Mantis Ventures, the venture capital firm co-founded by electronic music duo The Chainsmokers, has secured in funding commitments $100 million for its third fund.
The new fund represents a 25% increase from Mantis’s previous $80 million vehicle, bringing the Los Angeles-based firm’s total assets under management to $225 million, according to TechCrunch.
Alex Pall and Drew Taggart, the artists behind hits like Closer, Don’t Let Me Down, and Something Just Like This, serve as general partners of Mantis alongside venture capital professionals and entrepreneurs Milan Koch and Jeffrey Evans. Evans founded the record label Buskin Records and the mobile communications platform TigerText, now known as TigerConnect.
The venture capital firm, founded in 2019, invests in Seed & Series A technology-enabled startups, according to its website. In 2020, Mantis secured $35 million in capital commitments for its debut fund.
Mantis’ portfolio incudes cybersecurity firm Chainguard Inc., sports betting platform Underdog Sports LLC, and AI financial platform Rogo Technologies Inc. The firm also backed Coinbase Global Inc. before its public debut, Bloomberg reported.
Its early investments include fitness app Fiton and mortgage-lending startup LoanSnap. Taggart told TechCrunch in 2020: “When we started eight years ago, our fans were primarily all in college. Now they are dealing with paying back their college loans, and they’re probably applying to buy their first house, so a company like LoanSnap feels like one of those startups whose services our fans have grown into needing.”
“We are willing to do the things that other entertainers or athletes simply aren’t.”
Alex Pall, The Chainsmokers / Mantis Ventures
Speaking to Bloomberg recently, Pall said: “We are willing to do the things that other entertainers or athletes simply aren’t,” adding that he is not just a name on the door, but a full-time investor. Pall said he hopes Mantis exists until he’s “old and wrinkly,” and if it doesn’t succeed, “I need to look myself in the mirror and be able to say it wasn’t because I didn’t show up.”
Mantis recently opened a San Francisco office to complement its Los Angeles headquarters, with many recent investments concentrated in the Bay Area. Evans told Bloomberg that “the Bay Area has gotten its shine back.”
In addition to their venture capital firm, Pall and Taggart have also been angel investors in companies like Ember, a Los Angeles-based company that produces temperature-controlled mugs.
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