Venture capital firm Hack VC plans to announce on Tuesday that it has raised a $150 million fund dedicated to the digital asset industry despite a sharp decline in funding for crypto startups last year.

Alex Pack, managing partner of New York-based Hack VC, said the firm has deployed about a third of its new fund, investing primarily in early-stage startups. Companies invested by Hack VC include blockchain startup Mysten Labs and crypto finance company Amber Group. Hack VC previously raised a $200 million fund in 2022.

"It's a more challenging environment now than it was a few years ago, but we're doing this because we're very excited about the infrastructure opportunity and what we're seeing in early-stage venture capital," Pack said in an interview. “The whole industry still has a bunch of nerds building things underground, and after FTX, that didn’t stop,” he said. Pack, who has been involved in crypto investing for nearly a decade, noted that the industry has transformed rapidly — First around Bitcoin, then expanding to various coins and industries. He expects this rapid change to continue: "I just think we're too early."