Crypto startup Ledger teams up with Cathay Innovation to launch $110M sector fund
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Ledger Cathay Capital is a €100m investment fund for Web3 entrepreneurs at Seed & Series A stage
Onboarding the next billion users to Web3
Portfolio
What is Ledger Cathay Capital?
Backed by Bpifrance, Ledger Cathay Capital is led by Cathay Innovation’s Denis Barrier and Ledger's Pascal Gauthier and Michael Louzado. Our venture is investing globally in Seed to Series A companies focused on emerging DeFi, security, infrastructure, digital ownership technologies, protocols and more.
Why We made this fund
Ledger Cathay Capital will offer entrepreneurs the value of a leading global investment platform combined with the support of the world-leading Web3 security platform. It will unlock global resources and networks, giving creators and founders the capital, tools, and unmatched industry access to innovate at scale from the very start.
We believe in a future where people truly own their digital assets and interact with Web3 and the Metaverse with full control and security. We are proud to play a role in accelerating the Web3 movement while establishing the highest security standards.
Investors
Pascal Gauthier
Pascal GAUTHIER is CEO at Ledger, based in Paris.
Pascal started his career at Kelkoo, a price comparison service acquired by Yahoo for EUR 475M in 2004. He then joined the advertising company Criteo in 2008 where he worked for five years as COO, being instrumental in the pivot to advertising, which led to the company’s global expansion towards a EUR 2.17B market capitalisation.
Currently Chairman and CEO of Ledger, the world leading actor in securing critical digital assets, Pascal Gauthier is a “serial entrepreneur”, responsible for a significant number of key successful scaleups. Before being Chairman and CEO at Ledger (currently valued at 1.5 billion dollars), Pascal worked as a Venture Partner in Mosaic Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm focusing on Series A stage companies. Pascal is also currently a non-executive chairman of Kaiko, a digital assets financial data provider.
Michael Louzado
Michael Louzado is VP Strategy, M&A and Ventures at Ledger, based in London.
Michael leads investment activities for Ledger, setting the strategic priorities for the business, identifying acquisition targets and executing transactions, having initiated and led Ledger’s venture investments since September 2021 and closing Ledger’s four recent early stage investments. Prior to joining Ledger, Michael led Visa’s European M&A and investment function closing acquisitions and investments into multiple high growth businesses.
Michael spent the last twenty years running strategy and corporate development functions in multiple industries across payments, telecoms and digital assets. Prior to his professional career, Michael was an athlete, competing for Great Britain in multiple World Rowing Championships.
Denis Barrier
Denis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cathay Innovation.
Prior to Cathay, Denis was at Iris Capital where he managed the international activities of the Orange/Publicis fund. He has also been the Head of Corporate Venture at Orange Telecom, and a Managing Director at Innovacom. He has also worked as an Officer at the French Treasury Department, in charge of all the Sovereign holdings in Aerospace, Defense, and Media companies.
Denis has a deep technical background and started as a Researcher in the laboratories of Orange Telecom, working mainly on semiconductor quantum dots. He holds a Ph.D. in solid state Physics, is a graduate of Ecole Normale Supérieure, and is an engineer of Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications. He has also been a Member of the French Council for Entrepreneurship and of Corps des Mines.
Marguerite De Tavernost
Marguerite is an early stage Web3 investor at the Ledger Cathay Fund.
Prior to joining Ledger Cathay in 2022, Marguerite spent 4 years at Berlin-based VC firms Headline and Cherry Ventures, investing in early-stage startups in Germany, France and the UK. Before that, she worked as a digital transformation consultant at Founders Intelligence, where she advised CEOs and CDOs on their innovation strategies, including the likes of Fannie Mae, L’Oréal and Unilever.
She also served as independent Board member for Artefact, a publicly listed French company specialized in consulting for digital transformation and digital marketing.
Marguerite has gained notable expertise in Web3, which she developed while working as a professional photographer and starting an NFT collection, immediately before joining Ledger Cathay. She received a BA in International Studies from King’s College London and a MSc in International Business & Management (CEMS) from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE).
Alban Vendeuvre
Alban is an early stage Web3 investor at the Ledger Cathay Fund.
Prior to joining Ledger Cathay in 2023, he first worked in private equity at Parquest Capital and then joined Group Casino at the Head of Innovation for 2 years where he was in charge of launching startups in different fields (charging stations, data centers, AI,..).
He gained notable expertise in Web3 when he co-founded and developed during 2 years a € stablecoin issuer (a crypto which is stable and pegged to the €) with Group Casino and business angels.
Alban graduated from HEC Paris and holds a Master’s degree in Innovation from Polytechnique.
Ready to invest in
Security
Infrastructure
Web 3
Digital Ownership
Protocols
The Cathay x Ledger symbiosis
- Successful track record & experience in venture investments
- Global detection & allocation advantage
- Strong network of strategic corporate partners
- Strong access to deal flow
- Deep technical expertise
- Ability to accelerate projects with Ledger Live
They’re talking about us
Apply for funding
If you’re a Web3 entrepreneur at Seed or Series A stage, we’re waiting to hear from you.