Scoop: Republic Capital raising $700 million for two crypto-heavy funds

Republic Capital, the venture capital arm of private investing platform Republic, is in talks to raise a pair of crypto-heavy funds totaling $700 million, a source with knowledge of the matter tells Axios.

Why it matters: Republic Capital's fundraising plans come at a time when crypto asset prices are falling. The results of its efforts will be an indicator of limited partners' appetite for the volatile sector.

Details: Republic Capital is raising $200 million for a flagship venture capital fund, of which 20% will be set aside for token investments. The other 80% will be set aside for traditional equity in companies in web3, fintech and deeptech (a category that includes quantum computing and space).

• Republic Capital is also in the process of raising a $500 million crypto fund of funds that will focus solely on investing in later-stage blockchain protocols.

Between the lines: With an immense number of crypto developers and projects out there, the structure of the $500 million fund helps Republic Capital build out its deal pipeline.

• Many blockchain protocols today come with an accompanying ecosystem growth fund.
• For example, Republic Capital in January announced a token investment in Avalanche. Part of that pool went into Avalanche's own ecosystem fund.

• That deal, therefore, also gave Republic Capital visibility into up-and-coming projects, with Republic Capital able to also co-invest.

Background: Republic Capital — with over $1 billion under management — previously raised $60 million for a fund focused on crypto seed deals, first announced back in October.

• But it has been investing even before that, with bets in companies such as Carta, Dapper Labs, Klarna, Kraken, Pipe and Plaid. It has also made token investments in Avalanche, as well as in Polygon, Terra and Chingari.

Republic declined to comment for this article.