Pantera Alum Joey Krug Joins Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund

Joey Krug, who left his role as co-chief investment officer at crypto-focused venture capital firm Pantera in February, said Monday he has joined Founders Fund as a partner.

“I’ll be focused on defining the next decade of Founders Fund’s crypto strategy while looking for the next wave of generational crypto startups and founders to back,” said Krug in a Twitter post.

San Francisco-based Founders Fund was founded in 2005 by a big-name roster of partners, including billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel. The firm broadly invests across all stages and sectors and its portfolio companies include Lyft, Facebook, SpaceX and Stripe.

“Historically, crypto founders have felt the need to bring on a specialized, crypto-only investment fund alongside traditional VCs,” said Krug in a Medium blog post. “However, by combining my expertise in crypto with the brand and generalized expertise of Founders Fund, I believe no firm is better positioned to lead the charge in funding and growing the next decade of crypto protocols and companies.”

“You no longer have to choose between traditional VC and crypto-native expertise and help,” he continued. “With Founders Fund you can get both.”

Krug’s departure from Pantera was announced in a letter sent out to investors on Feb. 3, with no reason given for the exit. Krug joined the Dan Morehead-led firm in 2017 to help manage its Liquid Token Fund, which lost 80% in 2022 due to the crypto winter and post-FTX collapse turbulence.

Bloomberg reported Friday that Krug had joined Founders Fund, citing sources.

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