Benzinga - Tiger Global Management, a well-known tech investor, has been hit hard by losses from its bets on blue-chip cryptocurrency businesses.
According to private documents cited by The Information, the firm's $12.7 billion venture fund produced a paper loss of 20% as of December 2022.
This was largely due to half a dozen major crypto startups that contributed to the loss, including investments in FTX, OpenSea, Yuga Labs, MoonPay, Helium and Worldcoin.
The investment in OpenSea, for example, dropped from $126.8 million to $30.2 million.
These losses come after Tiger's flagship hedge fund reported losses of 54.7% for the year in November 2022, and the value of its private funds was marked down by an average of 33% in 2022.
The firm's venture fund has invested more than $11 billion to date, with a significant portion going towards enterprise software as a service, followed by fintech and cryptocurrencies.
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More than 170 of the 250 startups backed by the venture fund were worth less in December 2022 than when the firm first invested.
This suggests crypto prices are falling somewhat in line with the wider tech startup space. It's worth noting that shares in prized crypto companies are also available on secondary market platforms at steep discounts.
For instance, some OpenSea shares were trading at a 51% discount on Birel.io, a secondary marketplace, according to The Block.
Despite its recent losses, Tiger has been one of the tech sector's biggest investors, and its investments have had a significant impact on the growth of various startups.
The firm's recent losses show the volatility of the crypto market and the risks that come with investing in emerging technologies.
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