Paradigm Raises $1.2 Billion Fund as Crypto VC Pushes Further Into AI

Crypto firm Paradigm has raised a $1.2 billion fund to invest in AI, robotics, crypto and other technologies, broadening its focus beyond digital assets.

While crypto remains central to the operations of Paradigm, the San Francisco-based company said On Wednesday, the fourth fund will expand investments in AI, autonomous hardware and other emerging technologies while continuing its research-driven approach.

“$1.2 billion to invest at steep exponential growth rates. 8 years ago we were backed by people who believed in the crypto frontier,” said Alana Palmedo, managing partner of Paradigm. wrote at

Founded in 2018 by Matt Huang and Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam, Paradigm became one of the largest venture investors in crypto. The company raised a $2.5 billion crypto fund in 2021, followed by an $850 million early-stage blockchain fund in 2024.

“Our approach is to stay close to the metals sector: researching, building and investing together with the founders, first in crypto, and now across AI, robotics and other frontiers,” the company said in a statement.

Other investments Paradigm noted included autonomous drone developer Zipline, space defense startup True Anomaly and Nous Research, the AI ​​company behind Hermes Agent.

On the crypto side, Paradigm pointed to investments in decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, prediction market platform Kalshi and Tempo, a stablecoin-focused blockchain it co-founded with Stripe.

The company also highlighted internal projects including Ethereum development tools Foundry and Reth, AI agent project Centaur and EVMbench, a blockchain security benchmark developed with OpenAI.

The news comes as crypto companies build more infrastructure for AI agents that can move money and complete online transactions. Companies including Coinbase and Stripe have developed payment tools aimed at letting AI agents use wallets, stablecoins and other financial infrastructure to perform tasks with limited human involvement.

“Sufficiently steep exponentials are indistinguishable from magic, and we see more exponentials at work on a global scale than ever before,” the company said. “This era favors those open-minded enough to throw out existing playbooks and regularly recalculate new views of reality. It’s a mindset we share with the founders we back.”