South African entrepreneur and Silicon Cape co-founder Vinny Lingham has been appointed general partner of US-based thesis-driven cryptofund Multicoin Capital.
Multicoin Capital invests long-term in tokens that reshape entire sectors of the global economy, while Lingham is co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Civic, a global decentralised identity platform that leverages blockchain technology and recently completed a US$33 million initial coin offering (ICO).
He has now taken on the role of general partner at Multicoin Capital, which is actively hiring entry-level analysts, expert research associates, developers, and data scientists to fill out its staff. It expects its first US$100 million fund to be fully subscribed by the end of the first quarter of next year.
“The pace of innovation around blockchain technologies is accelerating rapidly. Investing responsibly in crypto requires a lot of time, research, and nuance; you need a team of dedicated experts to react to new breakthroughs, keep up with the latest projects, and actively manage your portfolio. I realised I wasn’t the only one who needs that team, and that is a large part of what drove me to join Multicoin Capital as general partner,” Lingham said.
“Civic is currently my main priority, and I’m investing in the Multicoin team because I believe I can help Kyle and Tushar build an industry leading cryptofund. I look forward to collaborating with them in the years ahead.”
Multicoin Capital managing partner Kyle Samani said the crypto ecosystem is starting to go mainstream, and the firm had reached an “inflection point” where enough of the right people have discovered what they were doing.
“Our new general partner and executive are evidence of that. I could not be more proud of what we’ve built or more bullish about our future together,” he said.
