A venture capitalist and founder of Morgan Creek Digital Assets has announced today that it’s led a seed round with CityBlock Capital, which is attempting to build a VC firm that is more in tune with today’s digital age.
In the announcement, Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano, who’s also a partner at Morgan Creek Digital Assets, explained that traditional venture capital firms have processes in place, which are outdated and unattractive for the digital generation. This includes filling out paperwork, reduced transparency and information, multi-year lockups, and services that are limited to well-connected U.S. investors.
In a bid to change this and bring VC funding up to speed with the digital space, Morgan Creek Digital Assets has revealed an investment and strategic partnership with CityBlock Capital, a venture capital platform tokenising limited partner interests in early-stage funds.
“CityBlock Capital is building a venture capital firm that is attractive to digital natives, optimizes for global participation, and gives investors more optionality,” said Pompliano.
Sharing a vision as to where the financial world is heading, Morgan Creek Digital Assets will be offering institutional support to help CityBlock Capital build a bridge to traditional finance.
Raising capital on a city-by-city basis, CityBlock Capital selects local investing partners who have strong networks, deep operating experience, and access to valuable, local dealflow, states Pompliano. Additionally, giving access to a wider set of investors on a global scale, the platform answers the need of digital natives by eliminating the need for paperwork. Instead, all investors need to do is go to the CityBlock Capital website to verify their identity and legal compliance before contributing funds.
“We live in a global world, so it is time we start making it easier for all investors, regardless of geography, to participate in venture capital opportunities,” said Pompliano.
Each fund the firm raises will be tokenised. This ensures that investors avoid multi-year lockups of traditional funds while gaining greater levels of liquidity. Increased transparency and access will be given to investors as well.
Additionally, CityBlock Capital will permit investors to contribute funds in fiat or digital currencies.
In line with this, the platform is launching their first fund, NYCQ, in New York City. This is aimed at leading the development of the blockchain ecosystem by focusing on promising early-stage companies building the future of tokenised finance and digital asset trading.
Investors can purchase the platform’s NYCQ token, which is a private fund offering for accredited investors in the U.S. and abroad. Pompliano adds that via the token, investors will be able to gain many of the advantages of the CityBlock model, in addition to having a legal limited partnership in a fund. CityBlock Capital is also planning funds in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Yesterday, Pompliano said on Twitter that he was sticking to his $50,000 Bitcoin price target for the end of the year, adding that “the next five months will be fun to watch.”