MFV Partners,

As we’re writing this note, we’re sitting in East Asia. We’ve been spending time between New York and Beijing to start off our year and double-down on our East-meets-West approach. On the ground we smelled something in the air that reports are not picking up. Having experienced the rate of execution in the East first-hand for over a month, we can’t help but imagine the possibilities when paired with the vision of the West. We are convinced that Maximum Frequency Ventures, bridging the West and the East, is needed today more than ever before.

We have been reading Breakneck, and we see the stories in that book lived firsthand. We spent time with the leadership teams behind Xiaomi and Bytedance, some of the largest companies built outside the U.S. and we keep coming back to the same thought: what US venture returns could’ve looked like if investors had early exposure? In many cases, the outcomes are obvious now but the signal was there well before the rest of the market was paying attention. Being here reminds us of the last two decades in the US, however, this time, much of the most compelling company formation is happening outside the traditional Western venture funnel. And it’s still being underestimated and remains almost impossible to access for the 99%. Fortunately for MFV, with Alex in Hong Kong and Jerome in Singapore, we have direct access to current and future generations of founders in the East. And those founders need the MFV edge - the US go-to-market with deep product and design thinking that we perfected over the last two decades.

That was our core belief when we launched MFV.

At the same time, the broader Web3 environment has gone through a necessary reset. The speculative excess that defined prior cycles has unwound, capital has become more selective, and attention has shifted away from narratives toward execution. To us, this moment feels less like a downturn and more like a return to first principles—where durable platforms are built quietly, before the spotlight comes back. We’ve lived this pattern before. Aptos itself was formed during a similar period of dislocation, when the market had moved on and only teams willing to build through uncertainty remained—emerging on the other side as a $20bn network at its peak. In these environments, execution ultimately determines who matters.

It’s precisely in moments like this that structural blind spots emerge. As capital concentrates around familiar geographies and established signals, early indicators are easy to miss—especially when they form outside traditional Western venture networks. By the time outcomes are obvious, much of the upside is already priced in. This is the gap we focus on: identifying real momentum early, while it still looks quiet, and before it becomes consensus.

The Opportunity We See

What we’ve seen repeatedly across East Asia are founders who are deeply focused on execution and outcomes, often letting results speak before they do. The challenge is that this signal only becomes visible after outcomes materialize—at which point attention has already shifted. That disconnect creates an immense opportunity for investors who can recognize real opportunities earlier, before they become consensus.

This is where MFV operates.

How MFV Wins

We spend our time with founders early on both sides of the world and bring that outcome-driven signal forward in time. For our Western founders, we open doors to Eastern markets, partners, and execution velocity. For founders building across Asia, we help surface their companies to Western markets earlier, with the context, positioning, and access required for global scale.

You can see the impact of this dynamic playing out now, especially since development cycles are tighter. What used to take years now happens in months. Companies built in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Tokyo are competing globally far sooner than the market expects. It took Manus 9 months to get acquired by Meta after moving its HQ from Mainland China to Singapore. Only early stage funds in the East had exposure to the company at the earliest stages. Clearly execution quality has caught up, and in many cases surpassed prior assumptions. The question is whether investors are early enough to participate meaningfully.

Our globally distributed yet in-depth team provides a massive edge bilaterally. Our operational experience and pattern recognition is well structured to identify the new patterns that are forming. We understand where attention is shifting and can drive to where things will move next, getting there before it becomes a consensus bet. We saw this early on with Bitcoin and Ethereum, and built through down markets while founding Aptos, taking it from an idea to a $20B network. That same access and pattern recognition sourced MFV’s first investment of 2026: a founding team member of TikTok and a Google Cryptography PhD uniting to build the next AI social layer.

Our thesis was validated last year. While the market chased asset accumulation, we made the deliberate decision to right-size Fund I for high-velocity execution. We closed on the capital that aligned strictly with our vision, allowing us to stop fundraising and immediately start building. That discipline has paid off big time.

Below, we’ll take you through our portfolio and the investments we’ve made to date, and what that progress looks like in practice. We believe this approach reflects how enduring, opinionated venture firms are being built in this generation.

MFV investments

Since fund inception, we’ve deployed $7.6M and invested in eight companies distributed across the globe. Most of these investments came from our network directly, carried over through our days of building at Aptos and the respective professional journeys of each of our GPs. The deployment rate has been right on pace according to our original portfolio construction, with an average equity valuation of $█M for our seed investments.

We’ve outlined select investments below. Through them all there is one common theme – crypto-native teams building real products where momentum builds and the edge lasts.

Klickl: UAE-based fintech bridge between traditional finance and digital assets

• What they do: An Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) licensed B2B2C Fintech that connects fiat rails (IBAN/banks) with digital-asset rails combined with retail cards and merchant payment infra.
• Why it fits our thesis: At the critical cross-roads of traditional and novel financial infrastructures; strong regulatory moat (licenses in UAE, Europe and NA) and fast growing flows.
• What’s happened so far: Fully activated in USD and EUR corridors between Europe, ME and APAC. Created a robust system to meet compliance requirements of one of the most sophisticated financial regulators. Building towards a trusted and sustainable banking relationship with the old guards.
• How MFV helped: Partnered on GTM strategy and operational planning (governance, reporting, processes) for compliant product rollout.

Moonshot: Next-generation mobile gaming platform and hardware

• What they do: Moonshot is building a mobile gaming ecosystem that combines quality hardware, social infrastructure, and digital ownership to deliver console-quality gameplay on mobile while rewarding players and creators.
• Why it fits our thesis: Moonshot reflects our conviction that durable consumer platforms are built by leading with product quality and community, not financialization. By treating ownership and rewards as infrastructure rather than the headline, Moonshot is positioned to form lasting franchises and network effects in a mobile-first world.
• What’s happened so far: The team has focused on shipping product and getting mass retail distribution first. Advancing hardware, software, and community layers in parallel; while experimenting with creator-led growth and monetization models designed for long-term engagement.
• How MFV helped: We supported Moonshot on product economics and community strategy, helping prioritize retention, creator alignment, and sustainable participation over short-term revenue.

Bluff: Provable on-chain casino & betting platform

• What they do: A next-generation casino and sportsbook, building culturally native betting experiences. They create new wagering verticals that turn social and entertainment moments into interactive play, with a relentless focus on user experience.
• Why it fits our thesis: Entertainment + provable speculation shows clear PMF inside crypto communities. The team pairs consumer-game instincts with the operational and governance discipline needed to scale a durable, responsible betting platform.
• What’s happened so far: Early product-market fit testing and free to play gaming launch.
• How MFV helped: Advised on fundraising and go-to-market for crypto-native audiences.

[Stealth]: IP studio and AI-native consumer storytelling platform

• What they do: A K-entertainment studio that owns & curates its own IPs combined with an AI-enabled community platform that converts webtoons & webnovel into short, shareable formats.
• Why it fits our thesis: Founding team that pioneered the K-webtoon industry. Product that owns upstream IP rather than competes only on distribution. Original thinking around character-franchise digital economies.
• What’s happened so far: Early product development and owned IPs launched on incumbent platforms (KakaoPage and NaverWebtoon) with good reception.
• How MFV helped: Advised on product hooks, day to day operational support (marketing and hiring strategy) and distribution experiments to accelerate IP formation and creator adoption.

[Stealth]: Institutional-grade exchange infrastructure

• What they do: A high performance exchange optimized for low-latency orderbook trading and market-structure rigor, designed to be license-ready for regulated deployments.
• Why it fits our thesis: Deep market-structure expertise and an ambition to build durable trading infrastructure maps to large, defensible economic value.
• What’s happened so far: Architecture and product work focused on performance and risk controls with a view toward regulated adoption.
• How MFV helped: Supported the founders from pre-company incorporation to product strategy and market positioning for institutional customers and regulatory readiness.

[Stealth]: DeFi platform for structured yield and wealth products

• What they do: Packages sophisticated options and derivatives strategies into accessible products, allowing users to gain exposure to institutional-style yield without requiring deep financial or trading expertise.
• Why it fits our thesis: Aligns with our view that the future of DeFi lies in translating on-chain market efficiency into institutionally relevant financial products. By abstracting complexity and focusing on real risk management rather than speculative yield, the platform targets durable, scalable use cases.
• What’s happened so far: Early-stage development has centered on simplifying complex strategies into intuitive user flows while laying the groundwork for institutional adoption and capital alignment.
• How MFV helped: We advised on product-market fit for institutional users and supported positioning and messaging to make advanced strategies understandable and credible for a broader audience. Pulled together early user groups, market makers and liquidity providers to co-build and bootstrap the product in anticipation for launch.

We feel more convinced than ever that crypto will reshape legacy industries and MFV will help the best teams make that change real.

Thank you for your support,

Mo, Neil, Alex, Jerome