Hashed Raises $200M for Web 3 Investments

Crypto investment firm Hashed has raised $200 million for a fund dedicated to growing the Web 3 ecosystem, the company announced Wednesday.

The fund is a sequel to the company’s $120 million fund announced last December.

While the South Korea-based company did not disclose investors, it said the raise included investment from “the largest Korean IT companies, multi-discipline conglomerates and globally renowned investment firms,” according to a press release.

Hashed has been an active investor in the Web 3 gaming space dating back to 2016, hitting big on projects like Axie Infinity and The Sandbox. The firm was also an early investor in the Terra blockchain, whose native LUNA token has surged to all-time highs in recent weeks.

Hashed’s Baek Kim told CoinDesk in an interview that he believes the speculatory phase of investment for projects like The Sandbox is now over, and what institutional firms are now backing is longer-term, more consistent growth in the Web 3 sector.

Investors have been quick to pour money into metaverse development, particularly for gaming-related ventures. FTX, Lightspeed and Solana Ventures announced a $100 million fund to grow Web 3 gaming on Solana in November.

“Just a few years ago, people doubted whether we would be able to transition our offline experience to online, but now people no longer question the value of digital assets such as NFTs and related products to be used in the metaverse,” Hashed managing partner and CEO Simon Kim said in a press release. “This change in our perception indicates that we have been right.”

With news of the new fund, Kim and fellow longtime Hashed member Sean Hong have been promoted to partners of the firm. Hong is currently the company’s chief financial officer, while Kim leads global investments.

UPDATE (Dec. 1 17:16 UTC): Corrects that Sean Hong is the company’s chief financial officer.