Placeholder VC
Venture capitalNew York · Seed–Series A · 6 people tracked
Also known as PLACEHOLDER MANAGEMENT, LLC
Find your way into Placeholder VC
989 people in our graph share verified history with the Placeholder VC team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.
Investment thesis
Placeholder is a venture capital firm focused on early-stage crypto and decentralized networks. Investing since 2017, it backs cryptonetworks, protocols, and Web3 infrastructure and applications, and publishes extensive research on token economics, network governance, decentralized finance, and blockchain scaling. Its portfolio spans smart contract platforms, DeFi protocols, and modular blockchain infrastructure, reflecting a thesis that decentralized networks can capture value in ways distinct from traditional companies.
Source: firm website, verified Sep 15, 2026.
Team · 6 people
from the firm's website
What they invest in
from 36 of 56 portfolio companiesCrypto & Web3 ×31Fintech ×14Data & Infrastructure ×8Developer Tools ×7Media & Entertainment ×4Cloud Computing ×3Enterprise Software ×3AI & Machine Learning ×2
HQs:United States×16Finland×1
Who they back
founder profiles across 25 portfolio companiesFounding team size:solo founder×162 founders×73 founders×2
Where their founders studiedfrom 21 founders with education data
UCL ×3University of California, Berkeley ×3Harvard Business School ×2Stanford University ×2Stanford University Graduate School of Business ×2University of Virginia ×2
What their founders studiedfrom 20 founders with field-of-study data
Computer Science ×13Business & Management ×4Economics ×3Engineering ×3Mathematics & Statistics ×2
Where their founders worked beforefrom 22 founders with career history
ConsenSys ×2Jufy Projects ×2
1 founders hold a PhD · 2 hold an MBA (of 21 with degree data)
Investments · 56 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBy year:2024 · 32023 · 52022 · 32021 · 12020 · 22019 · 12018 · 12016 · 117 dated
NerdWallet provides educational content and resources about investing, including articles, product reviews, and guidance on investment accounts and portfolio construction.
ConsumerFintechSan Francisco, US
Tim Chen(Executive Officer, Director)inJun Hyung Lee(Chief Financial Officer)Sam Mischner(Chief Revenue Officer)inDavid Covell(Chief Product Officer)inEkumene Lysonge(Chief Legal Officer)inNicholas Tatum(Chief Accounting Officer)in
Co-investorsBAM VenturesCore Venture CapitaliGlobe PartnersInnovius CapitalIVP (Institutional Venture Partners)RRE Ventures+1 more
A social platform where users post content and discussions that are ranked by community votes, reaching hundreds of millions of monthly visitors across web and mobile applications.
Cloud ComputingConsumerMedia & EntertainmentSocialSan Francisco, US
Steve Huffman(Founder)inAlexis Ohanian(Cofounder)inMelissa Tidwell(Executive Officer)in
BoardSam Altman(Interim CEO (2014); board member until 2022)Keith Rabois(Director)Robert A. Sauerberg, Jr.(Director)
Co-investors500 GlobalA.Capital VenturesA*AAF Management Ltd.AlleyCorpAndreessen Horowitz+28 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-investorsLightspeed FactionBorderless VentureConsenSys MeshdlabFactiongrowX Ventures+6 more
Matter Labs builds Prividium, an Ethereum-secured blockchain platform designed for banks and financial institutions to issue, settle, and manage digital assets with privacy and compliance controls.
Crypto & Web3Enterprise SoftwareFintechGeorge Town, Grand Cayman
Alex Gluchowski(Executive Officer, Director)inAleksandr Vlasov(Director)
BoardChristopher Burniske(Director)in
Board seatChris Burniske· per SEC Form D
Co-investors1k(x)1kxa16z cryptoAndreessen HorowitzBlockchain CapitalCoinFund+9 more
Aleo is a Layer-1 blockchain platform powered by zero-knowledge cryptography that enables private, programmable, and scalable applications.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsEnterprise SoftwareFintechReno, US
Howard Wu(Founder)inMichael Beller(Executive Officer)
Co-investorsCoinbase VenturesA.Capital Venturesa16z cryptoAmbush CapitalDigital Currency GroupEthereal Ventures Management Ltd.+8 more
Arx develops secure chips that embed blockchain authentication into physical items like apparel, collectibles, and certificates, enabling decentralized provenance verification and digital experiences without centralized servers.
Crypto & Web3Deep TechHardware
Co-investorsInflection.xyz1kxCastle Island VenturesPlaceholderSeed Club Ventures
Avantgarde Finance structures RWA-backed looping strategies aimed at capital efficiency with conservative risk controls, built around real-world-asset collateral and on-chain risk management.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Mona El Isa(Founder)in
Co-investorsAcrew CapitalBollinger Investment GroupCollab+Currency
Botanix is a Bitcoin-based blockchain platform for applications focused on Bitcoin financialization.
Crypto & Web3New York, US
Willem Schroe(Executive Officer)in
Co-investorsEdessa CapitalMetamatic GroupWeb3com VenturesPolychain Capital
Celestia designs and delivers custom, high-throughput blockchain chains for enterprises, separating compute and storage so each scales independently.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureEnterprise Software
Mustafa Al-Bassam(Chairman & CEO, Celestia Foundation)inNick White(Co-founder & CEO, Celestia Labs)inPreston Evans(CTO, Celestia Labs)Sarah Armstrong(CFO)inZach Leibowitz(General Counsel)in
Co-investorsAdvanced BlockchainAlphaLab CapitalBain Capital CryptoBlockchain CapitalCaladanCoinbase Ventures+18 more
Company Zero builds cryptocurrency and communications software focused on fundamental privacy, security, and liberty principles rather than feature accumulation or speculation.
Crypto & Web3CybersecurityDeveloper Tools
Jacob Yocom-Piatt(CEO)
Compound is an Ethereum smart-contract protocol for supplying and borrowing crypto assets at algorithmically set interest rates.
Geoffrey Hayes(Founder)Robert Leshner(Founder)
Co-investorsa16z cryptoAbstract VenturesAndreessen HorowitzBig Candle CapitalBitDAOChapter One+9 more
Decred is a cryptocurrency protocol that uses a hybrid proof-of-work and proof-of-stake consensus system, emphasizing holder participation through direct voting rights and treasury-funded development.
Crypto & Web3
tacotime
Co-investorsBlueYard CapitalLvna CapitalMerkle Tree Capital
Digital Asset Research provides vetted crypto market data, pricing, benchmarks, blockchain and staking data, and asset diligence reports for institutional clients making digital asset decisions.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech
Co-investorsMGV.VC
Eclipse is a Layer 2 blockchain network for Ethereum that runs the Solana Virtual Machine (SVM), combining Solana's execution speed with Ethereum's liquidity to support high-throughput decentralized applications.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsFintech
Neel Somani(Founder)inVijay Chetty(CEO)Terry Chung(Head of Strategy)Ben Livshits(CTO)
Co-investorsHack VCDBAFenbushi CapitalMaven 11OKX VenturesPlaceholder+5 more
Numerai provides obfuscated, regularized financial datasets and a data science tournament where participants build machine learning models to predict market targets and submit predictions.
AI & Machine LearningCrypto & Web3Fintech
Co-investorsUnion Square Ventures (USV)
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)
Co-investors6th Man VenturesA.Capital VenturesCoinbase VenturesDigital Currency GroupDraper AssociatesNascent+2 more
An affiliate-based editorial review platform that evaluates crypto casinos, token-based bonuses, and blockchain payment methods for US-based online gambling players.
Crypto & Web3Media & Entertainment
Co-investorsBollinger Investment GroupFramework VenturesPlaceholderRibbit CapitalTrue.
Gearbox provides institutional credit infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets and stablecoins, offering margin, prime brokerage, and portfolio loan products.
Crypto & Web3FintechSaaS
Co-investorsPolymorphic Capital1kxPlaceholderVariant Fund
A personal website by Justin O'Beirne featuring long-form essays and investigations analyzing digital mapping products such as Google Maps and Apple Maps, along with experimental data models on global city importance and geopolitical power.
Media & Entertainment
Justin O'Beirne
Gyroscope operates a decentralized finance protocol enabling passive liquidity provision through concentrated swap yields on volatile and stable asset pairs, and issues GYD, a stablecoin designed for efficient liquidity.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Co-investorsArchetypePlaceholderRobot Ventures
Jito optimizes transaction execution and MEV (maximal extractable value) rewards on the Solana blockchain network.
Crypto & Web3
Zano Sherwani(Founder)in
Co-investorsa16z cryptoAndreessen HorowitzElectric CapitalMulticoin CapitalFoundation CapitalRobot Ventures+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)FactionHack VCLongHash VenturesMulticoin CapitalParaFi Capital+7 more
Magic provides an API for embedded wallet creation, transaction signing, and onchain automation, serving developers and applications building on blockchain infrastructure.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsSan Francisco, US
Jaemin J(Founder)
Co-investorsBloccelerate VCCoinFundDigital Currency GroupSur VenturesEarl Grey CapitalGTMfund+2 more
Ethereum-based Maker Protocol and MakerDAO issue the DAI stablecoin, governed by MKR holders; now rebranded as Sky.
Co-investors1confirmation1k(x)1kxA.Capital VenturesDraper AssociatesHack VC+3 more
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
The Move Book is a free online guide to the Move programming language and the Sui blockchain, aimed at developers interested in learning Move and building on Sui.
Crypto & Web3Developer Tools
Damir Shamanaev
A venture capital partnership investing in cryptonetworks to decentralize access to data, wealth, and power.
Co-investorsAmbush CapitalFoundryUnion Square Ventures (USV)Hack VCParadigmPlaceholder
Obol provides distributed validator infrastructure and staking solutions for the Ethereum blockchain, serving institutional operators and AI agents.
Cloud ComputingCrypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureOttawa, US
Collin Myers(Founder)inOisín Kyne(Founder)inSchmiedt Mara(Executive Officer)
Co-investorsAmbush CapitalArchetypeCoinbase VenturesFigmentMaelstromNascent+2 more
Orca is a liquidity protocol and trading platform on the Solana blockchain that enables users to discover, deploy, and manage yield strategies across decentralized liquidity pools.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Michael Hwang(CEO)in
Co-investors6th Man VenturesCollab+CurrencyMarin Digital VenturesRockawayXRyze LabsJump Crypto+4 more
DCR.farm operates a non-custodial Voting Service Provider (VSP) for the Decred network, maintaining always-online voting wallets that let ticket holders vote their tickets for a small fee.
Crypto & Web3
Pocket Network provides decentralized infrastructure for Web3 applications, enabling developers to access blockchain data without relying on centralized providers.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureTampa, US
Pabel Nunez(Treasurer)Michael O'Rourke(President)inLuis Correa(Vice President)
Co-investorsArrington CapitalBlockwallCogitent VenturesDeepTech VenturesFlorida FundersMapleblock Capital+11 more
Polymer Labs is a blockchain infrastructure startup that raised a $23M Series A in 2024.
Bo Du(Founder)in
Co-investorsAdvanced BlockchainAmbush CapitalBlockchain CapitalCoinbase VenturesD1 VenturesDigital Currency Group+8 more
Saga is a platform for building persistent character AI agents that let studios, creators, and brands turn characters, brands, and worlds into digital personalities that engage users across social platforms, messaging apps, and online communities.
AI & Machine LearningCreator EconomyGamingLas Vegas, US
Rebecca Liao(Co-Founder & CEO)Jin Kwon(Co-Founder & CSO)inBogdan Alexandrescu(Co-Founder & VP of Engineering)inRyan Robert Dean(Executive Officer, Director)
BoardKevin Dale Klassen(Director)
Co-investorsCrit VenturesD1 VenturesFigmentHypersphere VenturesLongHash VenturesSamsung Next+10 more
Solana is a blockchain network designed for high-performance internet capital markets, payments, and cryptocurrency applications.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintechSan Francisco, US
Anatoly Yakovenko(Solana Founder & Solana Labs CEO)inAlan Yu
Co-investors1k(x)1kx500 Globala16z cryptoAbstract VenturesAegis Ventues+37 more
Squads delivers financial services to businesses, individuals, and developers using open infrastructure and global internet capital markets.
Fintech
Stepan Simkin(Founder & CEO)
Co-investorsCoinbase VenturesCollab+CurrencyElectric CapitalMulticoin CapitalReciprocal VenturesReverie+9 more
Tally provides a web application for viewing and participating in on-chain DAO governance, letting token holders track proposals, voters, and holders and cast votes for protocols such as those on Ethereum.
Crypto & Web3
Co-investorsAppWorks VenturesBloccelerate VCBlockchain CapitalLemniscap
The Decred Digest is a community-run blog publishing news and commentary related to the Decred cryptocurrency project.
Crypto & Web3Media & Entertainment
ethereum.org is a public, open-source educational resource and community portal for the Ethereum blockchain network, maintained by a core team and thousands of global contributors.
Crypto & Web3Developer ToolsEdTech
Co-investors1confirmationAdvanced BlockchainBaseTwoBloccelerate VCBollinger Investment GroupCollab+Currency+20 more
Zerion is a self-custodial, multichain wallet and data platform that aggregates assets and positions across 58+ blockchains in real time, offering swap routing, trading, and an API for wallet data access.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintechSan Francisco, US
Evgeny Yurtaev(Founder & CEO)inAlex Bashlykov(Director)in
BoardToby Coppel(Director)inVadim Koleoshkin(Director)inBrad Burnham(Director)in
Co-investorsAlliance DAO (ex DeFi Alliance)BitDAODigital Currency GroupMantle NetworkMosaic VenturesPolymorphic Capital+14 more
Other
Tracked investments with no reachable website or further public details — typically companies that wound down, renamed, or were absorbed.
Nori Inc / WARisk Labs3BoxBackpackBitcoin’s hash-rateDcrdataDcrstatsDrip LabsFOAMInfinity ExchangeliabilityMagic Labsmemcoin2Movement LabsRockawayX portfolio company:TensorSolend
Rows marked “SEC filing” are inferred from directors named on the company's SEC Form D — public regulatory data, not a portfolio list published by the firm.
Exits · 3
2 IPOs · 1 acquisitionsNerd WalletNASDAQ: NRDSRedditNYSE: RDDTMagic Labsacq. by Payward, Inc. (Kraken parent)
Portfolio news
latest coverage across their companies
Maker · indianretailer.com · Aug 20, 2026
Compound · crowdfundinsider.com · Aug 18, 2026
Monad · crypto-economy.com · Jul 17, 2026
Arx · resiliencemedia.co · Jul 17, 2026
Avantgarde Finance · yonkerstimes.com · Jul 15, 2026
Reddit · simplywall.st · Jul 15, 2026
Botanix · kalkine.com.au · Jul 13, 2026
Obol Network · nexttier.pro · Jul 6, 2026
Frequently asked questions
- How many investments has Placeholder VC made?
- Placeholder VC has 56 tracked investments, 3 of which have exited.
- What stage does Placeholder VC invest at?
- Placeholder VC invests at the Seed, Series A stages.
- What sectors does Placeholder VC focus on?
- Placeholder VC focuses on Crypto & Web3.
- Where is Placeholder VC located?
- Placeholder VC is headquartered in New York, US.
- Who does Placeholder VC co-invest with?
- Placeholder VC most often shares deals with Coinbase Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Figment, among 182 tracked co-investors.
From the blog
visit blog ↗Placeholder VC has recently analyzed Solana's validator economics and decentralization challenges, questioned assumptions about L1 token monetary premiums, and developed composite metrics for comparing smart contract network performance across multiple financial and usage dimensions. AI summary
Media · Podcasts & interviews
featuring the teamPlaceholder VC's Chris Burniske & Alex Evans @ OKCoin's $DCR/USD Listing
Decred · Chris Burniske
The Price and Value of Governance | Joel Monegro, Placeholder VC
TE Academy · Joel Monegro
🔴 Calculating Value & Risk in Crypto Investing - Chris Burniske (Placeholder VC)
The Blockcrunch Podcast · Chris Burniske
Co-investors · 22
Robot Ventures is a $75M early-stage crypto fund founded and led by Robert Leshner (Compound) and Tarun Chitra (Gauntlet), who actively run major DeFi companies while managing the fund, giving founders direct access to operators at the center of on-chain markets. The fund specializes in backing highly technical crypto primitives at the pre-seed stage before they become marquee names, leveraging deep quant research expertise to evaluate complex DeFi mechanisms that many generalist VCs struggle to understand.
Blockchain Capital is a venture firm that has partnered with crypto builders since 2013, investing across the blockchain and digital asset ecosystem.
Archetype is an early-stage venture fund backing crypto founders building new markets and protocols.
Foundation Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm that commits to founders at the idea stage and maintains long-term relationships with portfolio companies through their growth journey.
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.
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.
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.
Hashed is a venture firm backing founders building in AI, crypto, and frontier technology, offering hands-on ecosystem support to portfolio companies from inception to global scale.
Weekend Fund is an early-stage venture fund started by Ryan Hoover (founder of Product Hunt) and Vedika Jain, writing checks into consumer and B2B startups globally.
Northzone is a technology-focused venture capital firm investing across AI and deep tech on both sides of the Atlantic, backing companies from early stage through growth.
▶10 more co-investors
Earl Grey CapitalShima CapitalBain Capital CryptoDBAFounders FundRedpoint VenturesSarona VenturesAglae VenturesBlockchange VenturesHyperchain Capital
Firms observed investing alongside Placeholder VC, from public investor directories. Shared companies are the overlap with Placeholder VC's recorded portfolio.
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