Nascent
Crossover fundSan Francisco · Pre-Seed–Series A · 5 people tracked
Investment thesis
Nascent focuses on open markets and permissionless technology within the crypto ecosystem. The firm positions itself as a deep user and builder of crypto infrastructure, aiming to build, expand, and capture opportunity in these markets. It deploys capital across both venture investments and liquid token strategies, reflecting a hybrid approach to crypto exposure. Nascent seeks to connect with builders working on projects that can make a positive impact in the crypto space.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 3, 2026.
Team · 5 people
from the firm's website
What they invest in
from 43 of 112 portfolio companiesCrypto & Web3 ×40Fintech ×23Data & Infrastructure ×11Developer Tools ×6AI & Machine Learning ×4Creator Economy ×4Cybersecurity ×3Cloud Computing ×2
HQs:United States×9United Kingdom×1British Virgin Islands×1
Investments · 112 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2026 · 12025 · 12022 · 13 dated
0x provides onchain routing and liquidity aggregation infrastructure for enterprise wallets, payments platforms, and exchanges.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintechSan Francisco, US
Will Warren(Co-Founder & Co-CEO)inAmir Bandeali(Co-Founder & Co-CEO (formerly Co-Founder & CTO))Alex Q. Xu(Co-Founder)Fulvia Morales(Director of Product (previously Group Product Manager))Stuart Law(Head of Operations)Theo Gonella(Group Product Manager)
Aevo is a decentralized options and perpetual futures exchange that combines off-chain matching with on-chain settlement on a custom Ethereum Layer 2, offering traders options, perpetual futures, and structured products within a single margin account.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Ajna is a decentralized protocol for peer-to-peer secured lending and borrowing of on-chain assets, operating without governance or external price feeds.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
DeFi self-paying loan protocol
Alethea provides Artemis, an AI-powered risk management platform that detects and contextualizes information manipulation, coordinated influence operations, and online disinformation threats.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareSaaSWashington, US
Lisa Kaplan(Founder & CEO)Fiona Taylor(Executive Officer)
BoardTed Schlein(Director)inCarl Smith, Jr.(Director)
Alethea AI builds customized video and livestreaming AI agents that engage audiences with real-time, multimodal interaction for education, marketing, and community management.
AI & Machine LearningCreator EconomyMarketing Tech
Arif Khan(CEO)
Web3 accelerator and founder community
Alliance is a selective accelerator and founder community for crypto and AI startups, providing $1M in funding, a 10-week program (in-person in New York City plus remote), mentorship, and connections to investors to help startups reach product-market fit.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3New York City, US
Enterprise liquid Ethereum staking
Chicago, US
Matthew R. Leisinger(Executive Officer, Director)Mara Schmiedt(Executive Officer, Director)Evan Weiss(Executive Officer)
BoardMin Teo(Director)
Aztec is a Layer 2 blockchain network on Ethereum that enables programmable privacy for decentralized applications through client-side zero-knowledge proofs and a dual state architecture.
Crypto & Web3CybersecurityDeveloper ToolsLondon, GB
ZacThomas Pocock(Founding CEO)inZachary Williamson(Founding CTO & Current CEO)inArnaud Schenk(Cofounder)inJoe Andrews(Cofounder & Head of Product)in
Deposit Stablecoins in a blink.
Incentive and liquidity hub on Initia
Clipper is a decentralized exchange (DEX) offering concentrated liquidity pools for cryptocurrency trading, designed to protect liquidity providers from impermanent loss, MEV bots, and sandwich attacks.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Code4rena was a platform that organized security audits and bug bounties for decentralized finance projects, connecting security researchers with blockchain development teams.
Crypto & Web3Cybersecurity
Definitive builds a non-custodial execution layer and trading infrastructure for crypto, serving traders and developers across DeFi.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech
Dennis Qian(Co-Founder)inJai Prasad(Co-Founder)inBlake Arnold(Co-Founder)in
San Francisco, US
Diego Ignacio Estevez Lopez(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Juan Manuel Estevez Lopez(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)
Divine develops an unsecured lending platform using stablecoins that enables borrowers in underserved markets to access credit through progressive trust-building mechanisms.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
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
Decentralized savings and credit
Etherscan is a blockchain explorer platform that provides search, API, and analytics services for Ethereum and multiple other blockchains.
Crypto & Web3Data & Infrastructure
Matthew Tan(CEO & Founder)
Private and secure transactions
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
Enables Web3 developers to achieve off-chain aware and truly automated smart contracts that are self-executing and gas-less.
Gelato provides smart wallet and rollup infrastructure, enabling developers to launch gasless onboarding, smart wallets, and custom rollups through a single SDK.
Cloud ComputingCrypto & Web3Developer Tools
Institutional grade crypto options analytics
Hologram is a platform that lets users bring PFP (profile picture) NFTs to life as avatars for use in the metaverse, and enables artists to create or sell 2D and 3D characters and assets integrated across its ecosystem.
Creator EconomyCrypto & Web3Gaming
Infinity Pools is a decentralized finance protocol for trading with leverage, offering positions with no counterparty risk for liquidity providers and no liquidations as long as interest is paid.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Khalani provides infrastructure for cross-chain and multi-provider transactions, enabling operators to define enforceable execution rules (price, latency, finality) that are automatically enforced across a network of solvers, market makers, bridges, and on/off-ramp providers.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech
Comprehensive crypto market dashboard aggregating data, news, metrics, and proprietary research
MetaStreet offers a suite of products including NodeFi Yield Pass, which converts node yields and NFT airdrops into tradable tokens to enhance liquidity for owners in the DeFi ecosystem.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Metropolis builds deployment tools and media for smart contract developers in the crypto sector.
Crypto & Web3Developer Tools
Mithraeum is a blockchain-based strategy game playable across multiple networks where players manage settlements, develop economies, build armies, and engage in diplomatic gameplay on a shared global map.
Crypto & Web3Gaming
MyShell is an AI platform for creating images, portraits, filters, and short videos, including a product called MyShell Art with a graphical interface aimed at casual users and digital creators.
AI & Machine LearningConsumerCreator Economy
Obol provides distributed validator infrastructure and staking solutions for the Ethereum blockchain, serving institutional operators and AI agents.
Cloud ComputingCrypto & Web3Data & Infrastructure
Optimism provides blockchain infrastructure based on the OP Stack, letting exchanges, fintechs, and financial institutions deploy and operate their own chains or add onchain features while it handles operations, security, and upgrades.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech
Osmosis is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange built on the Cosmos blockchain that enables users to access liquidity and assets from over 100 blockchain ecosystems.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
PoolTogether is a permissionless protocol that enables no-loss prize savings, allowing users to deposit funds for a chance to win while generating yield from deposits.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Franklin Templeton, a global investment management organization, has developed Benji, a retail mobile app and institutional web app for browsing and investing in tokenized securities and cryptocurrencies.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech
Adam Lawrence(Founder)in
Sense is a decentralized finance protocol that splits variable yield-bearing assets into fixed-term Principal and Yield Tokens, enabling users to earn fixed rates, trade yields, and provide liquidity on a custom automated market maker.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
New York, US
Ludwig Thouvenin(Executive Officer, Director)Karthik Srinivasan(Executive Officer, Director)
Superstate operates a tokenization platform (FundOS) that lets asset managers tokenize private funds, mutual funds, and ETFs, connecting securities with crypto capital markets for 24/7 onchain trading, settlement, and DeFi use cases.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
A protocol or platform enabling staking, vaults, and incentivized voting mechanisms within a cryptocurrency or blockchain ecosystem.
Crypto & Web3
Thesis is a venture studio that builds and launches Bitcoin and web3 products, including Bitcoin-backed lending (Mezo, Acre), Bitcoin rewards apps (Fold, Lolli), a self-custodial web3 wallet (Taho), tokenized Bitcoin (tBTC), and a private menstrual cycle app (Embody).
ConsumerCrypto & Web3Fintech
Union is a subsecond messaging protocol for application-specific intents and transfers, providing cross-chain aggregation, interoperability, and chain abstraction.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureDeveloper Tools
Whetstone builds infrastructure for onchain markets.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
XMTP is an open-source, decentralized messaging protocol that enables secure communication and payments between people and agents without intermediary control.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsSocialWilmington, US
Matthew P. Galligan(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)Shane McSimov(Executive Officer, Director, Promoter)
Exits · 1
IPOs and acquisitions across the tracked portfolio0x Labs Decentralized P2P tradingcrypto exchanges: ZRX
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companiesOptimism · klkntv.com · Aug 17, 2026
Reservoir · thecooldown.com · Aug 16, 2026
0x Labs Decentralized P2P trading · 0x Labs Blog · Aug 4, 2026
Syndicate · tekedia.com · Jul 18, 2026
Obol Network Distributed validator network · nexttier.pro · Jul 6, 2026
Osmosis Leading Cosmos DEX · osmosisim.com · Feb 23, 2026
Whetstone Research · phemex.com · Jan 28, 2026
Divine Research Under-collateralized credit system · writing.divine.inc · Sep 25, 2025
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Nascent made?
- Nascent has 112 tracked investments, including 2 dated in the last 24 months.
- What stage does Nascent invest at?
- Nascent invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What sectors does Nascent focus on?
- Nascent focuses on Crypto & Web3, SaaS.
- Where is Nascent located?
- Nascent is headquartered in San Francisco, US.
- Who does Nascent co-invest with?
- Nascent most often shares deals with Coinbase Ventures, IOSG Ventures, Pantera Capital, among 162 tracked co-investors.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamDan Elitzer | Co-Founder of Nascent and IDEO CoLab Ventures | web3 talks | May 12th 2022
Google TechTalks · Dan Elitzer
Dan Elitzer: Nascent & Empty Set Dollar
Bankless · Dan Elitzer
Images
Co-investors · 16
Archetype is an early-stage venture fund backing crypto founders building new markets and protocols.
Hack VC is a thesis-driven venture capital firm that partners with founders at the earliest stages building next-generation Internet technologies across crypto, AI, and other frontier areas.
ParaFi Capital is a multi-strategy investment firm operating across public and private markets, focused on financial technology and capital markets innovation, including digital assets.
Dragonfly is a crypto-focused investment firm comprising Dragonfly Ventures, Dragonfly Liquid, and Metastable, an early crypto hedge fund it acquired. It invests in and researches blockchain, tokens, and crypto companies.
Ethereal Ventures is a global investment firm focused on crypto, permissionless networks, and digital assets, backing companies from inception through growth.
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.
Underscore VC is an early-stage venture firm based in Boston that invests in B2B software startups globally, connecting founders to Boston's innovation ecosystem.
Volt Capital is a crypto-native venture fund that originated from the Token Daily community platform and maintains a separate validator arm to deeply understand blockchain networks they don't even invest in. The firm focuses on early-stage companies that use crypto rails but have familiar Web2-style business models, deliberately targeting overlooked areas from previous cycles while other VCs chase newer narratives.
SparkLabs Global Ventures is an early-stage venture fund whose partners are described as experienced operators and entrepreneurs, providing capital along with hands-on guidance to founders on scaling and international expansion.
Techstars is a startup accelerator and early-stage investor that funds ambitious founders and provides capital, mentorship, and access to a global network of investors, operators, and corporate partners.
Kleiner Perkins is a venture capital firm that backs founders across technology and life sciences, from early stage through growth.
Resolute Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that leads pre-seed and seed rounds, backing founders with grit, energy and conviction.
▶4 more co-investors
CoinFundSeed Club VenturesPage One VenturesCambrian Asset Management
Firms observed investing alongside Nascent, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Nascent's recorded portfolio.
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Cherubic Ventures is known for investing before a startup even launches or reaches product-market fit, often as the first institutional investor, while also setting aside half of its latest fund for follow-on support all the way through pre-IPO; it was also one of the first venture firms to operate as a solo general partner and has grown into one of the largest funds run that way. Founded by Matt Cheng, who previously built two companies that each reached over $1 billion in public market value, the firm was designed from the start to invest across both the U.S. and Asia, backing early breakout companies in places like Croatia, Bangladesh, Japan, and Taiwan in addition to the U.S., with its Taipei roots still central to its identity alongside its Silicon Valley presence.