Former poker pros raise 0 million for DeFi
An investment firm led by former professional poker players, Ascensive Assets, has just brought in a $130 million fund that will zoom in on the decentralized finance (DeFi) market.
The latest funding round makes Ascensive’s first $24 million backing of 2019 look pale in comparison. At the time, notable investors such as Polkaswap, Benqi, Yield Guild Games and JennyDAO jumped in.
In the latest round, it was mainly a group of high-net-worth individuals from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore and Malaysia that participated. Many of whom have always had close ties to the world of professional poker and gambling, Ascensive Assets partner Oliver Blakey told crypto news-site Coindesk:
“They are casino owners, private bookmakers and Asian high-net-worth individuals generally from the gambling world. A gambling mentality is in their DNA, I guess. We have always known that world and of course everybody wants exposure to this industry now.”
According to Blakey, around a third of the new fund will go towards early-stage startups, and what is left from that is basically doubling down on winners from the first fund.
Blakey, remained pretty humble about firm’s track-record considering its investments:
“We’ve made some awesome investments, we’ve also made some terrible ones. I think about this industry as a kind of hybrid of venture capital and a hedge fund; it’s somewhere in the middle.”
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Source: igaming
