Palo Alto · Seed–Series A · 9 people tracked
Also known as FACTION VENTURES, LLC · Lightspeed Faction · Lightspeed Faction Principals · Lightspeed Faction US
Investment thesis
Faction focuses on early-stage crypto and blockchain startups, investing at Seed and Series A across both equity and tokens with a flexible, long-term approach. The firm believes crypto will grow dramatically over the coming decades and seeks to partner with builders creating fundamentally useful blockchain technology. It invests across the entire stack, from layer zero to applications, and across sectors ranging from DeFi to NFTs. Faction describes itself as vertical agnostic, prioritizing great entrepreneurs who create real utility and push the industry frontier, and it favors ambitious founders tackling major problems while balancing bold vision with precise execution.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 25, 2026.
Team · 9 people
from the firm's website & public directories
What they invest in
from 39 of 55 portfolio companiesCrypto & Web3 ×29Fintech ×23Data & Infrastructure ×11Developer Tools ×11AI & Machine Learning ×7Cybersecurity ×6Enterprise Software ×3Cloud Computing ×2
HQs:United States×9Switzerland×1United Kingdom×1
Who they back
founder profiles across 17 portfolio companiesFounding team size:solo founder×102 founders×53 founders×2
Where their founders studiedfrom 13 founders with education data
University of California, Santa Cruz ×3
Where their founders worked beforefrom 13 founders with career history
Phantasia Sports ×2
Investments · 55 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2025 · 12023 · 12 dated
Co-investorsIOSG Ventures
Ammalgam is a decentralized lending exchange (DLEX) that combines trading and lending in a single DeFi protocol, letting users lend, trade, and leverage any asset without oracles through Dual Purpose Pools.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Co-investorsHyperithmMarin Digital Ventures
Blaze provides a platform that monitors online signals to identify and target potential customers at the moment they demonstrate purchase intent, using AI-powered automation.
Enterprise SoftwareSaaSSan Francisco, US
Lauren Rothwell(Founder)inChirag Mahapatra(Founder)in
Co-investorsBling CapitalDigital Currency GroupTRAC (Third Round Analytics Capital)Y CombinatorAct One Ventures
Coinflow provides global payment processing infrastructure enabling businesses to accept payments, settle funds, and expand internationally with instant settlement and fraud protection.
B2B MarketplacesFintechChicago, US
Daniel Lev(Founder & CEO)inBen Meeder(Founder)Benjamin Meeder(Founder)in
Co-investorsBuilder CapitalCoinbase VenturesDigital Currency GroupDraper DragonPantera CapitalReciprocal Ventures+4 more
Onchain structured finance protocol that turns business cash flows into programmable collateral for secured lines of credit.
Thomas Hepner(Founder)in
Co-investorsCoinbase VenturesdlabMaven 11TRGCLightspeed FactionLightspeed Venture Partners+2 more
Crossmint offers a platform for companies and AI agents to integrate stablecoin infrastructure, including wallet creation, treasury management, onramps and offramps, global payouts, and virtual card issuance.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsFintech
Co-investorsFinancial Venture StudioNycaNyca PartnersPathlight VenturesRestive Ventures6th Man Ventures+2 more
Ethena operates a crypto protocol offering USDe, a digital dollar, and sUSDe, a reward-accruing asset backed by collateralized assets with third-party attestations.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Guy Young(Founder & CEO)in
Co-investorsAlphaLab CapitalBitDAOBreedCaladanCVP NoLimitF-Prime Capital+17 more
Faction develops a hybrid autonomous vehicle platform called DriveLink that combines autonomy with remote human assistance (TeleAssist) for driverless fleet operations.
Advanced ManufacturingAI & Machine LearningLogistics & Supply ChainMobility & TransportationRoboticsSan Francisco, US
Ain McKendrick(Founder)in
Co-investorsFifty YearsKube VCY CombinatorLightspeed FactionTDK Ventures
Figure is a lending platform that offers residential and commercial loan products including home equity lines of credit, cash-out refinances, DSCR loans, and crypto-backed loans for borrowers.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3FintechCharlotte, US
Mike Cagney(Co-Founder, Executive Chairman)inJune Ou(Co-Founder, Advisor, Board Member)inJin Woo Park(Executive Officer, Director)
Co-investorsB3 CapitalBlue Lion GlobalChaos VenturesConversion CapitalDCM VenturesDigital Currency Group+20 more
Flashbots is a research and development organization that mitigates negative externalities from Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) on blockchains, primarily Ethereum, through infrastructure and tools for block building, transaction protection, and MEV distribution.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureDeveloper Tools
Co-investorsBig Brain HoldingsBlueYard CapitalDragonflyEthereal Ventures Management Ltd.Fabric VenturesFenbushi Capital+12 more
FLock.io operates a decentralized AI training platform combining federated learning and blockchain for privacy-preserving model development.
Jiahao Sun(Founder)in
Co-investorsARKN venturesCandaq Fintech GroupDigital Currency GroupHyperithmInception Capital (ex OP Crypto)TRGC
Hyperbolic provides on-demand, reserved, and private cloud access to high-performance GPUs (such as H100, H200, and B200) through a global network of compute providers.
AI & Machine LearningCloud ComputingData & Infrastructure
Co-investorsAmbush CapitalBig Brain HoldingsGSRLongHash VenturesSamsung NextVariant Fund+4 more
INIT Capital is a DeFi money market offering 'Liquidity Hooks' that let dApps and protocols source on-chain liquidity.
Tascha P(Founder)
Co-investorsBitDAOMaelstromMantle NetworkElectric Capital
Co-investorsBorderless VentureBreedEv3 Ventures LlcLvna CapitalMetalayerParaFi Capital+1 more
Kamino is a DeFi protocol on Solana that combines lending, liquidity provision, and leveraged trading in a single platform.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Co-investorsAlliance DAO (ex DeFi Alliance)Hack VCLongHash VenturesMulticoin CapitalParaFi CapitalPlaceholder VC+7 more
Latitude provides a Global Fiat Payouts API that sends funds from USD or stablecoins (USDC) to recipients worldwide, handling currency conversion, compliance, and last-mile delivery through local payment networks.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsFintechSpring, US
Brian Wrightson(Founder)
Co-investorsNew Enterprise Associates (NEA)
Orb is a web3 social application built on the Lens Protocol for social networking and content sharing on blockchain infrastructure.
Crypto & Web3Social
Co-investorsA.Capital VenturesBlockchain CapitalTioga Capital PartnersWintermuteVariant Fund
LO:TECH is a capital markets firm for onchain assets, offering designated market making with streaming liquidity across DeFi and centralized, RFQ and OTC venues.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Co-investors13books Capital
MagicBlock builds blockchain infrastructure, including a modular stack and ephemeral rollups, for developers creating high-performance on-chain applications on Solana.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsFintechGaming
Andrea FortugnoGabriele Picco
Co-investorsEquilibrium VenturesMaven 11Robot Ventures
ZKsync provides blockchain infrastructure and deployment services for enterprises, helping them build and launch production-ready solutions on the ZKsync network.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsEnterprise Software
Alex Gluchowski(Founder)in
Co-investorsDeepTech VenturesFigmentIOSG VenturesLongHash VenturesMirana VenturesOKX Ventures+4 more
Medallion FM is an app that lets music fans track the artists they follow, concerts and shows, and their listening activity in one place.
ConsumerCreator EconomyMedia & Entertainment
Co-investorsBetaworksCoinbase VenturesThird PrimeAcrew Capital
Meld operates a network for onboarding users to stablecoins and digital assets, offering onramp/offramp orchestration, multi-chain token support, and KYC/bank-linking tools accessible via API.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsFintechSan Francisco, US
Pankaj Bengani(Founder)
Co-investorsCoatue ManagementK9 VenturesYolo InvestmentsLightspeed Faction
Monad is a high-performance EVM-compatible blockchain designed for fast, low-cost transactions.
Cloud ComputingCrypto & Web3Data & Infrastructure
Co-investorsAlphaLab CapitalAmbush CapitalArchetypeBankless VenturesBig Brain HoldingsBloccelerate VC+23 more
Narya.ai builds voice-first AI assistants that turn spoken conversations into actions.
AI & Machine LearningSan Francisco, US
Oriol Plazas(Founder)
Co-investorsArca FundsBlocktower Capital
Co-investorsPantera Capital
Nous Research develops and trains open source language models and builds infrastructure for distributed AI training.
AI & Machine LearningData & InfrastructureDeveloper Tools
Jeffrey Quesnelle(Founder & CEO)
Co-investorsBreedCollab+CurrencyForerunner VenturesMozilla VenturesNIVParadigm+4 more
Co-investorsAlphaLab CapitalBitDAOBorderless VentureCaladanHyperithmMantle Network+2 more
OpenFX operates a real-time settlement network for cross-border payments that replaces traditional international payment systems, enabling businesses to move money across borders significantly faster and cheaper.
Fintech
Prabhakar Reddy(Founder & CEO)in
Co-investorsAccelFlybridge Capital PartnersHash3 CapitalMARKHAM VALLEY VENTURESNorthzonePantera Capital+2 more
Jan Liphardt(Founder)in
Co-investorsCoinbase VenturesDigital Currency GroupPantera CapitalPebblebed
Pharos is a Layer-1 blockchain for real-world asset finance and AI agents, using modular architecture, deep-parallel execution, and dual VM (EVM + WASM) to provide sub-second finality and high throughput.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech
Alex Zhang(Founder)in
Co-investorsHack VCFlow TradersGenerative VenturesMH Ventures
Plume is a crypto-native platform that distributes real-world assets (RWA) as blockchain-based financial instruments.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Chris Yin(Founder)in
Co-investorsA.Capital VenturesBreedHaun VenturesHyperithmReciprocal VenturesSerafund+5 more
Pontem is a product development studio building blockchain products using the Move language on Aptos and other Layer 1 networks.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsFintech
Alejo Pinto(Founder)inArman Manukyanin
Co-investorsAlphaLab CapitalCaladanPantera CapitalWintermuteWWVenturesMechanism Capital
Puffer Finance is an Ethereum-native liquid restaking protocol where users stake ETH to receive pufETH and earn staking plus EigenLayer restaking rewards.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Jason Vranek(Co-Founder & CTO, Puffer Labs)Amir Forouzani(Founder)in
Co-investorsElectric CapitalBinance LabsBreedCoinbase VenturesLBANK LabsLemniscap+11 more
Rena Labs provides a TEE (trusted execution environment) data exchange for confidential AI training and inference on proprietary data, with encryption, on-chain logging, and compliance features.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3Cybersecurity
Co-investorsEterna CapitalPaper VenturesLightspeed FactionMapleblock Capital
Hel.io (MoonPay Commerce) provides crypto checkout, deposit, and subscription tools that let merchants accept payments in thousands of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins, with instant settlement or auto-conversion to fiat.
Co-investorsRockawayX
Schuman Financial issues EURØP, a regulated, fully-backed euro stablecoin that lets businesses and global users transact on-chain in euros.
Crypto & Web3FintechZug, CH
Amrita Srivastava(Founder)Eduardo Morrison Gómez(Founder)Martin Bruncko(Founder)
Co-investorsDelta BlockchainRockawayXTriton Capital
Crypto & Web3Enterprise SoftwareFintech
Co-investorsBain Capital CryptoFigmentPicks and Shovels (Picks & Shovels)
Space and Time provides blockchain indexing, secure offchain data, and zero-knowledge proofs for onchain financial applications.
Crypto & Web3Data & Infrastructure
Scott Dykstra(Founder)in
Co-investorsAlliance DAO (ex DeFi Alliance)Arrington CapitalDigital Currency GroupEterna CapitalF-Prime CapitalHivemind Capital Partners+8 more
Stork is a blockchain oracle that delivers real-time and historical crypto and real-world-asset price feeds to onchain finance (DeFi) applications.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech
Co-investorsLattice CapitalWintermute
Taiko is an open, community-driven project focused on scaling Ethereum.
Crypto & Web3Developer Tools
Co-investorsBollinger Investment GroupGenerative VenturesIOSG VenturesMapleblock CapitalSancus VenturesToken Bay Capital+7 more
TransCrypts is a blockchain-based platform for verifying and sharing employment, health and educational credentials.
CybersecurityData & InfrastructureFintechNewark, US
Zain Zaidi(Founder)inZain Z(Founder)
Co-investorsAlpha EdisonAlumni VenturesAtland VenturesBeyond CapitalInformed Ventures Advisors, LlcMotley Fool Ventures+7 more
TRES provides on-chain risk and treasury management software for self-custodied, EVM-based crypto treasuries, serving funds, trading firms, market makers, DAOs, foundations, exchanges, and custodians.
Crypto & Web3CybersecurityFintech
Co-investors3cubed VenturesAmbush Capitalboldstart venturesMantis CapitalNew Form Capital
Turnkey provides operational wallet infrastructure that lets companies coordinate crypto payments across internal custodial wallets with role-based policies, transaction limits, approval rules, and gas sponsorship.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3CybersecurityData & InfrastructureDeveloper ToolsFintech
Co-investorsArchetypeBain Capital CryptoFigmentMirana VenturesPathlight VenturesSequoia Capital+6 more
WeatherXM operates a community-powered decentralized (DePIN) weather network where owners deploy solar-powered weather stations and earn $WXM token rewards for contributing data.
Climate TechCrypto & Web3IoT
Stratos Theodorou(Founder)in
Co-investorsPlaceholder VCLightspeed FactionBorderless VenturedlabMetaplanetRed Beard Ventures+5 more
Wintermute is a digital asset trading firm that provides liquidity, OTC spot and derivatives trading, market making, and DeFi services for token issuers, protocols, and institutional market participants globally.
Crypto & Web3FintechLondon, GB
Evgeny Gaevoy(Founder & CEO)inYoann T.(Founder)in
Co-investorsDraft Ventures LlcFabric VenturesPantera CapitalRockawayX
XMTP is an open source, decentralized messaging protocol that uses quantum-resistant encryption to let developers build secure, programmable chat apps, mini-apps, and AI agents with native support for payments and digital assets.
Crypto & Web3CybersecurityDeveloper Tools
Co-investorsIDEO CoLab Ventures
Exits · 1
IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolioSkipacq. by Interchain Foundation (Cosmos)
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesEthena Labs · interactivecrypto.com · Aug 21, 2026
Medallion · sharecafe.com.au · Aug 20, 2026
Hyperbolic · royalsocietypublishing.org · Aug 14, 2026
Plume · tickerreport.com · Jul 19, 2026
Monad · crypto-economy.com · Jul 17, 2026
Figure · startbase.com · Jul 16, 2026
Nous Research · blockchain-council.org · Jul 16, 2026
Faction · financefeeds.com · Jul 16, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Faction made?
- Faction has 48 tracked investments, 1 of which have exited via acquisition or IPO, including 1 dated in the last 24 months.
- What stage does Faction invest at?
- Faction invests at the Seed, Series A stages.
- What is Faction's typical check size?
- Faction typically writes checks of $50K – $5M.
- What sectors does Faction focus on?
- Faction focuses on Crypto & Web3.
- Where is Faction located?
- Faction is headquartered in Palo Alto, US.
- Does Faction lead rounds?
- Faction typically participates in rounds rather than leading them.
- Who does Faction co-invest with?
- Faction most often shares deals with Pantera Capital, Wintermute, Coinbase Ventures, among 152 tracked co-investors.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamManos Nikiforakis, WeatherXM and Tim Khoury, Faction VC
Token Warrant · Tim Khoury
Co-investors · 20
Pantera Capital is a blockchain and cryptocurrency-focused investment firm that pioneered early crypto funds in the U.S., offering exposure through venture equity, early-stage tokens, and liquid tokens.
Electric Capital is an early-stage venture firm founded in 2018 that backs founders building trust-minimized technologies across AI, crypto, fintech, and related sectors.
boldstart ventures is an early-stage venture firm that partners with technical founders from inception, leading pre-product rounds and helping build enterprise software companies.
Quona Capital is a venture capital firm that invests in fintech companies expanding financial access in emerging markets across Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, and EMEA.
New Form Capital is an early-stage venture firm investing in teams building at the intersection of blockchain technology, financial markets, and data.
Bankless Ventures is a venture firm backing founders building in the Web3 and crypto ecosystem.
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General Catalyst is a venture capital firm operating as a partnership focused on company building and accelerating the growth of the businesses it backs.
Oak HC/FT is a growth equity firm that partners with founders building companies in healthcare and financial services, leveraging sector expertise and networks.
Nexus Venture Partners invests in early and early growth stage companies operating in India and the United States across multiple sectors. The firm was founded by entrepreneurs with experience building companies.
Vibe Capital is a $10M venture fund investing in Web3, AI, and Deep Science startups at the pre-seed and seed stage.
Mouro Capital is a venture capital investor backing early to growth stage companies, leveraging its expertise and global network across multiple regions.
Galaxy is an institutional digital assets and data center company offering trading, lending, asset management, investment banking, staking, custody, and venture investing across the crypto and blockchain ecosystem, along with a strategic expansion into AI/HPC data center infrastructure.
▶8 more co-investors
Unpopular VenturesBackedPillar VCMusha VenturesSommet ABbacktrace capitalGalaxy InteractiveMicrotraction
Firms observed investing alongside Faction, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Faction's recorded portfolio.
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