FinTech investor Holt Xchange launches fund at the intersection of Web3, sports media, entertainment

Montréal-based early-stage FinTech investor Holt Xchange has launched a fund focused on financial technology that is “revolutionizing” sports media and entertainment.

Through the newly announced fund, Holt Xchange plans to invest in Web3 startups at the seed and Series A stages that use digital collectibles, blockchain technology, smart contracts and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to disrupt existing business models across sports media and the entertainment industry.

“I think there will be enormous pressure from the pandemic around content and entertainment.”
– Elisabeth Laett, Holt Xchange

In an exclusive interview with BetaKit, Holt Xchange founding managing partner Jan Christopher Arp and managing partner Elisabeth Laett outlined the firm’s plans for the fund. The firm’s thesis centers around how sports media and entertainment content is “produced, aggregated, distributed and consumed,” and creators and their audiences interact.

Although the launch of this fund comes during a broader economic downturn as well as crypto and NFT market crashes, Laett and Arp believe the timing is ripe to invest in this space.

“While we may have seen a bit of a crypto winter, we are still seeing a significant amount of investment happening in the metaverse… [NFTs]the blockchain structure and smart contracts,” Laett said. “We definitely see the opportunity to participate in that momentum, as well as look for key technology companies to contribute to that.”

Holt Xchange is currently raising money for its Sports Media and Entertainment Fund, and while the firm declined to disclose the target size, a source with knowledge of the deal told BetaKit that Holt Xchange is aiming to secure $100 million USD. Holdun, the family office behind Holt Xchange, has agreed to act as the fund’s anchor investor.

“We were surprised by the level of interest in early discussions we had,” Laett said. “I think there will be enormous pressure from the pandemic around content and entertainment.”

Holt Xchange has assembled a celebrity-studded advisory board to help it position the fund and its thesis to the wider investment community. Celebrities include Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, Canadian tennis players Milos Raonic and Jennifer Bishop, Hollywood producer Niels Juul and NBA star DeMar DeRozan.

RELATED: Solana Ventures, Twitch Co-Founder Buys into Bravo Ready’s Games to Earn, Web3 Video Games

With the Sports Media and Entertainment Fund, Holt Xchange is moving away from traditional FinTech and expanding into Web3 – with a FinTech lens.

Holt Xchange was founded in 2018 as a FinTech-focused venture capital fund named after pioneering Québec industrialist Sir Herbert Holt, who helped build the Canadian Pacific Railway and create Hydro-Québec, among others. The firm’s current portfolio includes more traditional FinTech startups, such as Owl.co and Manzil. The firm also runs the Holt Fintech Accelerator

As the anchor of Holt Xchange’s new fund, Holdun brings experience in sports and crypto, as its own funds include the algorithm-based, sports betting-focused Innovation and Technology Fund, the private equity-like Holdun Opportunity Fund and the Crypto Arbitrage Fund. The latter claims to take advantage of “the inefficiency of the crypto market while maintaining a low level of exposure to the performance of the underlying crypto assets.”

“Throughout the large family office and our contacts – we have a very broad network in sports media and entertainment – ​​we saw a lot of synergy with the investments we’ve made in FinTech, and FinTech as an enabling technology to be able to really have an impact in this market , said Laett.

In addition to launching this fund, Holt Xchange is also establishing an “additional investment model” that it says will enable more investors to participate in the venture capital investments. Holt Xchange, which currently allows accredited investors and family offices to participate, plans to expand to qualified investors next year with the launch of its qualified investor platform, for which the firm has already opened its waiting list.

RELATED: WonderFi replaces CEOs, plans to hedge against crypto volatility with stock trading, sports betting

When it comes to the fund’s focus area, the market is changing. This year, the crypto market has been shattered: over $2 trillion in value has been wiped out and major players have become insolvent amid the collapse of digital asset prices. The NFT market has also crashed, affecting Web3 players like Dapper Labs.

“I’ve refined the term crypto winter to call it the crypto tsunami,” Laett said.

But despite current conditions, Laett remains optimistic about the future of crypto and Web3 technology, noting that she has a “long-term view” of what’s happening in the space.

“I really feel right now [like] the wave recedes and roars up to return three [times] stronger, said Laett.

In the midst of economic downturns where valuations typically fall and venture capital becomes far less competitive during these periods, Laett and Arp feel that Holt Xchange may have an opportunity to win allocation to high-quality deals.

Arp, for his part, believes Holt Xchange’s timing is right given the “network, … intrigue and momentum” the firm has been able to build for this initiative. “There are certainly trials, but we still have the confidence to keep going forward,” Arp said.