Anthony Pompliano Nets $12.6M to Help Crypto Labor Liquidity, Buys Rival

Anthony Pompliano, founder of Pomp Investments, said his cryptocurrency recruitment firm Inflection Points has raised $12.6 million in funding and announced a deal to acquire a competitor.

In a Twitter thread on Wednesday, the entrepreneur said investors included Thiel Capital, Fifth Down Capital, XYZ Fund, former Palantir CFO Colin Anderson and real estate developer Marc Roberts. Andrew Spellman, Fifth Down Capital’s founder and managing partner, will join the Board of Directors. 

Separately, Inflection Points agreed to acquire New York-based crypto-focused recruiting firm Proof of Talent for an undisclosed sum. CEO Rob Paone said in a blog that Proof of Talent will continue to operate independently. “From the jobseekers perspective, there will be no meaningful changes,” he wrote.

Pompliano said his own firm has helped over 1,000 people score jobs in the cryptocurrency industry and upskilled more than 4,000.

The platform is among a number of other Web3-based job boards including BlockAce, CryptoJobs and Crypto Recruit.

Blockworks reported Pompliano’s plan to launch a jobs marketplace in January 2021, when sentiment around cryptocurrencies was relatively more positive. He launched the business with co-founder Colton Sakamoto, and said the company was self-funded and grew quickly. “We are obsessed with profitability — that is the whole point of capitalism,” he wrote in a tweet.

Fundraising for their crypto jobs marketplace comes during a bear market as the industry faces a downturn triggered by stablecoin TerraUSD’s collapse and several firms facing a liquidity crunch. A chunk of well-known companies have had to reduce their workforce, including Coinbase, Gemini, BlockFi and Crypto.com.

Still, most venture capital firms are hunting for opportunities in the market downturn, as valuations are likely to be depressed. That’s one reason why money is still pouring into the industry.

“Business models like some of the larger crypto trading firms are going to endure, and the names on the doors may change as good risk management is revealed and bad risk management is punished,” Matthew Sigel, head of digital assets research at VanEck, said.

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