South Korean investment firm Hashed raises $120m for blockchain-focused fund

Hashed, a blockchain-focused investment group based in Seoul and Silicon Valley, announced that it has raised US$120 million for its Hashed Venture Fund I.

Hashed CEO and managing partner Simon Kim / Photo credit: Hashed

However, the firm didn’t mention whether this was the first or final close of the fund, or what the target amount is.

In a statement, Hashed said it will invest in blockchain and other technology startups that can promote protocol economy via the new fund.

Protocol economy designates an open economy supported by independent and consensus-driven agreements that can reward participants through digital assets.

Hashed said it aims to capture the potential growth of protocol economy’s future markets by strategically targeting problems faced by platform giants and investing in innovative solutions.

Recently, the investment firm announced its partnership with KB Kookmin Bank – one of South Korea’s biggest banks – to establish Koda, a platform to manage digital assets for individual and corporate clients.

Founded in 2017, the firm’s portfolio companies include South Korean service-centric blockchain platform Klaytn, Japanese blockchain firm Link, US cloud computing platform Oasis Labs, and Vietnam’s TomoChain, which focuses on solving the scalability problem on blockchain platforms. Hashed also helps accelerate public blockchain projects for Asia’s IT companies.

“By ushering in the era of protocol economy, the Korean domestic startup scene will witness the resurgence of the blockchain industry as well as its maturation market, attracting both government and institutional support for the new paradigm,” said Simon Kim, CEO and managing partner at Hashed.

Revenues from global blockchain technology will increase significantly in the coming years, with the market expected to reach over US$39 billion in size by 2025, according to Statista.