According to CryptoPotato, South Korea's leading crypto venture, Hashed, has invested a significant $28.44 million in blockchain projects this year, despite the challenges of the crypto winter. The company has expanded its footprint in blockchain infrastructure and gaming projects, focusing on early-stage ventures that can attract a wider user base by improving blockchain infrastructure and incorporating content and intellectual property rights (IP).
Throughout the year, Hashed executed 29 investments, with a balanced allocation across different sectors. Blockchain infrastructure, gaming, and finance each accounted for 21% of the investments, while IP and content-related startups secured 15% of the allocations. Hashed also diversified its portfolio by investing in early-stage startups capable of leveraging blockchain infrastructure across various sectors such as O2O platforms, sharing economy initiatives, and artificial intelligence startups.
Geographically, Korea dominated the investment landscape with a 38% share, followed by North America at 21%, Europe at 7%, and other Asian regions, including Singapore, at 34%. Among the 20 new companies that received investments were Radius, a shared sequencing layer developer, Decentralized Gaming Ventures (DGV), a web 3.0 game venture studio, Another Ball, the operator of the Virtuber platform Izumo, and DeLabs, a Web3 gaming studio. Hashed has come a long way since increased scrutiny on its CEO Simon Seojoon Kim from South Korean regulators regarding the company’s backing of ill-fated crypto project, Terra. The crypto venture also made nine follow-up investments in companies like Archway, a Cosmos-based DApp developer compensation layer-1 project, Payhere, a mobile-based POS platform, and DFNS, a decentralized API solution for digital asset custody.
Currently managing two funds totaling 360 billion won through Hashed Ventures, Hashed actively engages in resource activities to nurture the development of a Web 3 ecosystem. The total portfolio of companies invested in through funds 1 and 2 now stands at an impressive 86. Despite the challenges of the crypto landscape, Hashed remains a prominent player in advancing the blockchain frontier. Meanwhile, Hashed’s policy think tank, dubbed ‘Hashed Open Research (HOR),’ actively conducts research and formulates policy recommendations, regularly releasing reports and hosting seminars.