MoonPay launches venture arm to invest in web3 infra, gaming and fintech

Web3 infrastructure firm MoonPay has launched an investment arm that will focus on early-stage startups in web3, gaming and adjacent fintech categories, TechCrunch has exclusively learned.

The investment arm, dubbed MoonPay Ventures, will mainly invest between $100,000 to $1 million, targeting seed and Series A rounds. It has already invested in more than 25 companies, including BCB Group, Ledger, BRUT, BeatClub, absolute labs, Create/OS, BridgeTower Capital and Mythical Games, according to Abhay Mavalankar, VP of corporate development and investments at MoonPay.

There isn’t a specific fund amount that MoonPay is allocating, and the team will invest off its balance sheet with a “definite angle” toward commercial ROI, he added.

MoonPay builds payment infrastructure for crypto and has about 500 industry partners ranging from crypto wallets to layer-1 and layer-2 blockchains, Mavalankar said. The company is valued at $3.4 billion, has more than 5 million customers and supports over 80 assets, according to its website.

“When it comes to web3 and backing exceptional founders, this is a logical extension of that,” Mavalankar said. “We felt, as a company, we have reached the right level of maturity to create that ecosystem and be that accelerant where we could.”

When it comes to investing in ideas, “the focus is really on the teams” that are building the startups and creating a good user experience, Mavalankar said. “If you think you have a good idea, there’s probably 10+ teams working on it at any time, but we’re looking for teams who can execute those things.”

Beyond providing capital, MoonPay Ventures hopes to help accelerate adoption for startups in its portfolio through operations like scaling, distribution, compressing sales cycles and so on, Mavalankar noted. About 80 to 90% of its investments will be linked to a commercial relationship, he added.

“You put all those things together and it’s not just capital for capital’s sake,” Mavalankar said. “We felt we could add some tangible value to the ecosystem, and if you can couple that with commercial ROI, there’s nothing like it.”