Republic is a New York-based investment platform founded in 2016 by Kendrick Nguyen (CEO) and Paul Menchov (CTO), who both previously worked at AngelList. The company was spun out of AngelList to build a broader, more accessible investment ecosystem – one that lets retail investors participate alongside institutional capital in private markets. Over time, Republic expanded from equity crowdfunding under Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) into venture capital, real estate, gaming, and crypto through a network of dedicated verticals.
The platform operates at the intersection of retail access and institutional deal flow. Its crypto and Web3 venture arm, Republic Capital, leads early-stage investments in blockchain infrastructure, DeFi protocols, and Web3 applications. Republic has positioned itself as a democratized entry point into asset classes that were historically gated behind accredited investor requirements. In 2021, Republic raised a $150 million Series B at a reported $900 million valuation, backed by investors including Valor Equity Partners, Jump Capital, and Samsung Next – a signal of significant institutional confidence in its model.
Republic's geographic focus is primarily the United States, though its portfolio and investor base extend internationally. The platform is registered with the SEC and FINRA, giving it regulatory standing to facilitate public offerings under Regulation Crowdfunding and Regulation A+. This compliance infrastructure is one of its key differentiators from earlier crowdfunding models.
Notable investments
- Near Protocol – Layer-1 blockchain; Republic Capital participated in early funding rounds for NEAR, which grew into one of the larger proof-of-stake networks by total value locked.
- Solana ecosystem projects – Republic Capital has been active in Solana-adjacent infrastructure and application-layer investments.
- Republic itself (internal crowdfunding campaigns) – Republic has run its own investor rounds on the platform, allowing retail participants to hold equity in the company, blurring the line between operator and investee.
Public information on the full list of Republic Capital's 14 tracked portfolio companies is limited. The firm does not publish a comprehensive portfolio page with deal-by-deal disclosures. Confirmed investments are scattered across SEC filings and press releases rather than a single authoritative source.
Team
Kendrick Nguyen (CEO and co-founder) is the most public face of Republic. Before Republic, he served as General Counsel at AngelList. He has been a vocal advocate for expanding retail access to private markets and has testified before Congress on securities law reform. Paul Menchov co-founded Republic and has led the technical side of the platform. Republic Capital's investment team operates somewhat separately; public information on individual partners within that arm is limited beyond Nguyen's involvement at the platform level.
Recent activity
Between 2023 and 2025, Republic focused on consolidating its multi-vertical model after a period of aggressive expansion. The broader private markets slowdown affected its deal pace, as it did across venture. Republic continued facilitating Reg CF raises for early-stage startups and maintained its crypto investment activity through Republic Capital, though the cadence of new announcements slowed relative to the 2021–2022 peak. The company also made moves toward tokenization of real-world assets (RWA), a sector that gained significant institutional traction through 2024 and into 2025.
Republic occupies a structurally interesting position in the market: it is simultaneously a regulated marketplace, a venture investor, and a portfolio company (having raised from its own users). Its retail ROI figure of 1.38x reflects the blended returns available to public investors on the platform – modest but positive in a difficult macro environment for early-stage assets. The core question for Republic going forward is whether the retail crowdfunding model can scale deal quality alongside deal volume, particularly in crypto where volatility and project failures remain high. More detail on Republic's fund performance and portfolio is available through republic.com and Crunchbase. SEC filings for individual offerings can be found via the SEC EDGAR database.
