Varrock

Varrock Research

Investment Thesis

Varrock is a $30M pre-seed and seed crypto venture fund led by Richard Chen, a solo GP who has been investing in crypto since 2017. The firm is intentionally generalist within crypto, believing the best companies create new categories that don't fit existing labels. Varrock invests $600-900k checks and makes approximately 6 new investments per year, maintaining a concentrated, high-conviction portfolio.

Richard has developed a nuanced thesis spanning two evolving founder archetypes. Crypto-native companies are built by crypto experts for crypto experts, where success hinges on retaining power users who follow an extreme Pareto distribution (e.g., the top 0.2% of users may drive half of platform volume). Crypto-adjacent companies use crypto as a feature in bigger traditional industries — and as regulatory clarity arrives following the GENIUS Act's signing, these may produce the largest venture outcomes over the next few years through IPOs rather than token launches.

Varrock explicitly does not specialize within crypto, intentionally staying generalist so they can be early to the next big trend. Their portfolio reflects this: stablecoin issuers, DePIN-adjacent robotics, oracleless DeFi protocols, data storage L1s, and agentic travel infrastructure.

Stage Focus

Varrock invests exclusively at pre-seed and seed stages:

• Pre-seed: earliest entry point for crypto founders
• Seed: initial or follow-on investments with more product development

The fund explicitly avoids later-stage investments.

Check Size

Standard check size is $600-900k. This range is published directly on the Varrock homepage and has been consistent since fund launch. Richard deliberately chose a narrow band to set expectations clearly with founders.

Lead Tendency

Varrock leads rounds. This is confirmed directly in the FAQ: "$30M fund. $600-900k checks. Pre-seed and seed. Yes we lead."

Decision Process

Richard operates as a solo GP with no investment committee. Key implications for founders:

• Founders always speak directly to the decision-making partner in the first meeting — no junior VC or AI agent intermediaries
• Decisions can be made within a few days
• No committee consensus required, meaning speed is a genuine differentiator
• Varrock does not invest in competitors to any portfolio company

This structure is a deliberate philosophical choice. Richard believes investors with large portfolios too easily move on when a startup struggles, whereas a concentrated portfolio creates genuine skin-in-the-game alignment.

Recent Activity

Varrock closed its oversubscribed $30M Fund I in early 2025, backed by large institutions and family offices. The fund has been actively deploying, with 9 known investments:

• May 2026: Infinia (LatAm virtual accounts, Uruguay)
• May 2026: Entravel Group (agentic travel infrastructure, Ukraine)
• February 2026: Pimlico (EUR stablecoin issuer, United Kingdom)
• January 2026: Agant (GBP stablecoin issuer, United Kingdom)
• September 2025: Nook (high-yield earnings app, Austin TX)
• May 2025: Irys (data storage L1, United Kingdom)
• April 2025: Eureka Labs (programmable block builder, Israel)
• January 2025: Red Rabbit Robotics (automating manual labor via DePIN incentives, Canada)
• December 2024: Exponents (oracleless derivatives protocol, South Korea)

The deployment cadence is consistent with their stated ~6 investments per year target: 2 in late 2024-early 2025, 4 across 2025, and 4 across early 2026.

Portfolio Highlights

The portfolio spans both crypto-native infrastructure and crypto-adjacent verticals:

• Pimlico and Agant are EUR and GBP stablecoin issuers respectively, riding the post-GENIUS Act stablecoin wave
• Irys is a data storage Layer 1 blockchain focused on permanent, verifiable data storage
• Eureka Labs builds programmable block builders, core MEV/ordering infrastructure
• Exponents is an oracleless derivatives protocol, a natively crypto-native DeFi play
• Nook is a high-yield multi-chain earnings application, crypto-adjacent fintech
• Red Rabbit Robotics automates manual labor using DePIN incentive structures — a clear crypto-adjacent bet
• Infinia provides LatAm virtual accounts, a stablecoin-based fintech for emerging markets
• Entravel Group builds agentic travel infrastructure, combining AI agents with crypto payments rails

Team

• Richard Chen, General Partner: Founder of Varrock and sole decision-maker. Previously GP at 1confirmation from 2017, where he made early investments in OpenSea and other seminal crypto protocols. Has lived through multiple crypto cycles. Known as "the data wizard VC" for building Dune Analytics dashboards. Publishes long-form crypto market analysis on Substack ("Shower Thoughts"). X/Twitter: @richardchen39, Firm Twitter: @VarrockVC. Email: [email protected].

Geographic Focus

Global — portfolio spans Uruguay, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Israel, South Korea, Canada, and the United States. No explicit geographic constraints, though Varrock is based in Plano, TX.

Value-Add and Differentiation

Key differentiators Richard emphasizes:

• Deep historical context: investing in crypto since 2017 through multiple cycles enables pattern matching from past projects
• Network: strong rolodex for warm intros to customers, business partners, and follow-on capital built over nearly a decade
• Data analytics: builds Dune dashboards to help founders understand on-chain user behavior and inform product decisions
• Content and thought leadership: active Substack and X presence signals transparent thesis development and ongoing market perspectives
• Speed: no investment committee means decisions within days, not weeks

Founder Preferences

For crypto-native projects: founders who deeply understand crypto culture, can build passionate online communities, and often come from outside the traditional Silicon Valley network — the Hayden Adams / Stani Kulechov archetype.

For crypto-adjacent projects: commercially-minded founders who are domain experts in the adjacent industry (not crypto-native founders who recently pivoted), with a clear distribution strategy for their go-to-market.

In both cases: ambitious founders with large upside potential. "We value people over products. Products pivot all the time but people stay the same."