Paradigm raises $1.2B fund, expands into AI and robotics

Paradigm has closed its fourth fund at $1.2 billion, with the new vehicle set to deploy across crypto, AI, robotics, and other frontier technology startups. It is the firm's third venture-focused fund, smaller than the $2.5 billion raise in 2021 but larger than the $850 million third fund closed in 2024. Paradigm now runs nearly $12 billion in assets under management as of the end of 2025.

The fund's mandate formally extends the firm's investing scope well beyond digital assets. Paradigm highlighted existing non-crypto bets including drone delivery operator Zipline, manufacturing platform SendCutSend, space defense startup True Anomaly, and AI research firm Nous Research, alongside crypto holdings such as Hyperliquid, Tempo (the stablecoin blockchain co-founded with Stripe), and prediction markets venue Kalshi. The firm also continues funding open-source work, from blockchain infrastructure Foundry and Reth to AI tooling like Centaur and EVMbench, the latter a collaboration with OpenAI on smart-contract security.

Why it matters

Paradigm is the highest-profile crypto VC to formally widen its mandate in the current cycle, but it is not alone. Framework Ventures closed a $400 million fund in late 2025 explicitly spanning crypto, AI, and robotics, and Haun Ventures raised a $1 billion vehicle backing blockchain and AI. The shared pattern is structural: maturing crypto-native returns, bigger fund sizes that need larger addressable markets, and a real convergence thesis around AI agents, decentralized compute, and on-chain settlement. Founders Matt Huang, a former Sequoia partner, and Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam have positioned Paradigm as a generalist frontier investor while keeping crypto core.

Market impact

For crypto founders, the read is mixed but mostly constructive. AUM at the major crypto-native firms keeps growing even as deal counts compress, and a $1.2 billion fund from a tier-one shop means dry powder stays available for later-stage rounds. The risk is that capital chasing AI and robotics names is capital not chasing purely on-chain infrastructure.