Paradigm, one of the most prominent venture capital firms focused on cryptocurrency, has closed a $1.2 billion fund that significantly broadens its investment mandate beyond digital assets into artificial intelligence, robotics, and other frontier technologies. The vehicle marks the firm’s first major fund with a formal commitment to investing outside crypto.
Founded in 2018 by Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and former Sequoia Capital partner Matt Huang, Paradigm built its reputation backing major companies across the crypto industry. Managing partner Alana Palmedo said the pace of innovation across AI and robotics has become too significant to ignore alongside its core digital asset focus.
Rather than building a separate investment team, the firm will use its existing technically focused partners to evaluate opportunities across sectors. Paradigm argues that many engineering challenges in crypto, including distributed systems, infrastructure, security, and autonomous software, overlap directly with those emerging in artificial intelligence.
The fund has already deployed capital outside digital assets. According to Bloomberg, early investments include drone delivery startup Zipline and defense technology company True Anomaly, signaling a willingness to back advanced engineering businesses beyond blockchain.
Cryptocurrency nonetheless remains central to Paradigm’s strategy. The firm continues to pursue opportunities in blockchain infrastructure, decentralized finance, stablecoins, and developer tools. The firm views AI and crypto as increasingly complementary, citing autonomous payments, decentralized AI infrastructure, digital identity, and smart contract security as areas of growing convergence.
The raise arrives during one of the strongest venture funding cycles for AI in history, with leading firms competing aggressively for stakes in model developers, infrastructure providers, and robotics companies throughout 2026.
