Blizzard Fund by Avalanche Research
Investment Thesis
Blizzard is the venture fund of the Avalanche ecosystem. It describes itself as a $200M+ venture capital fund backing innovative companies and entrepreneurs building the future of business on the Avalanche blockchain. The homepage pitch is "Empowering Innovation on Avalanche": category-defining companies building on a blockchain purpose-built for business, finance and global scale. The fund says it has invested in 100+ projects since 2021, digitizing the world's assets and reshaping markets across finance, payments and enterprise infrastructure. The fund is not a generalist. Every investment is tied to Avalanche, and the About text says the fund exists to accelerate development, growth and innovation across the builders and users of Avalanche and Web3.
Stage Focus
Blizzard invests in early-stage companies, including those raising Seed and Series A rounds. It also leads pre-seed rounds, such as the $4M pre-seed in Datagram Network in July 2025. It occasionally acts as lead investor and otherwise works alongside other funds to help a venture find the resources it needs.
Check Size
The website gives no check size range. The only data point found is a $4M pre-seed round that Blizzard led, which is the size of the round, not Blizzard's own check. Check size is left unset.
Lead Tendency
The site says Blizzard occasionally leads. Public reporting shows it leading some rounds (Datagram) and participating in others (Thetan World), so lead tendency is recorded as both.
Recent Activity
- July 2025: led Datagram Network's $4M pre-seed round (DePIN), with Animoca Brands, Cointelegraph, Amber Group and others participating.
- August 2025: reported $1.5M seed in Suzaku, a restaking and validator marketplace for Avalanche L1s.
- November 2024: strategic investment in Thetan World, with CIO Lydia Chiu commenting.
- March 2026: the portfolio page was refreshed with a large batch of company listings, including Tixbase, an enterprise infrastructure platform for live events.
The fund was announced as a $200M initial seed commitment from the Avalanche Foundation, Ava Labs, Polychain Capital and Three Arrows Capital. It appears to still be investing, with new portfolio listings added in 2026.
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio page lists well over a hundred companies across about fifteen pages. The notable names include:
- Infrastructure: Alchemy, Blockdaemon, LayerZero Labs, Axelar, Crossmint, Chaos Labs, Space and Time, Cubist, Bware Labs
- Onchain finance: Trader Joe, Dinari, Volmex, Dexalot, Term Finance, Oasis Pro Markets, GoGoPool, Panoptic, Qredo, Woo Network
- Payments and tokenization: Axiym, Upside, Protego Trust, Homium, Security Token Group
- Gaming: Shrapnel, Gunzilla Games, Thetan Arena, Pixion Games, DomiOnline, Arcade Galaxy, 1Kin
- Other: Alliance DAO (accelerator), ZenLedger, The Tie, Humanode, Movement, Lamina1
Team
- Lydia Chiu, CIO. Also an SVP of Corporate Development and business development at Ava Labs, and previously on Wall Street.
- Vera Im, Senior Investment Associate.
- Elias Peralta, Fund Controller.
Decision Process
The public site names no investment committee. A small team led by the CIO, with close ties to Ava Labs, makes decisions, so the process is recorded as a partnership. Introductions through the Avalanche ecosystem look useful, but the site also has a public contact form, so a warm introduction is not required.
Founder Preferences
Blizzard works closely with Ava Labs and partners to support investments with co-marketing, business development and engineering support. Its global team includes experienced blockchain entrepreneurs who advise on governance and decision making. Founders who are building on Avalanche and want ecosystem distribution are the target.
Geographic Focus
Global. The portfolio includes teams in the United States, South Korea, Japan, Southeast Asia, Africa, Australia and the Middle East. The common factor is Avalanche, not geography.
Gaps
The website gives no check size, no fund vintage details beyond 2021, and no headquarters. Location and check size are unset.