Wall Street Vet starts token-only VC company with the aim of $ 50 to 75 million

Wall Street Vet starts token-only VC company with the aim of $ 50 to 75 million

according to sources that are familiar with the matter and marketing materials that block works have received, a long-standing cryptocurrency owner tries in the risk capital area.

Antonio Hallak is now in capital procurement mode for its Illumina Capital, a venture company geared to digital assets with an incubator that gets involved in token investments-not on investments.

The fundraising efforts of the startup are led by the experienced hedge fund marketer Melissa Fox. She plans to spend between $ 50 and $ 75 million for the start, with the support of a number of institutional investors, as sources said, including crypto-born and financially strong traditional financiers.

The flagship of Illumina, Illumina Fund I, stipulates a minimum investment of $ 1 million, but it is said that potential limited partners are already asking for much larger amounts.

It is planned to apply a second fund shortly after the flagship commissioned.

Hallak confirmed the start, but rejected it to describe the strategy of the startup or to notify further details. There is signs that Hallak prefers a token approach, partly because of the increased liquidity it offers limited partners.

Such tokens usually often change the owner on the secondary market. According to the marketing materials, the venture exits from Illumina are expected to take between six and 18 months-a significantly shorter duration than pure participations.

The key to the company is the incubator Illumina Labs, a sister company of Illumina Capital. The company leads start-ups from the concept to the white paper to TOKENOMICS to find the right market adjustment, and creates and conducts security tests for smart contracts.

pixelynx is now investing in the risk fund, from which Phull said that block works should achieve returns that are "much more important and meaningful from a token perspective, especially if they select the right projects".

"The returns are much more meaningful compared to traditional stocks, in which maybe one of 50 companies have a significant advantage," said Phull.

There is also a market-making component for freshly output tokens that are operated by another subsidiary of Hallak, Weybridge.

Illumina Labs, the incubator, is expected to employ around 10 employees in the coming weeks and grow to 30 to 40 employees before the end of the year, including engineers, Smart Contract developers and tokenomics experts.

"An aspect of our approach that has hit the right nerve with our portfolio companies is the fact that we are not just a investor," Hallak told Blockworks. "The accelerator is the first entry point ... it shows that we give them the highest probability of success to get to the start."

Hallak plans to follow a multi-vertical approach to concentrate on what he sees as an accelerating web3 and meta-verse evolution that will not only change crypto but also traditional industries. As such, Illumina plans to invest sports, games, music, finance and fashion.

The pure token model enables Illumina to divide parts of the investable capital essentially within much larger companies. For example, if a long -term music label will bring its first NFTs on the market, the risk fund could support the token without having to buy the label's equity directly, which would probably be unaffordable or maybe already a stock corporation.

In a further deviation from traditional venture companies, Illumina plans to collect checks of limited partners in advance. As a rule, they withdraw capital as soon as you find an investment option.

Another limited partner, gaming veteran Rudy Koch, co-founder of the blockchain-based gaming startups Mythical Games, said that the fund's focus meets the developing needs of consumers.

"Web3 creates this new consumer, the part of the value chain in whatever industry," Koch told Blockworks. "We no longer just want to be a consumer - we want to be partners in the products that we deal with. And Tokenomics and Daos are examples of how we can achieve this goal of how we can bring consumers into the value chain."

Hallak-which led the electronic trade unit of Credit Suisse before building a number of quantitative crypto trade models-the capital will in the meantime invest in a market and deltaneutral, generating strategy that is designed to achieve annual returns in the low double.

The fund plans to support a total of 20 to 30 token projects in the early phase. The Vehikel investment committee sets a maximum of 20 % for a token.

limited partners have the option of investing via crypto and receiving benefits as soon as the fund is handled. Hallak, Fox and Chief Financial Officer Carey Harrold, formerly at Jump Trading, are now working on completing the company's service providers.

The company's venture side already has a head of the HR department and a head of recruitment, which is commissioned to fill a number of open spots, including operational roles and experts for business development.

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The post "Wall Street Vet Launching token-ONLY VC Firm, Aiming for 50m to 75m" is not a financial advice.