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Collab+Currency
Collab+Currency operates as a thesis-driven crypto investment firm, launched by Stephen McKeon and Derek Schloss as a dedicated vehicle emerging from the...
Collab+Currency
Collab+Currency operates as a thesis-driven crypto investment firm, launched by Stephen McKeon and Derek Schloss as a dedicated vehicle emerging from the broader Collaborative Fund platform. The firm invests at the earliest stages, focusing on the intersection of digital ownership, decentralized infrastructure, and on-chain culture. Its founding team cut their teeth in the ICO era and carried that early-mover instinct into the NFT and DeFi booms that followed. The firm's public record includes holding some of the most culturally significant NFT collections — CryptoPunks, Chromie Squiggles, and Meebits — alongside liquid positions in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Avalanche, and Bittensor. The firm's deployment strategy is concentrated on early-stage equity rounds and direct token positions in protocols reshaping coordination, compute, and creative markets. Collab+Currency is known as an early backer of CryptoPunks' cultural value and has participated in networks such as Bittensor, a decentralized machine learning protocol, long before AI/crypto convergence became a popular thesis. Its NFT holdings, including the Art Blocks Curated Collection, represent a deep structural bet on generative art as an investable asset class. Partnerships with unnamed LPs and co-investors like LBank Labs have previously supported its fund commitments. The footprint remains global in portfolio scope, with a base in Eugene, Oregon. Collab+Currency manages a deliberately lean structure with no disclosed headcount, relying on the two managing partners as the primary public-facing operators. In 2022 the firm launched Le Random, an institutional-grade research and editorial arm built to chronicle generative art and on-chain culture's development into a mature vertical, signaling a commitment to intellectual property and data as an edge in the space. Co-investor relationships with entities like LBank Labs have augmented the firm's ability to back deals at scale without a massive balance sheet. No additional office locations or generic wealth management services are advertised; the firm presents as a pure-play crypto venture outfit. Structurally, Collab+Currency differentiates itself through its physical distance from traditional venture hubs and its deep integration with on-chain cultural artifacts. Most crypto VCs buy tokens and equity; Collab+Currency owns and curates the actual art and collectibles that define the market's cultural history, giving it a native understanding of what drives value in creator economies. Its spinout from Collaborative Fund also provides a genetic link to the consumer technology and collaborative consumption thesis that defined early Uber and Lyft investments, now translated into crypto's peer-to-peer primitives.
General information
Firm type
Generalist
Year founded
—
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Eugene
Corporate office
Eugene, OR, United States
Principals
Stephen McKeon
Managing Partner, Founder
Derek Schloss
Managing Partner, Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is Collab+Currency's relationship with Collaborative Fund?
Collab+Currency is a spinout investment vehicle formed by Stephen McKeon and Derek Schloss from within the Collaborative Fund platform. The two entities maintain a distinct but related history; Craig Shapiro, founder of Collaborative Fund, was involved in early Collab+Currency filings. The spinout allowed Collab+Currency to pursue a dedicated crypto and digital asset mandate separate from Collaborative Fund's broader consumer and climate-tech investments.
How does Collab+Currency approach the NFT market?
Rather than merely trading tokens, Collab+Currency holds some of the most historically significant NFT collections directly, including CryptoPunks, Chromie Squiggles, and Meebits. This approach embeds the firm inside the cultural layer of the market, providing insights into creator economies and community dynamics that inform its venture-stage investments in protocols and platforms.
What is Le Random, and why did Collab+Currency build it?
Le Random is a research and editorial institution launched by Collab+Currency in 2022 to chronicle the generative art sector and on-chain culture. It functions as a market-intelligence unit, producing data-driven reports and thought leadership that maps the development of digital art from a niche subculture into a recognized institutional asset class. The move signals that the firm considers intellectual dominance in the generative art space a core part of its sourcing and brand advantage.
Does Collab+Currency invest exclusively in tokens, or does it also take equity?
Collab+Currency participates in both early-stage equity rounds and direct token investments. The firm's disclosed positions include liquid layer-1 tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Avalanche, as well as equity in or token commitments to networks like Bittensor, a decentralized machine learning protocol. This hybrid approach allows the firm to capture value across both the protocol layer and the application layer.
How does being based in Eugene, Oregon, affect Collab+Currency's deal flow?
Operating from Eugene places Collab+Currency outside the concentrated venture scenes of San Francisco and New York, reducing signal noise and competitive bidding that characterize those markets. The firm compensates for less ambient networking with a digitally native sourcing model rooted in direct participation in NFT communities, DAO governance, and on-chain analytics, which provides its own proprietary deal flow and early access to culturally emergent projects.
Who co-invests alongside Collab+Currency?
Co-investors in Collab+Currency's vehicles have included entities such as LBank Labs, a digital asset investment and market-making group. These relationships provide the firm's portfolio companies with access to liquidity, exchange listings, and distribution channels, particularly in Asian markets where LBank has a strong retail and institutional presence.
What role does generative art play in Collab+Currency's investment thesis?
Generative art, particularly the Art Blocks Curated ecosystem, represents a foundational sector bet for Collab+Currency. The firm views algorithmically generated art on-chain as a new primitive for digital ownership and creative capital. By collecting canonical works and building research infrastructure around the vertical through Le Random, Collab+Currency positions itself as an institutional authority on the economic and cultural value of generative art.
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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