although Bitcoin Going into 2026, sentiment has worsened towards other niches of cryptocurrency, especially DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure). For example, the tokens of decentralized mobile phone service Helium and decentralized mapping network Hivemapper are near all-time lows. Still, some investors are bullish on the concept, including upstart venture capital firm Escape Velocity, which has raised $61.74 million for a second fund to back founders in DePIN and the broader crypto space.
The company completed its latest funding round in December, attracting high-profile investors such as venture capital giant Marc Andreessen and prominent fintech investor Ribbit Capital’s Micky Malka. Mahesh Ramakrishnan, co-founder of Escape Velocity, said Cendana’s $15 million investment from a fund of funds was the largest check in the fund.
Ramakrishnan reiterated his belief in decentralized physical infrastructure, saying: “I think the nature of cryptocurrencies and making extreme investments is that there are cycles of extreme pessimism and cycles of extreme optimism.”
Double down on DePIN
The fundamental value proposition of cryptocurrency is decentralization. Founders build financial tracks, currencies and assets that are not controlled by any one party. Others are moving that ideal from digital to physical networks, dreaming of Wi-Fi, cell phone plans and even peer-to-peer services. drone. To incentivize people to support these networks, DePIN startups often pay backers in cryptocurrency.
Although the concept of DePIN has attracted widespread attention, it has yet to produce a project that has entered the mainstream. Ramakrishnan, who was descriptive As a “DePIN cheerleader,” he thinks it’s only a matter of time.
“A lot of the DePIN projects you’ve seen over the past three years have launched tokens before they had anything — they’re launching tokens based on hype and ideas,” he said.
Instead, Ramakrishnan and his co-founder Salvador Gala were appointed Forbes 30 Under 30 In the financial sector, I believe they can find decentralized infrastructure projects that transcend the hype.
The two met while interning at Goldman Sachs. Gala later became an investor in Ribbit Capital, a venture capital investor that backs financial technology giants such as Robinhood and Revolut. Coin library. Ramakrishnan leaves Goldman Sachs to join private equity giant Apollo Global Management.
In 2022, the two friends, both crypto enthusiasts, decided to launch their own venture fund. “You can leverage these cryptocurrency incentives and almost connect people to these economic cults, and it feels like a very novel thing that you can build a business around in the community,” Ramakrishnan said.
That year, despite the cryptocurrency market downturn, the pair raised $20 million from top cryptocurrency venture capital firms, including Andreessen Horowitz, the founders of Multicoin and Framework Ventures. They have since backed a series of DePIN companies, such as solar startups Daylight and Glow.
While they haven’t yet returned meaningful capital to limited partners (the fund’s investors have committed for 10 years), Ramakrishnan and Gala have gained enough traction to triple the size of their first fund in a second investment round.
“We feel they have a real leading position to see some of the best founders and projects being built in the space,” said Graham Pingree, partner at Cendana Funds.