Kraken is supporting the launch of a new independent initiative to actively invest in early stage cryptocurrency and fintech startups. Kraken Ventures, a global investment operation with a presence in Austin, Berlin, Hong Kong, London, New York, and San Francisco will provide the necessary resources and expertise to developers and respective technologies that will power the next wave of innovation in our industry. Kraken Ventures offers the best of both worlds in being a completely autonomous fund that’s backed by the resources and expertise of Kraken. The breadth of projects Kraken Ventures will assist in is quite extensive; fintech, crypto companies & protocols, decentralized finance (DeFi) as well as enabling technologies such as AI, Machine & Deep learning, RegTech, and cybersecurity. Those portfolio companies will receive investments that range between $250K – $3M, access to a robust team with decades of experience in the cryptocurrency & fintech industries as well as access to the resources and environment essential to success. The Kraken Ventures team will be led by Brandon Gath, Kirill Gourov, and Akshi Federici – three veterans of the fintech and cryptocurrency industries and, most recently, senior leaders at Kraken.