Galaxy Digital has closed a $175 million venture fund, its first with outside capital, as the company ramps up plans to invest in early-stage crypto startups.
The fund, which exceeded its $150 million target, marks the first time Galaxy has accepted outside capital. Until now, the company had relied solely on its own balance sheet for venture investments, according to a report from Fortune.
General partner Mike Giampapa told the outlet that the goal is to back early-stage companies utilizing stablecoins, DeFi applications and other blockchain use cases that are moving beyond speculation.
“You’re seeing this fundamental shift from more speculative use cases of blockchains to something that’s much more…tangible,” he told Fortune.
Related: Galaxy Digital lists on Nasdaq, seeks to tokenize shares
Galaxy expands venture arm after FTX collapse
According to Giampapa, Galaxy had long wanted to scale its venture operation beyond balance sheet investing, but saw the right time after the FTX collapse.
“Quietly, we had this stablecoin revolution,” he said. “While the industry was getting our feet underneath us again, it became obvious that we wanted to take our venture franchise to the next level.”
The new fund is anchored by Galaxy itself, which holds both general partner and limited partner stakes. Giampapa declined to identify other investors but described them as institutional players, including family offices and fund-of-funds linked to Galaxy’s asset management clients.
Galaxy announced a first close of $113 million in July 2024 and has already deployed $50 million, backing companies such as Monad (a performance-focused blockchain) and Ethena (the issuer of a yield-bearing stablecoin).
Cointelegraph reached out to Galaxy for comment but had not received a response by publication.
Related: Galaxy Digital to pay $200M over Terra promotion fallout
Galaxy becomes a crypto giant
Founded in 2018 by former Goldman Sachs partner Mike Novogratz, Galaxy has grown into a sprawling crypto conglomerate with exposure to asset management, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mining and venture investing.
In May, the firm was listed on Nasdaq and reported $7 billion in assets under management. Still, it suffered a loss of $295 million in the first quarter of 2025 due to falling prices and restructuring in its mining arm.
As Cointelegraph reported, Galaxy Digital clocked its biggest trading day of 2024 on Nov. 5, the day the 2024 US election was called and Donald Trump was declared president-elect. On that day, Novogratz’s net worth surged about 15%, or by around $600 million, to $4.6 billion.
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