San Mateo, CA – July 12, 2023 – Silicon Valley investor and Bitcoin whale Tim Draper’s Round Table (recently formed earlier this year as an initiative to syndicate Web3 deals globally) has co-led their genesis deal into LA-based Web3 FinTech analytics company, LunarCrush.

LunarCrush, an industry pioneer in social media analytics for cryptocurrency and financial industries, is expanding its horizons beyond capital markets to enable you to search, track, and actively engage with real-time events and discussions about trending topics you care about across all social media.

“It’s a thrill to be backing Joe, Jon, and Dan on their mission towards enabling social algorithms to activate market trends. They’ve tackled a global issue by linking real-time social engagement with correlating market changes in crypto, stocks, and NFTs. People all over the world can now take advantage of their suite of products to make themselves better retail investors.” said Sid Mofya, Executive Director of the Draper Venture Network.

The Draper Round Table mobilized four funds (including two newcomers) across the Draper Venture Network (including Draper Associates and Draper Goren Holm) to collectively invest in LunarCrush’s Series A via an SPV. All of the funds were in close association and/or members with the global Draper Venture Network. The deal was platformed and exhibited on DraperX - Tim Draper’s platform for family offices and LPs to co-invest alongside Draper Associates and their global network.

“This is what the Round Table was made for,” says Sid Sridhar, General Partner of the Draper Round Table. “Draper Goren Holm shared LunarCrush with us, intending to double down from their previous round, and we just knew that this had to be our genesis deal. The moment we shared it on DraperX, the network was eager to help out. The credit goes to Joe, Jon, Dan and the LunarCrush team for building an amazing company and protocol. We couldn’t be happier to be backing them.”

LunarCrush announced it has raised a $5 million Series A funding round at a $30 million valuation. The round is co-led by Draper Round Table / INCE Capital and joined by Draper Associates, WWVentures, TRGC, Bitcoin Frontier Fund, Draper Goren Holm, Blockchain Founders Fund, MoonPay, EMURGO, LBANK Labs, FUNFAIR Ventures, and Techstars. LunarCrush is a proud alumni of Techstars LA 2019. Legendary angel investors David Bleznak and Francisco OIiva-Velez Cancel also joined the round.

“We are delighted to participate with Draper Goren Holm, and the rest of the Draper Venture Network in the LunarCrush Series A,” said Tim Draper. “LunarCrush provides the social intelligence that retail investors in crypto need to make their decisions. These guys predicted every turn in the crypto market since they have been in business, they also had an early window on the demise of Silicon Valley bank.”

"As a Fund Manager within the Draper Venture Network, the network has been invaluable when it comes to deal sharing and co-investment opportunities," said Alon Goren, Founding Partner of Draper Goren Holm. "Streamlining co-investments through the Round Table enabled us to quickly and privately lead, share and close this round of funding in LunarCrush, one of our earliest and fastest growing portfolio companies."

“The Draper ecosystem has been pivotal towards our success. The venture landscape has always been extremely competitive and challenging for start-ups. The Draper Round Table and the Draper Network make navigating venture backing approachable, and make succeeding feel achievable, for anyone looking to build a high growth business.” says Joe Vezzani, CEO of LunarCrush.

New investors can join the Draper Ecosystem and become eligible to invest alongside Draper Network venture capitalists on the Draper ecosystem's proprietary deal-sharing platform, DraperX, and as potential limited partners to other funds in the Network. The DraperX platform is designed to facilitate family offices' integration into the venture capital ecosystem and investment in deals of their choosing.

Personal Note

Why LunarCrush, you ask? Simple. It embodies the ethos of what we strive to invest in - innovative, disruptive, and with the potential to revolutionize the financial markets. LunarCrush is a pioneer in social media analytics for cryptocurrency, linking real-time social engagement with market trends, all encapsulated in an accessible platform. Their vision is bold, their technology is game-changing, and their team is exceptional.

Our co-leading investment in LunarCrush's Series A signifies not only our belief in the company's potential but also in the power of collaboration. The deal has been a perfect example of the “strength-in-numbers” within the Draper Venture Network, with multiple funds coming together to seize this opportunity. I'm immensely proud to be part of a network that operates so seamlessly and believes wholeheartedly in backing teams that are pushing boundaries and redefining what is possible. We chipped in over half the round!!

Investing in LunarCrush is also a manifestation of my belief in the potential of Web3 & FinTech analytics and the growing relevance of social engagement in shaping market trends. The integration of analytics and social media into the crypto sphere presents an untapped reservoir of potential, and I'm thrilled to be part of this journey with LunarCrush.

As we forge ahead into this new chapter of our story, I want to express my gratitude to the LunarCrush team - Joe, Jon, Dan, and everyone else on the LC team. The passion, dedication, and innovation that you have showcased have inspired us all. I also want to thank the Draper Venture Network, particularly Tim and Alon, for their unwavering support throughout this process. It’s not easy to pull this off. Thankfully it was very hard to say no to Joe and LunarCrush. The credit goes to them!

This is just the beginning of our journey. The world is at the cusp of a market transition and technological adoption, and I couldn't be more excited to be part of this change.

About Draper Round Table

The Draper Round Table is a syndication vehicle that allows access to highly vetted deal flow from across the Draper Venture Network to family offices, corporate executives and other qualified investors. We are slowly opening up more sectors to invest in as we become more and more generalist.

Yet we will continue to double down in crypto until 1 billion people are in. And then we’ll aim for 2 billion :)