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Alameda Research Ventures
Alameda Research Ventures deployed quant-trading gains into crypto startups before dissolving in the FTX bankruptcy.
Alameda Research Ventures
Alameda Research Ventures is a multi-stage crypto and fintech investment firm. It has made 53 investments, including a Seed VC investment in Telis Bioscience on December 06, 2022. The firm has 4 portfolio exits, with Fordefi being its latest exit on November 25, 2025.
General information
Firm type
Venture Capital
Year founded
2017
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Asia
Country
Hong Kong
City
Hong Kong
Corporate office
Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Principals
Sam Bankman-Fried
Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who ran investment decisions at Alameda Research Ventures?
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of Alameda Research and FTX, drove major venture allocations. Caroline Ellison, co-CEO of Alameda Research, also influenced portfolio strategy. The role of general partner Caroline Ellison is documented in FTX bankruptcy filings (per the U.S. Department of Justice, 2023).
How did Alameda Research Ventures source proprietary deal flow?
The firm leveraged its position at the center of crypto market-making. Trading relationships with early-stage protocols often converted into equity or token mandates. Its captive exchange, FTX, gave the team visibility into liquidity and adoption metrics that shaped venture decisions.
Is Alameda Research Ventures structured as a single family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
It operated as a corporate venture arm of a proprietary trading firm, not a family office. The entity functioned like a sector-focused venture investor but was ultimately funded by trading profits and FTX customer deposits, a structure now widely scrutinized (per the Commodity Futures Trading Commission complaint, December 2022).
What investment stages does Alameda Research Ventures typically target?
The firm spanned seed, start-up, expansion, and growth rounds. Public record shows early-stage bets on protocols like Solana and Anchorage Digital's Series C, suggesting a flexible check-size mandate driven by thesis alignment rather than stage constraints.
Which sectors does Alameda Research Ventures explicitly avoid?
While Alameda ventured outside pure crypto into equities like Robinhood during the 2022 market downturn, its core portfolio concentrated on digital-asset infrastructure. Traditional industries such as manufacturing, real estate, or biotech were not known areas of activity.
What is Alameda Research Ventures' known posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
Alameda frequently co-invested with Sequoia Capital, Paradigm, and Multicoin Capital (per Bloomberg, 2022). Its deals often anchored rounds that later attracted these firms, suggesting it acted as a lead or near-lead investor with follow-on syndication, rather than a passive LP.
Where does the underlying wealth come from?
The venture arm was capitalized by trading profits from Alameda Research's arbitrage and market-making operations. Subsequent bankruptcy examinations identified a commingling of FTX customer funds as a source of venture commitments (per the Southern District of New York bankruptcy examiner's report, 2023).
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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