Framework Ventures raised $400M for its fourth fund and is expanding into AI, robotics and energy — a signal that crypto-native VCs see the next cycle forming outside blockchain alone.
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Framework Ventures closed its fourth fund with a $400 million raise, Fortune reported. The venture firm, which has backed crypto projects since 2019, is widening its scope beyond blockchain into artificial intelligence, robotics and energy.
The new fund will target what the firm calls "frontier technology" – a category that includes AI infrastructure, robotics hardware and energy systems. Framework said it will keep investing in crypto but sees overlap between blockchain and these other sectors, particularly around compute infrastructure and decentralized energy grids.
The $400 million figure is roughly in line with the firm's third fund, which closed at $400 million in 2021. That fund was raised near the peak of the last crypto bull market. The new raise comes at a time when crypto venture funding has been recovering from a two-year slump but remains below 2021-2022 levels.
Framework's shift mirrors a broader move among crypto-native venture firms. Several have added AI or fintech mandates as blockchain deal flow has narrowed. The firm said it sees the expansion as a way to deploy capital into adjacent technologies where its crypto experience – particularly around decentralized infrastructure – gives it an edge.
The fund will invest across stages, from seed to Series B, with check sizes ranging from $5 million to $25 million. Framework has backed projects including Chainlink, Aave and Synthetix.
For crypto traders, the read-through is less about Framework's specific picks and more about where institutional venture capital sees the next cycle. If a firm built on crypto thesis is now allocating meaningful capital to AI and energy, it suggests those sectors are where the next wave of infrastructure buildout is happening – and where crypto-native teams may find themselves competing for talent and compute resources.
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