Haun Ventures

About

Haun Ventures is a crypto and Web3-focused venture capital firm founded in early 2022 by Katie Haun, a former federal prosecutor and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz ¹². The firm is based in Menlo Park, California ³.

The firm launched with $1.5 billion across two funds — $500 million allocated for early-stage companies and protocols, and $1 billion for “acceleration” (later-stage projects) ¹. This marked the largest debut venture fund ever raised by a solo female founding partner ¹.

Haun’s pre-VC career was distinctive: she spent over a decade as a federal prosecutor at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she established the DOJ’s first digital currency task force ⁴. She led prosecutions related to the Silk Road investigation and held senior positions in the National Security Division ⁴. She clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and graduated with honors from Stanford Law School ⁴.

In 2017, Haun joined the board of Coinbase, becoming its first and longest-serving independent director through its IPO ⁴. In 2018, she joined Andreessen Horowitz as its first female general partner, co-leading the firm’s crypto franchise alongside Chris Dixon across three funds ⁴².

By mid-2023, Haun Ventures had deployed approximately 30% of its initial capital across roughly two dozen positions ³. The firm splits allocations nearly evenly between digital tokens and traditional equity ³. Notably, Haun avoided investing in FTX, protecting her LPs when competitors like Sequoia ($200M) and Paradigm ($290M) suffered significant losses from the exchange’s collapse ³.

In March 2025, Haun Ventures announced plans to raise an additional $1 billion across two new crypto-focused funds ($500M early-stage, $500M late-stage), expected to close by June 2025 ⁵.

The firm has a core team of approximately 11 people ³. Key investment team members include General Partner Diogo Mónica, Partners Chris Ahn and Breck Stodghill, and Senior Associate Mark Beylin ⁶.

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: These represent what Haun Ventures says publicly about its approach. See Inferred Thesis for analysis of actual investment behavior.)

Haun Ventures publicly describes its mission as “backing the founders building the future of finance” ⁷. The firm states its belief that “decentralized technology creates a more efficient, transparent, and accessible financial system” ⁷.

The firm has emphasized stablecoins and cross-border payments as key focus areas, stating: “the evolution of money is inevitable, and the most ambitious founders will lead its next era” ⁷.

Haun has described crypto as “an internet-sized opportunity” and compared crypto protocols to early internet protocols: “If you were inventing the internet, you might think of protocols like SMTP or HTTP. That’s the equivalent of layer one protocols today in crypto. But the difference was you couldn’t invest in SMTP or HTTP. Here, we can actually invest in the protocols themselves” ⁸.

On investment horizon, Haun has stated: “We are investing for a 10-to-20-year horizon. If you are looking for quick flips, you are in the wrong asset class” ⁸.

On market positioning, Haun has said: “We are in the dial-up days and the critics out there confuse the current state of innovation with the end state of the innovation” ⁸.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 34 verified portfolio companies from the firm’s public portfolio page ⁹:

Sector breakdown: The portfolio is entirely crypto/Web3-focused. By sub-sector: DeFi and financial protocols (Euler Labs, Ellipsis Labs, Lighter, Erebor, Meanwhile — 5 of 34, 15%), blockchain infrastructure and L1/L2 (Aptos Labs, Aleo, Conduit, Commonware, Sovereign Labs, Plume — 6 of 34, 18%), stablecoin/payments infrastructure (BVNK, Bridge, Agora, XFX — 4 of 34, 12%), developer tools and data (Helius, thirdweb, Chainalysis, Fireblocks, Taxbit, Squads — 6 of 34, 18%), NFT/social/consumer (Zora, OpenSea, Autograph, Farcaster, Neynar, Highlight, Witness — 7 of 34, 21%), compliance and security (Guardrail, The Clearing Company, Chaos Labs, Argus — 4 of 34, 12%), other (Bitwise, Superstate — 2 of 34, 6%).

Stage distribution: The dual-fund structure ($500M early-stage + $1B acceleration) suggests roughly one-third of capital goes to early-stage and two-thirds to later-stage. However, by deal count, early-stage investments appear more numerous.

Token vs. equity: The firm invests in both equity and tokens, with approximately even allocation between the two strategies ³. This is distinctive — most crypto VCs lean heavily toward one or the other.

Geographic patterns: Portfolio companies span the US, Europe, and globally distributed crypto teams, consistent with the borderless nature of crypto/blockchain projects.

Notable pattern — regulatory expertise as edge: Haun’s DOJ background and Coinbase board experience give the firm unusual credibility with projects navigating regulatory challenges. Several portfolio companies (Chainalysis, Taxbit, The Clearing Company, Fireblocks, Guardrail) operate in the compliance/regulatory space, suggesting a competitive advantage in sourcing and evaluating these deals.

Notable pattern — market timing discipline: Haun deliberately slowed deployment during the 2022-2023 crypto downturn, deploying only ~30% of capital by mid-2023 ³. This contrarian patience protected LPs and positioned the firm for better entry prices.

Portfolio

Note: The firm notes that some investments are excluded from public disclosure per issuer requests ⁹. This table represents 34 publicly disclosed portfolio companies. Investment years and stages sourced from individual funding announcements where available; two entries (Guardrail, The Clearing Company) still cite only the firm portfolio page.

In Their Own Words

“We are investing for a 10-to-20-year horizon. If you are looking for quick flips, you are in the wrong asset class.” — Katie Haun, as reported in multiple interviews ⁸.

“We are in the dial-up days and the critics out there confuse the current state of innovation with the end state of the innovation.” — Katie Haun, on the state of crypto ⁸.

“If you were inventing the internet, you might think of protocols like SMTP or HTTP. That’s the equivalent of layer one protocols today in crypto. But the difference was you couldn’t invest in SMTP or HTTP. Here, we can actually invest in the protocols themselves.” — Katie Haun, on why crypto investing is unique ⁸.

“Even if the market is in a massive crypto bull run, we don’t intend to increase our size. We think we’ve picked our size and our strategy for a reason.” — Katie Haun, on fund discipline ⁸.

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Haun Ventures’ website does not include public founder testimonials, and dedicated searches did not surface independent founder quotes about working with the firm.

Sources