Too many cryptographic startups have failed the funding of venture capital by chasing the assessments far exceeding their income, according to Dan Tapeiro, CEO of the venture capital company focused on the Crypto 10T Holdings.
“For any reason, the founders and the CEOs believe that they should raise capital to 50 to 80 times of income. This makes us very difficult to make a return for our suppliers of liquidity,” said Tapeiro during a discussion in a round table during the Consensus Conference in Toronto on May 14.
“So many of these offers that we are almost automatically, even the companies we really love, we will not invest if the price is not reasonable at the start.”
10T Holdings has sent more than 200 companies for similar reasons, including FTX, Blockfi and Celsius, now in bankruptcy, said Tapeiro.
Tapeiro said 10T holding companies are looking for cryptographic projects that have assessments greater than the range of $ 400 million with an evaluation / income ratio of 10x or less.
VCs often prefer lower assessments because they offer more upward potential with less risks.
Realistic evaluations often make the financing rounds more attractive for investors while simplifying the output process.
“The evaluation is very important,” said Tapeiro.
Despite Tapeiro’s comments, it seems that crypto startups had no problem attracting CR funds, because Pitchbook reported on May 13 that the total value of Crypto venture capital transactions increased by more than 100% quarters to 6 billion dollars in the first quarter 2025, while the number of offers increased by 8.8%.
VCs should diversify their bags
Dan Morehead, who said that more VC should choose to receive a mixture of investment capital and tokens when investing in cryptographic startups.
“Everyone has their advantages and disadvantages, then they go to these wild pendulum swings where sometimes the tokens are really expensive and ventures cheap. Sometimes it’s the opposite. “
In relation: Crypto VC transactions drop in the first quarter, but funding more than doubles: pitchbook
“So, as an investor, I always recommend people who invest in a wide range of tokens and businesses.”
Plantra de Morehead has adopted a more aggressive approach than 10t holdings over the years and has had considerable success, returning to 86% of the startups in which it has invested, 22 of them reaching the status of unicorn (Companies reaching $ 1 billion assessments).
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