London-based Prime Factor Capital has launched a new hedge fund focused on making investments in cryptocurrencies. The firm has also closed an equity financing round of a half million Euros with Speedinvest, a European Fintech investor. Speedinvest is a pan-European brand of venture capital funds with €200m under management that invests in seed stage technology start-ups.

Entrepreneur First, a European incubator, also participated in the funding round. The founding team at Prime Factor Nic Niedermowwe, Michael Wong, and Adam Grimsley met at Entrepreneur First and the incubator said it was interested in supporting the program alumni because of their innovative approach to cryptocurrencies.

The new fund will invest in cryptocurrencies with the largest market cap using derivatives to limit investment risk. "We come to this with prior investment management experience and wanted to create something that would appeal to institutional investors," explains Adam Grimsley in an interview with Opalesque New Managers . "Alongside the investment strategy, we've been very focused on creating a fund that has the kind of operational and custodial support that institutions and family offices have come to expect from other asset classes. Our use of derivatives also helps to manage risk levels thereby making it easier for allocations from risk sensitive investors."

The fund was initially launched with partner capital in order to build a track record and test the infrastructure Grimsley says. Throughout the rest of this year in addition to building track record, the investment team will be speaking with potential investors. "There's a significant crypto community in London, so that's been great for us being based here," Grimsley says.

The firm will be targeting $100-200 million for the strategy to start, but will consider growing beyond that as volume increases across the crypto market. "We're still in the ear......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.