BlockRise is an institutional venture firm backing the founders building the foundational infrastructure of the open financial system, early and for the long term.
We partner early and stay long, through cycles, narratives, and the noise. The most consequential companies are built quietly, by founders who see further than the market. We write our first checks before the thesis is obvious, and remain when it becomes inevitable.
Every position is underwritten by original research: protocol economics, regulatory structure, and market design. We measure conviction in decades, not quarters.
The rails beneath global value transfer are being rewritten. We back the protocols that will clear and settle the next quadrillion dollars of economic activity with finality, neutrality, and scale.
Read the thesisCapital markets are becoming software. We invest in the credit, derivatives, and exchange primitives that compose into entirely new financial instruments that are open, composable, and global by default.
Read the thesisOpen systems require new models of trust. We support teams reinventing identity, reputation, and verifiable provenance at internet scale, the connective tissue every other layer depends on.
Read the thesisAdoption is won at the surface. We partner with founders crafting the interfaces that make decentralized systems feel inevitable and effortless to a billion people who will never read a whitepaper.
Read the thesisBackpack pairs a full-featured exchange with a self-custodial wallet, giving users a single home to trade, hold, and manage assets without ever surrendering control of their keys.
Visit BackpackWe measure success in decades, not distributions, and the companies we are proudest of are the ones still being built.
We do not invest in markets. We invest in the few people stubborn enough to build the future the rest of us will eventually take for granted.
We earn our seat through usefulness, not control. The best founders set the pace.
When we lead, we commit reserves, network, and reputation. Half a partner is no partner.
Every category-defining company endures a period where the world disagrees.
A small, senior team. Every founder works directly with the partners who made the investment, from first call to exit.
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Three years on from our first settlement investment, we revisit where the foundational rails are converging, and where the next decade of value will accrue.
We read every application. If you are building infrastructure for the open financial system, we want to hear from you.
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