About Placeholder
Placeholder is a venture capital firm founded in 2017. It is primarily based out of New York City, United States. As of Apr 2026, Placeholder is an active investor, having invested in 68 companies, with 2 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Series A round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Blockchain Technology to High Tech and FinTech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series B round of Squads Labs Overall, Placeholder portfolio has seen 2 unicorns, 1 IPO and 2 acquisitions including key companies like Aleo, Bitcoin and OpenZeppelin. A lot of funds co-invest with Placeholder, with names like Protocol Labs sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Placeholder has team of 8 people including 5 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series A, Seed & 1 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Unicorns
Portfolio Soonicorns
Deals in last 12 months
Placeholder's List of Top Investments
Placeholder has a portfolio of 68 companies, including 2 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in Futureswap and Backpack Exchange.Their portfolio spans across United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland and 11 more locations. They have invested in Blockchain Technology, High Tech, FinTech and 10 other sectors, across stages such as Series A, Seed and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by Placeholder:1. Polygon
Provider of a programmable stablecoin payment infrastructure for global money movement. The platform offers a comprehensive stack for businesses to accept deposits, convert currencies, and disburse funds across borders. It provides tools for payment orchestration, virtual account management, and onchain settlement, enabling automated and efficient financial operations. The infrastructure supports various payment flows, including cross-border transfers, treasury management, and stablecoin commerce, allowing organizations to integrate payment capabilities into their existing systems through a single interface.
Key facts about Polygon
- Founded Year: 2017
- Location: George Town (Cayman Islands)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $451M
- Employee Count: 346 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: World Capital Holdings Group, Steadview and 81 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Feb 02, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Zerion
Decentralized platform for financial services. It provides blockchain-based protocols for decentralized finance. It offers asset management with automatic tracking of BTC, ETH, and ERC-20 tokens. It allows users to send, receive and invest ETH and BTC from a wallet interface. Its services include trading, borrowing, investing, and saving.
Key facts about Zerion
- Founded Year: 2016
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $22.5M
- Employee Count: 71 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Mosaic Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and 28 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Aug 17, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
3. Aleo
Blockchain-based network for developers. Its features of the platform include a zero-knowledge IDE, package manager, etc. The platform features enable developers to build custom cross-platform mobile applications.
Key facts about Aleo
- Founded Year: 2019
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $228M
- Employee Count: 145 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global Management and 19 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Mar 05, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. Bitcoin
Decentralized P2P cryptocurrency for payments. It is based on the Bitcoin Blockchain. It enables users to send, receive, and make payments using digital currencies. It allows transfers through wallets, exchanges, events, and more.
Key facts about Bitcoin
- Founded Year: 2009
- Location: Las Vegas (United States)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $100M
- Employee Count: 50 - 199 as on Mar 01, 2026
- Investors: 2020 Ventures, World Capital Holdings Group and 79 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Post IPO, Oct 21, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Public
Provider of crypto exchange and wallet platform. It offers a spot trading platform that enables users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies on the blockchain. It also enables users to trade in derivatives, margins, and more.
Key facts about Backpack Exchange
- Founded Year: 2023
- Location: Japan
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $17M
- Employee Count: 89 as on Sep 30, 2026
- Investors: Wintermute, Placeholder and 6 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Angel, Oct 11, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Placeholder's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Placeholder has invested in 68 companies over the last 7 years, with an average of 6 new investments annually in the last 5 years. In 2025, it made 1 investment, while as of Apr 2026, it has made 2 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Finrob and most recent follow-on round was in Squads Labs.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2025 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2024 | 6 | 4 | 10 |
2023 | 12 | 0 | 12 |
2022 | 8 | 1 | 9 |
2021 | 7 | 2 | 9 |
2020 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
2019 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Placeholder's Investments by Stage
Placeholder has made 21 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $16.4M, 18 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $6.01M and 2 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $22M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series A | 21 |
Seed | 18 |
Series B | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Placeholder's Investments by Sector
Placeholder has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Blockchain Technology, High Tech, FinTech, Blockchain - Industry Applications and Enterprise Applications. Notably, it has invested in 64 Tech companies, 54 Blockchain companies, 43 Enterprise (B2B) companies and at least 36 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Blockchain Technology | 37 |
High Tech | 31 |
FinTech | 23 |
Blockchain - Industry Applications | 19 |
Enterprise Applications | 18 |
Others | 20 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Placeholder's Investments by Geography
Placeholder has made most investments in United States (24), followed by United Kingdom where it has made 3 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 24 |
United Kingdom | 3 |
Cayman Islands | 2 |
Finland | 2 |
Greece | 2 |
Others | 8 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Placeholder's recent investments
Placeholder has made 2 investments in 2026 so far - Squads Labs and Finrob.Here are the most recent investments by Placeholder:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apr 29, 2026 | British Virgin Islands | Series B | 3099 | [+7] | |
Feb 25, 2026 | - | Seed | 1815 | [+4] | |
Nov 06, 2025 | Switzerland | Seed | 6556 | ||
Sep 23, 2024 | Liechtenstein | Series C | 7975 | [+3] | |
Jul 05, 2024 | United States | Series A | 2397 | [+10] |
Unicorns in Placeholder's Portfolio
Placeholder has 2 unicorns in its portfolio - Monad Labs and Aleo. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Monad Labs. It became a unicorn in 2024, 1 years after Placeholder first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Placeholder's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
49 | Decentralized, developer forward layer1 smart contract platform | 2022 | New York City | Series A | {bpuoyb | ||
73 | Blockchain-based network for developers | 2019 | San Francisco | Series B | xs{bmkn |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Placeholder's Portfolio
1 of Placeholder's portfolio company became public - Bitcoin. It got listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX), in Feb 2021.Here are Placeholder's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Feb 18, 2021 | - | - | 7959 |
Acquired companies in Placeholder's Portfolio
2 companies from Placeholder's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was OpenZeppelin in Sep 2026 by S&P Global for $*****.Here are Placeholder's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Sep 17, 2026 | - | - | 2605 | |
Jul 01, 2024 | Feb 09, 2023 | Series A | 7595 |
Team profile of Placeholder
Placeholder has a team of 8 members including 5 Partners and 1 Principal located in United States and Estonia. Placeholder's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in Placeholder:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | New York City | - | ||
Partner | New York City | - | ||
Partner | New York City | - | ||
Partner | San Francisco | - | ||
Partner | Brooklyn | - | - | |
Principal | Estonia | - |
Co-investors of Placeholder
Over the past 7 years, 445 investors have co-invested in Placeholder's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Placeholder: Maven 11, 1kx and 107 others have invested in rounds before Placeholder. There are 4 companies where Maven 11 has invested before Placeholder and 4 companies where 1kx has invested before Placeholder.
- Top Co-investors of Placeholder: 249 investors entered a company along with Placeholder. These include investors like Protocol Labs (5 companies).
- Invested after Placeholder: A total of 87 investors have invested in Placeholder's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Coinbase (5 companies), Electric Capital (3 companies) and Digital Currency Group (2 companies).
Recent News related to Placeholder
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Squads Raises $18M in FundingFinSMEs•Apr 30, 2026•Jump Crypto, Collab+Currency, Haun Ventures, Electric Capital and 4 others
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Squads Raises $18M to Build Business Finance on Stablecoin InfrastructureCNW•Apr 29, 2026•Squads Labs, Solana Ventures, Jump Crypto, Collab+Currency and 7 others
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Arx Research Launches Burner Terminal; Raises $6.1M in FundingFinSMEs•Nov 06, 2025•Arx, Seed Club Ventures, Inflection, 1kx and 4 others
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Celestia’s TIA jumps 14% following new funding roundBitcoin Ethereum News•Sep 24, 2024•Celestia, Syncracy, 1kx, Robvc and 1 other
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Modular Blockchain Celestia Raises $100M to Expand High-throughput SupportBitcoin Ethereum News•Sep 24, 2024•Celestia, Bain Capital Crypto, Syncracy, 1kx and 4 others
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Shared sorting network Astria completes $12.5 million financing, led by dba and Placeholder VCPANews•Jul 01, 2024•Astria, Placeholder, RockawayX, Maven 11 and 4 others
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Estonian fund Metaplanet invests in WeatherXM and NeurableAIN.Capital•Jun 26, 2024•WeatherXM, Neurable, Metaplanet, Skype and 11 others
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Squads Labs Raises $10M Series A, Unveils Smart Wallet for Public Testing on iOSCryptonews•Jun 10, 2024•Squads Labs, Electric Capital, RockawayX, Coinbase and 6 others
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Coinbase Launches Smart Wallets To Simplify Crypto OnboardingBenzinga•Jun 06, 2024•Coinbase, Squads Labs, Electric Capital, Placeholder and 2 others
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WeatherXM Raises $7.7M in Series A FundingFinSMEs•May 22, 2024•WeatherXM, Faction VC, Protocol Labs, Borderless Capital and 19 others
