Ben Davenport is a San Francisco-based software engineer turned Bitcoin advocate and angel investor, best known as a co-founder of BitGo, the institutional digital asset security and custody platform. He has been active in the Bitcoin ecosystem since the early 2010s and is regarded as one of the original technical voices championing multi-signature security for on-chain asset management.
Before co-founding BitGo in 2013, Davenport held engineering roles at Mozilla and other technology firms in Silicon Valley. His technical background shaped BitGo's early product direction: the company pioneered multi-sig wallet infrastructure at a time when exchange hacks were a recurring crisis across the industry. BitGo went on to become a primary custody provider for institutional clients, eventually raising hundreds of millions in funding and processing billions in monthly transaction volume. Davenport stepped back from day-to-day operations at BitGo in the years following the company's growth, transitioning into an advisory and investing role.
As an angel investor, Davenport focuses on early-stage Bitcoin and broader blockchain infrastructure companies. Public information about the full scope of his personal investment portfolio is limited, as he does not manage a formal fund and does not regularly disclose deal participation. He has been publicly associated with investing in a small number of Bitcoin-adjacent startups, consistent with his long-standing conviction that Bitcoin represents the foundational layer of digital finance. His portfolio count of five investments reflects a selective, conviction-driven approach rather than a high-volume deployment strategy.
Notable investments
- BitGo – Co-founded in 2013; the company grew into a leading institutional custody and wallet infrastructure provider serving exchanges, hedge funds, and family offices. Crunchbase profile.
- Public information about his other specific portfolio companies is limited. He has not operated a named fund or published a portfolio page.
Team
Ben Davenport operates as an individual angel investor, not as part of a partnership or investment firm. He co-founded BitGo alongside Mike Belshe (who remains CEO) and Will O'Brien. Davenport's public profile and commentary on Bitcoin can be followed via his presence on social media, where he has been an active commentator on Bitcoin protocol development and industry trends.
Recent activity
Davenport has maintained a relatively low public profile in recent years compared to his early-era prominence. He has not announced new fund vehicles or major new investments in the 2024–2026 window based on available public sources. His commentary has remained focused on Bitcoin-native themes: sound money principles, Layer 2 development, and the risks of custodial models that cut corners on security – themes directly tied to his founding experience at BitGo.
For investors researching the early Bitcoin institutional infrastructure wave, Davenport's role at BitGo places him in a small group of founders who built the custody layer that institutional adoption later depended on. His angel activity is modest in volume but consistent in thesis. Given the limited public disclosure around his personal investments, any reported portfolio figures should be treated as minimums rather than a complete picture of his activity.