Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann’s new crypto startup TipTop was teased a few weeks ago. Now, the covert venture is disclosing some details about its seed investment, while little is known about what they’re doing with it.
Lehmann points out that Marc Andreessen joined the startup’s board of directors after the business received a $23 million Series A investment from a16z. Sam Altman, Naval Ravikant, Andy McLoughlin, Jeff Clavier, and Dan Romero are additional backers in the round.
On its website and job advertising, the business uses redacted visuals to keep information as ambiguous as possible while promising “consumer financial solutions for a changing web,” “developing protocols and infrastructure,” and creating something “at the confluence of fiat and crypto.”
Despite the apparent lack of clarity, investors appear keen to support Lehmann after Postmates decided to go to Uber for $2.65 billion in the middle of 2020.
Following last week’s meltdown, which was savage even by crypto standards, the news of this round comes at a challenging moment for the larger crypto markets.
This setback puts a lot of venture capital companies in a tough spot and maybe calls into question their dedication to the industry. In the years to come, when the industry is in fact on the verge of a “crypto winter,” scaling a crypto firm may become more challenging due to the lack of volume, particularly from growth enterprises.
These problems will obviously be less severe for repeat entrepreneurs like Lehmann and ex-meta CEO David Marcus, who also disclosed venture investment for his new cryptocurrency business yesterday.