North Carolina-based Morgan Creek Digital, a hedge fund backed by institutional investment firm Morgan Creek Capital, has raised the first $60.9 million of its $250 million target for its second VC fund.
Morgan Creek’s management said that the same participants from the first VC fund, which includes two public pension funds, have increased their investments in the second VC fund by over twofold.
Employees’ Retirement System and Fairfax County’s Virginia’s Police Officer’s Retirement System are investing a total of $50 million in Morgan Creek’s second fund, up significantly from $21 million invested in the first funding round that closed in February 2019.
Wakemed Health and Hospitals, an insurance firm and a university endowment contributed $10 million to Morgan Creek Digital’s second investment round.
In statements shared with CoinDesk, Morgan Creek Capital partner Anthony Pompliano noted that his firm decided to divide the $250 million raise into tranches, with no date finalized yet for its close.
Pompliano remarked:
“We hear folks saying institutions aren’t interested, but this initial close along with the conversations we’re having with tens of other institutions, shows that there is no lack of interest.”
The second venture capital fund will mainly focus on seed investments in equity, somewhat like Morgan Creek’s first VC fund, which included strategic investments in blockchain infrastructure firms such as Bitwise and BlockFi.
Pompliano stated:
“When you see the quality of the LPs in this fund, it speaks to the work that these infrastructure companies have done over the last 18 to 24 months.”
Morgan Creek raised $40 million, with strong investor interest that helped the firm exceed its initial fundraising goal of $25 million.
Morgan Creek has over $100 million of assets under management, which includes the Digital Asset Index Fund, a cryptocurrency index fund managed by Bitwise Asset Management.
Pompliano noted: “We raised the first fund for specific investments.” He added that the $250 million fund is “more institutionally sized.”
He explained:
“For the LPs that are investing with us, this is a size that they’re used to.”