C² Ventures

Ciara Sun, the founder and managing partner, is the sole named investment decision-maker. She was previously vice president at Huobi Global and head of Binance's global listings division, where she reviewed early-stage blockchain projects before launching C² Ventures. The firm has not publicly disclosed additional investment committee members.

The firm's original $10 million Fund I was fully deployed into Web3, including decentralized infrastructure, NFTs, and metaverse companies. Fund II, launched in May 2023 at $100 million, explicitly targets hard-tech hardware: semiconductor design, AI computing infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and industrial robotics. Public communications indicate the shift was complete and Fund II does not allocate to crypto-native deals.

The firm maintains physical offices in San Francisco, Indianapolis, and Beijing, with its holding company domiciled in the British Virgin Islands. The San Francisco office provides access to Silicon Valley hardware startups, the Indianapolis node connects to Midwestern advanced manufacturing, and the Beijing presence opens Chinese semiconductor and robotics supply chains. This multi-jurisdiction structure is uncommon among venture firms of its size.

C² Ventures focuses on early-stage equity rounds in hard-tech companies with physical-layer technology. The firm participates in seed through Series B rounds, typically co-investing alongside strategic corporate venture arms. Its 2023 co-investment with Nvidia in Machina Labs, a robotic metal-forming company, was at the Series B stage.

The firm has not publicly disclosed its LP base for either Fund I or Fund II. Given the founder's background at Binance and Huobi, and the initial focus on Web3, it is plausible that a portion of the capital base originated from crypto industry founders and operators. The $100 million Fund II represents a material scale-up from the initial $10 million vehicle, suggesting institutional or strategic LP participation.

The firm actively co-invests alongside strategic corporate venture arms, confirmed by its participation in Machina Labs' Series B round alongside Nvidia in October 2023. C² Ventures does not typically lead rounds and prefers to syndicate with larger corporate venture investors that bring manufacturing or distribution partnerships to portfolio companies.

The BVI domicile is commonly used by investment vehicles with cross-border US-China operations to manage fund administration, tax structuring, and regulatory exposure. C² Ventures has not publicly stated the specific rationale, but the structure is consistent with venture firms that maintain parallel operational nodes in both the United States and China.