Status
ACTIVE
Global HQ
New York, United States
Countries of investment
- United States
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- Singapore
- Cayman Islands
Investment stages
- Pre-Seed
- Seed
- Series A
Industries
- Crypto
- Web3
- DeFi
- Consumer Crypto
- NFTs
- Creator Economy
- Stablecoins
- Infrastructure
About
Variant is a New York-based crypto VC focused on the ownership economy. Their focus spans DeFi, consumer crypto, NFTs, creator economy, stablecoins, and infrastructure across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, and Cayman Islands. The firm supports crypto-native founders from Pre-Seed through Series A.
Variant is a New York-based crypto VC focused on the ownership economy. Their focus spans DeFi, consumer crypto, NFTs, creator economy, stablecoins, and infrastructure across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, and Cayman Islands. The firm supports crypto-native founders from Pre-Seed through Series A.
Investment Thesis
Variant is an early-stage thesis-driven venture capital firm deploying capital across crypto, Web3, DeFi, consumer crypto, NFTs, creator economy, stablecoins, and infrastructure sectors. They invest in crypto-native founders building the "ownership economy" with users-as-owners and creator-friendly protocol design. The firm differentiates itself through its founders Spencer Noon, Jesse Walden, and Li Jin's deep crypto expertise, distinctive "ownership economy" thesis, $450M Fund III, and founder-friendly NYC positioning with operator-investor team.
Manager's Experience
Spencer Noon (Co-Founder & General Partner) co-founded Variant in 2020 after leading on-chain analytics at DTC Capital; he is one of the most active crypto-native thought leaders through his weekly newsletter Our Network. Jesse Walden (Co-Founder & General Partner) previously led media investments at Andreessen Horowitz and co-founded Mediachain (acquired by Spotify), bringing operator-investor expertise to the creator economy. Li Jin (Partner) brings deep creator economy and Web3 expertise from her prior role at Andreessen Horowitz where she pioneered the passion economy thesis. The firm closed Fund III at $450M in 2023.
Team
Spencer Noon - Co-Founder & General Partner
Jesse Walden - Co-Founder & General Partner
Li Jin - Partner
Mason Nystrom - Investment Partner
Derek Walkush - Investment Partner
Portfolio
Uniswap
Phantom
Foundation
Rabbithole
Royal
Soundxyz
Catalog
Mirror
Coinflow
Drift Protocol
Farcaster
Friend.tech
MakersPlace
Mintbase
Open Format
Optimism
Polymarket
Snowflake
Sound
Sphere
Sui
Yuga Labs
Zerion
Zora