Billionaire investor Steve Cohen’s family office, Point72 Asset Management, has made its first direct investment into the crypto-sphere. The firm is leading a $21 million venture funding round for Messari, a blockchain-based analytics and data firm. This investment marks Point72’s initial foray into the crypto-asset world and is part of a larger trend of larger institutional investors allocating capital to the sector.
Messari will use the funds to enhance and expand its data platform — an important development given that reliable third-party analytics are integral to successful crypto investments by larger investors. Messari collects data from numerous sources and networks, providing users with timely insights on prices, market trends, news events, and other relevant information about crypto assets.
Point72’s Managing Partner Mona Naqvi stated that “Messari has created an ecosystem of transparency in one of the least transparent asset classes on Earth” and “[she] believes their revolutionary platform will ultimately help mature this nascent industry.” Other major venture firms participating in this funding round include Coinbase Ventures, Cumberland VC (DRW) Tribeca Venture Partners and Hashkey Capital.
Background
Steve Cohen’s Point72, a Connecticut-based hedge fund firm, has made its first crypto investment, leading a $21 million funding round for analytics firm Messari.
Messari is a blockchain-focused data and analytics firm that provides insights into cryptocurrency and digital asset markets.
The investment is a significant development for the crypto industry, as Point72 is one of the world’s largest and most influential hedge funds. The firm has over $14 billion in assets under management and is controlled by billionaire investor Steve Cohen.
Steve Cohen’s Point72
Point72 is a Stamford, Connecticut- based asset management firm founded by billionaire Steve Cohen. The company focusses on creating investment products for institutional and qualified individual investors looking for accelerated performance. It employs over 1,600 people globally and manages multiple strategies including long/short equity, discretionary macro, quantitative alpha generation, venture capital investments and more.
In 2021 Point72 made its first direct crypto investment leading a $21m round of financing for analytics firm Messari. The investment speaks to the growing demand in hedge funds to gain access to data on cryptocurrency markets. Messari’s goal is to help investors make informed decisions regarding their investments in digital assets including Bitcoin (BTC).
The funding round led by Point72’s venture arm included existing investors DCG, Coinbase Ventures and Nelson Swaby Ventures. According to the chief executive of Messari Ryan Selkis”This $21 million financial injection will super-charge our efforts to build the world’s most comprehensive crypto-asset information and analytics platform so that individuals and institutions can invest with confidence.”
Messari
Messari is an analytics and research firm that provides institutional quality data and insights into the crypto market. Founded in 2018, its mission is to become the go-to destination for blockchain data and information. The company provides:
- Real-time price quotes.
- Analytics data.
- News items.
- Other invaluable insights into the digital currency markets.
Messari also offers tools designed to provide traders with robust resources to develop their trading strategies.
The company has experienced rapid growth since it was founded, gaining traction from investors in both the crypto industry and traditional finance world. Its latest funding round is led by Billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures (formerly SAC Capital Advisors), bringing total investment up to $21 million for Messari. Point72 joins an impressive list of investors backing Messari, including internet venture firm Iconiq Capital; Union Square Ventures; Coinbase Ventures; RRE ventures; Frontier Venture Capital; Vy Capital; Winklevoss Capital; SignalFire VC and OkCoin Ventures.
In a statement accompanying the announcement, Cohen said his firm was “excited” to support Messari’s mission of creating “institutional-quality analytical services” in the cryptocurrency space — something Point72 believes will be key for further adoption of digital currencies by more mainstream investors.”
Billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 makes its first crypto investment, leading $21 million funding round for analytics firm Messari
Billionaire Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management has made its first crypto investment, leading a $21 million funding round for the crypto analytics firm Messari. The venture arm of Point72, Point72 Ventures, has joined several institutional investors, such as Coinbase Ventures, distributes.fund, Dragonfly Capital and Collaborative Fund, to back the analytics startup.
The investment is the first foray into crypto by the Point72 firm, which manages a portfolio of over $20 billion.
Investment amount
Billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen’s family office, Point72 Ventures, has led a $21 million Series A funding round for the crypto-data analytics start-up Messari. Point72 is joined by Coinbase, Pantera Capital, Digital Currency Group and others in backing the New York-based firm.
According to the announcement from Messari Wednesday, the funding will be used to support the development of “open source product tools, data services and DeFi protocols” as well as its research offerings. The investment marks Point72’s first publicly disclosed crypto investment.
The hedge fund conglomerate’s asset management arm currently manages $14.6 billion in assets — excluding private funds — with a focus on long/short investments in health care stocks and equities of U.S.-based companies with over $1 billion in market capitalization such as Alphabet Inc., Intel Corp., Facebook Inc. and Microsoft Corp.. In addition to its traditional stock investments, Point72 also owns stakes in UK Fintech unicorn Revolut and robo-advisor startup OpenInvest, which have dealt with cryptocurrencies extensively over the years.
Other investors
In addition to Point72, other venture capital firms and angel investors backed the Series A funding round. Digital Currency Group, a crypto-focused firm based in New York; several investors from Distributed Global, a firm that focuses on project investing; and angels including Avichal Garg of Electric Capital participated in the funding.
Avichal previously served as director of engineering at Coinbase, chief product officer of Clearmatics Technologies, head of mobile at The Advisory Board Company and director of product management at Microsoft. Messari’s CEO Ryan Selkis referred to Avichal as a “superstar collaborator and investor” who can help grow its concept.
The Series A funding will also be used for expanding Messari’s data platform to design products that would ease research and compliance requirements in the cryptocurrency market, according to an announcement published by Messari. Speaking about the investment, Point72 Ventures CIO Lawrence Calcano said it maintained an open-seasoned attitude toward blockchain technology despite having earlier reservations about its use cases.
Impact
The news about Steve Cohen’s Point72 making its first crypto investment has sparked much interest in the market. With this, some analysts predict that other institutional investors will begin to follow suit, especially since Point72 is one of the world’s most well-respected venture capital and hedge funds.
Of course, the impact of this decision is yet to be seen, but it is sure to be significant.
Point72’s entry into crypto
Famed hedge fund manager Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management is taking its first plunge into cryptocurrency by leading a $21 million Series A funding round for analytics firm Messari.
Point72’s move into crypto signals that institutional investors may be increasingly confident in digital assets. The firm revealed that it has been inspired by the “enormous potential of the nascent blockchain-based digital asset ecosystem to drive positive technological change across enterprises, public markets and society as a whole.”
The specific terms of Point72’s investment have not been made public. However, it has also been reported that Coinbase Ventures, Decentralized Capital, iCapital and Dogcow also participated in the latest funding round, with other groups such as Distributed Global and Kenetic Capital participating in earlier rounds.
Messari is a research platform and data aggregator dedicated to increasing transparency in the crypto space by providing institutional and retail investors with reliable data on cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ether. The new capital injection will continue expanding Messari’s product capabilities, consumer data protections, compliance measures and global scale initiatives.
Messari’s growth potential
The analytics firm Messari, founded by former Coinbase market operations program manager and entrepreneur Ryan Selkis, has received a round of investment from Point72 Ventures and Craft Ventures led by billionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen. The $21 million investment brings the total amount of funding the crypto data collection project raised to nearly $40 million. The funds will be used to onboard more experts in the space and expand product offerings.
Messari’s platform offers access to transparent data, analysis, and research on cryptocurrencies and blockchain protocols. In addition to comprehensive coverage of traditional financial metrics like price movement, trading volume, liquidity aND market capitalization, Messari’s database possesses information unique to crypto assets such as on-chain security data, economic model analysis (e.g., tokenomics), developer activity scores & network performance scores.
The additional resources provided through this round of funding could allow Messari to amp up its efforts in building an “experts network” or community for crowdsourced validation on distributed ledger technologies (DLT) related data. In addition, this move reinforces the platform’s reputation as an essential hub for professional investors who are serious about digging deeper into the mechanics of a digital asset before forming an investing opinion. Furthermore, with Cohen’s influence behind the investment Round 72 could be engaging larger institutions within its existing network which could add legitimacy to digital securities platforms and spur further investments in the sector, increasing Messarai’s growth potential significantly.
Conclusion
This investment by Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management marks an important milestone in the growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a viable asset class. By investing in Messari, Point72 has made its first major foray into the crypto space and will help to position the analytics firm at the forefront of the industry.
This move by one of the world’s largest institutional investors is a sign that digital assets are on track for wider adoption and suggests that many more mainstream investors may follow suit.
With this news, it’s clear that cryptocurrency is becoming increasingly mainstream and gaining traction in terms of global awareness and acceptance.
