Pantera Capital, a Blockchain investment fund operating from New York City, has announced that it has raised two-thirds of a $175 million funding target from venture capitals.
In the latest monthly public letter, the firm stated: “We raised two-thirds of the $175 million target in the first close, and plan to hold a final closing in Q1 of 2019.”
The firm also disclosed the name of its three new investment deals - Bakkt, Synthetic Minds, and Blockfolio - bringing its total of deals to six.
SEC Non-Compliance
In that same letter, it disclosed that around 25 percent of its fund’s capital was invested in projects that could be non-compliant with the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) policies.
This came after the SEC's November 16 update, in which the regulator mentioned that it filed charges against two United States-based firms - CarrierEQ Inc. (Airfox) and Paragon Coin Inc. both of which issued tokens in 2017.
The SEC, in its announcement, stated: “According to the SEC’s orders, both CarrierEQ Inc. (Airfox) and Paragon Coin Inc. conducted ICOs in 2017 after the Commission warned that ICOs can be securities offerings in its DAO Report of Investigation.”
According to reports, Boston-based Airfox raised $15 million, and Paragon, which plans to add blockchain technology to the cannabis industry, secured around $12 million in the token sale.
The SEC further confirmed that both firms agreed to register the tokens as securities and will initiate a refund to the harmed investors.
Though Pantera Capital has raised concerns about a quarter of its investments, it assured that a third of them are still functional. “Of these projects, about a third (approximately 10% of the portfolio) is live and functional and, while they could technically continue without further development, ending development would hinder their progress,” Pantera’s statement said.
The firm, however, showed a little optimism citing Ethereum’s example which is similar to most of the projects.
“Fortunately, approximately 75% of the fund was invested in with what we believe to be compliant exempt offerings, using exemptions like Regulation D or Regulation S, and with at least one-year lockups so as to not violate securities law issues,” Pantera noted.
