Westlake Village Firm Launches Venture Fund for Blockchain, Fintech Startups

Draper Goren Holm announced this week that it launched its first venture fund of $25 million to invest in fintech and blockchain startups.The firm, which has offices at the Hub 101 incubator in Westlake Village, will primarily focus the seed and series A investments in Europe and will open an office in Vienna by the end of the year.Alon Goren, founding partner, said the first fund is a friends and family round of investing.“Alongside Tim Draper and other individual friends investing in us again, other blockchain funds like Blockchain Founders Fund and the Keiretsu Capital Blockchain Fund of Funds participated,” Goren said in a statement.Blockchain is a database that is immutable or cannot be changed. The most well-known use for blockchain is as a digital ledger for cryptocurrencies.Draper Goren Holm produces the LA Blockchain Summit, where the announcement of the fund was made on Wednesday, as well as operating a blockchain venture studio that actively accelerates and incubates early-stage startups. It currently invests in 18 portfolio companies.Josef Holm, another founding partner of the firm, said that Europe is a good location to find other companies to invest in because it has become a major hub for fintech and blockchain innovation by attracting entrepreneurs in Vienna and Berlin, among other cities.“Fund 1 will capture this ever-growing market and Draper Goren Holm will expand its value-add beyond our initial home borders of Los Angeles,” Holm said in a statement.