Hack VC is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm founded by blockchain veterans Alex Pack and Ed Roman . The firm operates as a thesis-driven investor focused on early-stage crypto, web3, and blockchain infrastructure. Founded in 2017 , Hack VC has grown into a prominent player in crypto venture capital with 19 unicorns in its portfolio .
The firm manages three core funds. Its first seed fund closed in 2021 at $206 million , backed by Sequoia Capital, Fidelity, and a16z's Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon. The firm raised a $150 million venture fund focused on later-stage companies and tokens that began investing in 2022 and has achieved a net return of 150% . A third fund raised $77 million with commitments exceeding its initial $80 million goal, began investing capital in 2023, and has generated a net return of 1.7 times the capital invested . Total assets under management reached approximately $425 million as of the second fund close.
The first fund's performance has been mixed. According to investor documents, it has returned a net of 90% of the initial capital invested , representing a near-term loss. However, the firm's second and third funds have performed strongly during the recent crypto upturn.
Notable Investments
Hack VC has built a portfolio spanning 251 companies as of February 2026 . Major investments include Berachain, a high-performance EVM-compatible blockchain built on Proof-of-Liquidity consensus , and EigenLayer, an Ethereum protocol that enables restaking . The firm backed Ritual, building the AI Coprocessor for blockchains , and led investments in Grass, a decentralized network that rewards users for their unused Internet bandwidth .
Other significant portfolio companies include MakerDAO, a decentralized stablecoin backed by digital and real-world assets , Anchorage, a regulated crypto platform providing institutional financial services , and Avalanche, a Layer 1 protocol with institutional-grade scalability . The firm has also invested in Vertex, a decentralized exchange for on-chain spot and derivatives trading on Arbitrum , Goldfinch, a crypto credit protocol allowing borrowing without crypto collateral , and Grass, which acts as underlying data infrastructure that powers AI models .
Team
Alex Pack is co-founder and managing partner at Hack VC. Prior to Hack VC, Alex co-founded and was the first managing partner at Dragonfly, a multi-billion web3 investment firm; was an investment director at Bain Capital, where he helped launch the firm's web3 investment practice; served as senior advisor to Huobi; and was a partner at AngelList .
Ed Roman is a special advisor and co-founder at Hack VC. Prior to Hack, Ed was an angel-operator and seed VC for 10+ years, making 250+ investments into early-stage tech and web3 startups . Ed is also a 3x tech startup founder with 2 exits .
The team includes several other partners. Herbie is a partner who was previously co-founder and general partner at Infinity Ventures Crypto, the crypto venture arm of the largest Japanese VC fund (Headline Asia) . Harrison is a partner focused on AI, privacy, and cryptography, and was previously the CTO at a prominent crypto AI company, a crypto advisor to Lightspeed Venture Partners, and founded a company that exited to Coinbase .
Recent Activity
Hack VC has been active in 2025 and early 2026. In 2025, it made 13 investments, and as of February 2026, it has made 2 investments . Recent deals include seed investments in Opinion and Opinion Labs, along with follow-on funding in AI-focused projects.
The firm has differentiated itself with impressive deal flow and a variety of bets across different crypto sectors, from small DeFi protocols to larger companies like the new layer-1 blockchain Berachain . The firm operates an internal technical platform called Hack Labs staffed by blockchain engineers and quantitative researchers who provide liquidity, stake assets, and make open-source contributions to portfolio companies.
Hack VC has made most investments in United States (90), followed by Singapore where it has made 9 investments . The firm's investment approach spans seed to Series B stages, with 80 investments in seed stage with an average round size of $8.25M and 49 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $18.4M .
Looking ahead, Hack VC remains focused on web3 infrastructure, DeFi, real-world asset tokenization, and the intersection of crypto and AI. The firm's hands-on approach, technical capabilities through Hack Labs, and strong track record with its second and third funds position it well to continue backing early-stage crypto founders. However, the underperformance of its first fund serves as a reminder of the volatility inherent in crypto venture investing. With an ability to invest in popular and often oversubscribed projects that are difficult for angel investors to enter , Hack VC has carved out a competitive position in a crowded field.
