralized institutions, and that misaligned incentives in those institutions have produced negative consequences that distributed ledger technology may correct.
The launch departs from Ikigai's historical strategy, which over several years centered on systematic, models-driven exposure to Bitcoin intended to outperform holding Bitcoin on a risk-adjusted basis. According to the release, the 2021 rise of Axie Infinity, whose in-game scholarship mechanism enabled thousands of people in developing nations to earn a living wage, was a major factor in the decision. Kling said the firm sees X-to-earn as a trend "in the top of the 1st inning" that could be transformative over coming decades. Emtman said the fund allows the firm to invest early in founders aligned with its mission and principles.
Ikigai describes itself as a multi-strategy crypto asset manager that deploys capital for more than 275 investors globally.
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