Cadenza Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm with offices in San Francisco and New York City, specializing in transformative and decentralized technologies, including blockchain and AI.
Cadenza Crypto Venture Fund
Launched in November 2021 with $50 million to invest in early-stage digital finance and blockchain technology companies. The fund was anchored by VanEck Associates, with participation from Solana, Dapper Labs, and WorldQuant Ventures, among others.
Cadenza Early Stage AI Venture Fund
Closed in December 2024 with $50 million, targeting pre-seed and seed opportunities within the AI sector, focusing on infrastructure and enterprise applications. Notable investments include Nous Research, TensorWave, Jericho Security, and Axolotl.
Notable Investments
Together AI: Pre-seeded in 2022, Together AI is recognized as one of the fastest-growing companies, providing tools for companies using open-source AI models.
Rain: A Middle Eastern cryptocurrency exchange.
Vauld: A Singapore-based crypto platform.
Lemon Cash: A Latin American digital wallet.
Tulip Protocol: A Solana blockchain-based project.
ZEBEDEE: A bitcoin-based game payments system.
Team
Kumar Dandapani
Managing Partner and Co-Founder. Prior to co-founding Cadenza, Kumar initiated BitMEX Ventures. Earlier in his career, he served as Head of Data Science at Norwest Venture Partners and worked as a quant and derivatives trader at Evolution Capital Management and Cornerstone Trading Company. Kumar holds a B.S. in Electrical & Computer Engineering and a B.A. in Social & Decision Sciences from Carnegie Mellon University, as well as an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.
Max Shapiro
Managing Partner and Co-Founder. Before establishing Cadenza, Max was an Investment Principal at BitMEX Ventures. He also served as an Investment Associate at Blue Line Advisors, Inc., focusing on middle-market leveraged buyouts, and as a Financial Consultant at Deloitte, serving private equity and investment banking clients. Max is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA), holding an M.S. and B.S. in Finance & Accounting from Binghamton University.
Harris Wellner
Operating Partner. Harris joined Cadenza in 2022. Previously, he was a Vice President at Angelo Gordon in the firm’s real estate private equity group, managing a portfolio valued at over $2 billion. He also served as a senior associate at Grant Thornton, focusing on private equity and hedge funds. Harris is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and received his M.S. and B.S. degrees in Accounting from Binghamton University.
