True Global Ventures (TGV) on 1 Sept 2021 announced the closing of its True Global Ventures 4 Plus (TGV 4 Plus) Fund at over US$100 million, dedicated to blockchain companies primarily in late-stage equity funding Series B and C.
The fund’s four investment committees focus on companies that bring the latest technology in Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) across four verticals: entertainment, infrastructure, financial services, data analytics & artificial intelligence (AI). In the life of the fund (10 years), TGV will invest in equity in 10 to 20 companies.
According to Grand View Research, the global blockchain technology market is expected to reach US$394.60bn by 2028 and expand at a CAGR of 82.4 percent from 2021 to 2028. Much of this growth comes from financial institutions looking to deploy blockchain applications.
These include non-fungible tokens (NFT), enterprise blockchain solutions, digital identities, central bank digital currencies, and decentralized finance (DeFi). As such, increased commercial adoption of DLTs such as blockchain will help to accelerate the mainstream adoption of digital currencies.
TGV 4 Plus is funded by 40 partners who contributed 27 percent of the fund, together with a number of entrepreneurs, business angels, family offices and institutional investors, many with co-investment rights in future equity rounds.
The fund has invested in five companies to date, including one of the world’s first NFT focused unicorns. Under TGV 4 Plus, these portfolio companies have seen material value creation and commercial traction in the past months.
These companies include Animoca Brands (Unicorn global market leader in “Play-to-Earn” blockchain gaming and NFT), Forge Global (Global market leader in secondary private markets), The Sandbox (Global market leader in gaming metaverse), Canada Computational Unlimited Inc. (Bitcoin mining with 100 percent renewable energy) and QuantumRock (AI asset management market leader).
As TGV’s partners themselves are serial entrepreneurs, their experience helps portfolio companies to accelerate growth with global commercial relationships, promote investments, and connect with traditional VCs, loans, and private equity firms for refinancing, thus bringing extensive experience in company acquisition and exit.
Kushal Shah, co-founder of Dubai Angel Investors and head of digital at Roland Berger, also Limited Partner at TGV 4 said: “I have seen how TGV invests not only money but also a lot of effort and introductions in order to grow their portfolio companies. TGV 4 partners are serial value creators with their partnership approach.”
Middle East to play key role
Many Limited Partners are based in the region and are strong believers that the Middle East will play an important role in the adoption of the technology in the forthcoming years.
“Being a partner at TGV 4 allows me to keep up to date with the latest technology in different industries that may be relevant to banks in future,” said Olivier Crespin UAE Limited Partner.
Pearce Clune, Limited Partner and tech, investor also based in Dubai is impressed: “I am impressed by the unique deal sourcing and selection process that True Global Ventures employs. By combining future proofed and industry leading business ideas with a highly qualified and motivated management team, I believe this offers an opportunity for accelerated returns.”
Middle East General Partner for TGV and Director at La Sorbonne Center for Artificial Intelligence, Abu Dhabi (SCAI), Valerie Hawley, believes it is a very exciting time for blockchain technology in the Middle East which is spearheading the development of Smart Government and actively growing its gaming sector.
The UAE government is making all efforts to foster and encourage blockchain start-ups, wanting to become a global hub for the technology, funding initiatives and conferences means regional start-ups are growing and TGV hopes to work closely with them in the years ahead.
TGV has run 56 events over five years, including eight invitation-only conferences every year. These events showcase portfolio companies, create an ecosystem for fruitful encounters, generate business and share investment opportunities with leading technology entrepreneurs, business angels, VCs, family offices, and institutional investors.
These encounters are where portfolio companies land deals and their subsequent financing rounds.
“The TGV team continues to demonstrate their incredible value add to their portfolio companies by helping them not only with client introductions but also with next round financing and ultimately exits,” said Howard Morgan, Chairman, B Capital Group, Co-Founder, First Round Capital and a Limited Partner of TGV.