a16z co-founder launches $20m fintech-focused fund Cambrian

Rick Steves

The fund plans to invest in 30 companies, with investments of up to $500K at the angel, pre-seed, and seed stage within the fintech sector.

Rex Salisbury, a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz, has founded a new early-stage venture capital firm, Cambrian Ventures, which has launched its inaugural $20 million fintech-focused fund investing at the angel, pre-seed, and seed stage.

The fund has gathered a number of influential entrepreneurs and fintech specialists as investors, including the founders of Nerdwallet, Plaid, Simple, Alloy, Modus, SentiLink, Jeeves, Betterment, Blend, Routable, Trim, LendUp, One, SoFi, Moonpay, LoanPro, Altruist, and Melio.

Cambrian will leverage Rex Salisbury’s, resources, knowledge, mentorship, and global network of over 15,000 subscribers, 4,000 meetup attendees, and a Slack community with 1,100+ fintech founders.

Prior to Cambrian, Salisbury spent three years as a founding partner of A16Z, where he helped build the fintech vertical and invested in a number of deals including Deel and Tally.

Cambrian plans to invest in 30 companies

The new venture fund plans to invest in 30 companies, with investments of up to $500K at the angel, pre-seed, and seed stage within the fintech sector, having already invested in Keep Financial’s recent seed round. Cambrian claims to have assisted in matching more than 500 co-founders and investors, to date.

Rex Salisbury, Founder and General Partner of Cambrian, said: “In seeing the positive and meaningful impact this community of experienced fintech founders and investors has had thus far, Cambrian’s venture fund was a logical next step. There is a unique opportunity to mobilize the Cambrian community to facilitate vital connections while adding operational expertise and capital at the earliest and most critical stage of founder-market fit. The fund aims to leverage the entrepreneurial experience, subject matter expertise, operational expertise, and industry insights within the Cambrian community to support the next generation of fintech entrepreneurs.”

Andy Carra, co-founder of SoFi and investor in the fund, commented: “Rex has pioneered a new frontier for fintech entrepreneurs by harnessing the power of community around a fund structure. Cambrian’s success to date is due to Rex’s passion, sense of camaraderie, and extensive belief in both fintech’s potential and the power of community.”

Rob Frohwein, co-founder of Keep Financial and Kabbage, commented: “Cambrian is an ideal partner for us because they blend a community ecosystem with Rex, an investor with extensive experience in building and scaling fintech startups.”

Anish Acharya, General Partner at A16Z, added: “Rex’s influence, reach, and ability to identify the next great entrepreneurs in fintech are impressive and made him a valuable asset at A16Z. We are delighted to see how he and Cambrian will continue to support the fintech ecosystem with the launch of this fund.”

Read this next

Digital Assets

Cathie Wood’s sponsored Bitcoin ETF sees historic $200 million inflows

The ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), co-sponsored by Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, registered historic inflows exceeding $200 million on Wednesday, signaling a robust appetite among investors for Bitcoin-centric investments.

Digital Assets

Sam Bankman-Fried might see his 25-year sentence halved

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison by a Manhattan court on Thursday. This comes after he was convicted of defrauding customers and investors, with Judge Lewis Kaplan highlighting the potential future risks posed by Bankman-Fried.

Technical Analysis

EURJPY Technical Analysis Report 28 March, 2024

EURJPY currency pair under the bearish pressure after the pair reversed down from the major resistance level 164.25, which also stopped the sharp weekly uptrend at the end of last year,

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Hits $9.9M, MultiversX & MINA Price Predictions Show Green

Read about BlockDAG’s promising $10 prediction and insights on MultiversX Price Prediction as MINA’s potential unfolds.

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

Digital Assets

Prisma Finance suffers $10 million crypto exploit, attack ongoing

Liquid staking protocol Prisma Finance fell victim to a security exploit on March 28, resulting in nearly $10 million in Prisma mkUSD and wrapped stETH being stolen by hackers.

<