ABOUT
ARCANUM CAPITAL
Arcanum Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on supporting enterprising and forward-thinking teams that are establishing decentralized networks and applications for the global blockchain ecosystem.
While Arcanum recognizes that the merit and reach of a project are more significant than its geographical origin, we have a focus on (but are not limited to) India, given the tremendous growth rate of the Indian blockchain ecosystem and the expertise and track records of our partners in the region.
Arcanum Capital's team consists of experienced investment professionals who understand what it takes to evaluate, incubate and scale promising teams and ideas. We have been on the ground as operators, investors, and incubators in frontier and emerging markets, including India, since 2013, and have worked with startups, decentralized networks, and publicly listed companies. During this time, we have cultivated powerful networks and partnerships that are invaluable in helping our portfolio entities transition from idea to market and scale on the global stage.
FOUNDING PARTNERS
JAMES MCDOWALL
ZÜRICH
James has been researching, investing in, and advising early and growth-stage technology ventures with a focus on blockchain technology since 2017. He has played pivotal roles in creative and strategic direction and business development at companies such as DMG Blockchain, Audit One and Tavis Digital, and is experienced in conveying technological solutions to governments, regulators, and financial institutions. James excels in leveraging his strong, global network of investors, entrepreneurs, and capital markets professionals to help finance and scale portfolio companies.
KARTHIK BUPATHI
NEW YORK
Karthik has been heavily involved in the blockchain sector since 2013, most recently being a successful angel investor in several Indian projects such as Persistence and Razor Network. Since then, he has been carrying out extensive research and helping blockchain-centric companies and networks scale from the ground up focusing on token economics and mechanism design. Before going all-in on blockchain, Karthik worked in capital markets at BNY Mellon, an American multinational Investment banking services holding company headquartered in New York City.
LUCHANG ZHENG
SAN FRANCISCO / BEIJING
Luchang is a founding partner of Blockchain Hero, a Global Ambassador of Draper University and a former Partner at GCP, a Silicon Valley focused talent acquisition specialist. She dedicates her passion towards cross-border consulting and investment with portfolios spanning 4 continents, covering blockchain, AI, fintech, big data and IoT. Before starting Blockchain Hero, she was the chief explorer of Robotics and AI at GWC and organiser and producer of the Global Mobile Internet Conference. She also mentors entrepreneurs at MIT LaunchX and Leanin China.
RAHUL ANDRA
HYDERABAD / BANGALORE
Rahul developed a deep interest in digital assets and digital payments while attending the University of Michigan. Since graduating from Draper University in 2015, Rahul's goal has been to partner with the next generation of entrepreneurs and founders innovating using blockchain and other emerging technologies.
ADVISORS
SANDEEP NAILWAL
DUBAI
Sandeep is best known as the Co-Founder of Polygon, a global and sustainable Web3 infrastructure built on Ethereum. After studying computer science, he received his MBA from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, one of the top schools in India, where he specialized in Information Technology. Sandeep went on to lead the technology department at Welspun, the largest textile company in Asia, and worked as a consultant at Deloitte.
Sandeep’s background in tech set the foundation for the 2015 launch of his company, ScopeWeaver, India’s largest marketplace for professional services. It was here that he designed and developed blockchain-based decentralized application architecture. As with many, once Sandeep dipped his toes into the world of Web3, there was no turning back. Just two years later, in 2017, Sandeep, Jaynti Kanani and Anurag Arjun united under a common vision for the future of blockchain tech, and Polygon was born.
Currently, Sandeep is based in Dubai, with the support of his 400+ people team that is distributed across India, Dubai, Asia, the USA, and Europe.
LAWRENCE NEWHOOK
BERMUDA / NEW YORK
A Director of both Arcanum Emerging Technologies Fund I and Fund II, Lawrence Newhook is a veteran investment professional with a 20+ year track record investing globally across all asset classes. He has built successful investment and hedge fund portfolios for the pension, family office, and high-net-worth investor communities, with a particular focus on identifying and extracting sources of alpha from both public and private markets. Lawrence serves as the President & Chief Investment Officer of Alpha Innovations, where he oversees all facets of the business, including product innovation, alpha identification, and risk management.
Before launching Alpha Innovations, Lawrence was a member of the management team at Point72 Asset Management LP for twelve years, where he managed the team responsible for the firm’s external investments in hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and real estate. His team was also responsible for evaluating all discretionary and quantitative PMs, analysts, and traders to ensure the standard of only hiring best-in-class investment talent. Earlier in his career, Mr. Newhook was the Portfolio Manager of Alternative Strategies for OMERS, one of the largest Canadian pension plans, where he designed, developed, and managed its alternative investments program. Prior to this, he traded international OTC, listed derivatives, and cash markets, and helped manage global derivatives and FX portfolios.
Mr. Newhook is a CFA Charterholder and has a Masters in Financial Economics from the University of London and a Bachelor of Commerce (Management Economics) degree from the University of Guelph.
ANIKET JINDAL
DELHI
Aniket was one of the original 50 employees at Binance, now the world’s largest digital asset exchange by trading volume. He was also the first investor in Matic (now Polygon), which has gone on to surpass a valuation of $20 Billion. A seasoned professional with diversified work experience in marketing, investments, and operations, and known for his versatility and flexibility, Aniket has now co-founded and is currently leading operations at Biconomy, a technology company building transaction infrastructure for next-generation Web 3 applications.
MOYUKH SEN
NEW YORK / SAN FRANCISCO
Moyukh is an angel investor and the founder of Secureware, a cybersecurity firm focused on blockchain advisory and development with offices in New York and San Francisco. His recent career activities have spanned the globe encompassing investing and consulting deals in China, India, and across LATAM and Europe. Secureware has been a key partner for securing $10B+ in value for blockchain networks and companies, including a major code audit for Chainlink, as well as financial infrastructure for multinational enterprises. Moyukh has experience as a distributed systems software engineer at Cisco Systems and at a competitor which was acquired for $1.7 Billion. Moyukh holds a degree in computer science and has studied at Purdue, Tsinghua, and Stanford universities.