Ubisoft anchors White Star Capital’s second crypto fund

Gaming giant Ubisoft has backed White Star Capital’s second crypto-focused venture fund as an anchor investor.

The French game developer — famed for its Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry franchises — is the lead investor among a group that has committed roughly $60 million to White Star’s new Digital Asset Fund. The funding represents the ‘first close’ for a vehicle through which White Star ultimately expects to oversee $120 million.

Other investors in the new fund include family offices and wealthy individuals, and conversations with institutional investors about a “second close” are ongoing.

This is the second dedicated crypto fund launched by White Star — a technology investment firm founded in 2014 and managing around $1 billion in total. Its first Digital Asset Fund launched in 2020 with $50 million to invest in crypto firms, and has backed 20 startups including Ledn, Alex, Multis, Paraswap, Exlusible, and Rally.

Ubisoft also backed White Star’s first crypto fund but is doubling down on the latest vehicle as part of a broader plan to accelerate its blockchain-based gaming plans.

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“They’re always looking at this space in a very strategic manner and that’s why they’re partnering with us on this fund,” White Star general partner Sep Alavi told The Block.  

Mass adoption cycle

Besides being larger, Alavi said that the second Digital Asset Fund will target startups working towards the “mass adoption cycle” of crypto technologies, with a focus on DeFi and gaming.

“It’s going to be more about how we bring the next billion people into crypto with daily use cases on applications,” he said. “We’re going to have the majority of our investment in infrastructure and applications.”

White Star’s crypto funds invest in both equity and tokens. The second fund will deploy between $1 million and $7 million at a time, with the goal of backing 20-25 companies across North America, Europe and Asia.

Of the 36 employees at the venture capital firm, six are focused on crypto full time, spread across New York, Toronto, London and Paris.

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