The Venture Dept Research
Investment Thesis
The Venture Dept. (originally launched as Department of XYZ) is a solo-GP venture fund built around a single, unusual value proposition: regulatory expertise as the primary source of investor value-add. Founder Matthew Homer spent his career on the regulator side of digital assets, first at the FDIC and then as Executive Deputy Superintendent at the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS), where he oversaw licensing and supervision of the largest crypto exchanges, custodians, and stablecoin issuers in the U.S. After a stint as an investor at Nyca Partners, he launched his own fund on the premise that no one in venture was "really owning the regulatory lane." The firm invests in financial infrastructure, stablecoins, and DeFi platforms, explicitly avoiding the more speculative end of crypto (memecoins, prelaunch L1 tokens) in favor of businesses that need to survive contact with regulators.
Sector Focus
The portfolio centers on: stablecoin issuance and infrastructure, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, on-chain credit and private-credit infrastructure, cross-chain and payments infrastructure, and compliance/regulatory tooling for crypto and fintech founders. Recent deals (Tare, Valinor, Rhythmic) show a deepening focus on bringing institutional credit and embedded-finance rails on-chain.
Stage Focus
The fund invests primarily at seed, occasionally stretching into Series A rounds where the regulatory value-add is highest (e.g., the firm was brought into Superstate's Series A). It does not target pre-seed or later growth rounds based on observed activity.
Check Size
Matt Homer has been explicit in press that The Venture Dept. does not write the largest check in a round: "We're not going to be your largest check, but what we are going to be is your regulatory friends on speed dial." Recent rounds it has joined (Birdai $4M, Rhythmic $4M, Valinor $25M, Tare $13.25M) were all led by other funds (Castle Island Ventures, Dragonfly, Blockchain Capital), consistent with a small, non-lead participation strategy. No explicit check-size range is published.
Lead Tendency
Follows. The firm was founded explicitly not to lead rounds, instead trading its regulatory network and advisory value for allocation into competitive deals.
Recent Activity
The fund has been consistently active through 2026, publishing a monthly "Briefing Memo" and "Why we invested" posts for each new deal. Confirmed 2026 investments: Rhythmic (Feb 2026, $4M seed, led by Dragonfly), Valinor (March 2026, $25M seed, led by Castle Island Ventures), Birdai Labs (July 2026, $4M seed, led by Castle Island Ventures), and Tare (September 2026, $13.25M seed, led by Blockchain Capital). Two portfolio companies have exited: Bridge was acquired by Stripe for $1.1B (closed Feb 2025), and Mountain Protocol, an early portfolio bet from 2023, was acquired by Anchorage Digital (announced May 2025).
Portfolio Highlights
Early portfolio (2023) includes several now-notable names: Bridge (acquired by Stripe), Superstate (Robert Leshner's RWA/tokenized-Treasury company, which brought the fund in on its Series A), RWA.xyz, Squid Router, and Mountain Protocol (acquired by Anchorage Digital). The 2024-2026 portfolio has moved further into stablecoin-adjacent infrastructure (Etherfuse, StableSea, Xweave, Omnia, Flyra) and on-chain credit (Valinor, Tare). Portfolio pages list roughly two dozen companies with no companies flagged beyond "exited" (Bridge, Mountain Protocol).
Team
- Matthew Homer, Founder & General Partner — Former Executive Deputy Superintendent at NYDFS overseeing crypto licensing/supervision; earlier a federal regulator at the FDIC; operating roles at Quovo and Plaid; investor at Nyca Partners before founding The Venture Dept. Also an independent director at Gemini Trust Company and Standard Custody & Trust Company (a Ripple subsidiary). Holds a master's from the Harvard Kennedy School.
The firm is a solo-GP shop; there is no listed investment team beyond Homer. It supplements this with an unusually deep bench of unpaid "Limited Partner Advisors" — roughly 18 named individuals with backgrounds at the SEC, CFPB, DOJ, FinCEN, NYDFS, OCC, and the Federal Reserve — who provide legal/regulatory/compliance expertise to portfolio companies.
Decision Process
Solo GP. Matthew Homer is the sole managing member and decision-maker.
Founder Preferences
Homer has stated a preference for teams that treat regulatory compliance as a competitive moat rather than a constraint (explicitly cited for Tare and Rhythmic), and for founders with credibility on both sides of the TradFi/crypto boundary. Several investments (Tare, Valinor) originated from Homer's own diligence calls on other deals, suggesting a network-driven, relationship-first sourcing style.
Geographic Focus
US-based, headquartered in New York City (1178 Broadway). No explicit non-US geographic focus was found; LPs and advisors are U.S. regulatory-agency alumni.
Fund Status
Fund I raised $5.1M in 2024, backed by LPs including the Winklevoss twins, Compound founder Robert Leshner, and Multicoin's Kyle Samani. The fund is actively deploying as of September 2026 based on continuous monthly investment activity.