Fabric Ventures is a London-based venture capital firm specializing in early-stage Web3 and blockchain investments. Founded around 2017 – originally operating under the name Firestartr before rebranding to Fabric Ventures – the firm has built a focused portfolio of protocol-layer and infrastructure projects. It targets pre-seed and seed rounds, often writing the first institutional check into a project.
The firm invests across decentralized protocols, DeFi primitives, and Web3 infrastructure, with a clear preference for open-source networks where token economics can create liquidity events for LPs. Fabric Ventures operates primarily out of the United Kingdom and has participated in deals across Europe, North America, and beyond. Public AUM figures have not been disclosed; the firm has not announced a specific fund size.
Fabric Ventures has backed projects spanning Layer 1 networks, DeFi aggregators, and privacy-preserving infrastructure. Portfolio companies have included early positions in Polkadot, the multi-chain interoperability protocol built by the Web3 Foundation; 1inch Network, a leading decentralized exchange aggregator; NEAR Protocol, a sharded Layer 1 blockchain; Stacks, a Bitcoin Layer 2 smart-contract network; and Celo, a mobile-first payments blockchain. The firm has also been associated with investments in Fetch.ai, Gnosis, and Casper Network. With a reported 16 tracked portfolio companies and 20 lead investments on record, Fabric Ventures occupies a niche as a conviction-driven, small-team fund rather than a high-volume deployer.
Notable Investments
- Polkadot (DOT) – early-stage backing of Gavin Wood's heterogeneous multi-chain protocol
- 1inch Network – DEX aggregator that grew into one of the most-used DeFi routing layers
- NEAR Protocol – sharded, developer-friendly Layer 1; token appreciated significantly post-launch
- Stacks (STX) – Bitcoin-native smart contracts; one of the few SEC-qualified token offerings
- Celo – mobile payments chain with stablecoin focus; later transitioned to an Ethereum Layer 2
- Fetch.ai – AI-agent and autonomous economic agents platform based in Cambridge, UK
- Gnosis – Ethereum infrastructure including Safe (multi-sig) and prediction markets
Team
Richard Muirhead is a managing partner and the firm's most publicly visible figure. He has a long background in early-stage technology investing, including time at Amadeus Capital Partners, and co-founded Openwave Systems. His track record predates crypto; Fabric Ventures represents his pivot toward decentralized infrastructure. Max Mersch, a general partner, has focused on the research and deal-sourcing side, authoring several widely cited pieces on token economics and Web3 business models. Public information on other team members is limited.
Recent Activity
Fabric Ventures has maintained a lower public profile since roughly 2023, with no announced new fund or major new portfolio additions confirmed through early 2026. Several of their headline portfolio companies – NEAR, 1inch, Celo – went through significant market drawdowns during the 2022 bear cycle and have since staged partial recoveries. The firm's reported retail ROI of 1.38x reflects a portfolio that has outpaced a break-even baseline, though it trails the returns posted by larger multi-stage funds that held larger Polkadot and 1inch positions through peak valuations. The transition of Celo from a standalone L1 to an Ethereum Layer 2 (announced 2023, completed 2024) represents one notable strategic shift within the portfolio.
Fabric Ventures fits a model common among European Web3 funds: small team, thesis-driven, early entry. Their strength is protocol-level conviction; their limitation is fund size, which constrains follow-on capacity when portfolio companies raise large growth rounds. As Web3 infrastructure matures, earlier bets on interoperability and DeFi aggregation have proven directionally correct, even if timing and exit opportunities varied. Investors and founders can find more context on the firm via Crunchbase and the firm's own fabric.vc website.
