Bitcoin DeFi Arch Network Finds VC for Early Stage Projects

Bitcoin DeFi Arch Network Seeks VC for Early Stage Projects

Arch Network is partnering with DPI Capital to issue the first checks for key protocols based on the Bitcoin DeFi project.

Danny Nelson | Edited by Stephen Alpher Updated April 9, 2025, 4:40 PM Published April 9, 2025, 4:33 PM

Key facts:

• Arch Labs Finds Semi-Official Venture Partner to Fund Early-Stage Projects Related to Bitcoin DeFi Protocol
• DPI Capital is betting on Arch, believing it can outperform Ethereum.
• DPI Capital has focused its efforts solely on Arch, betting on its ability to compete with the Ethereum-based DeFi ecosystem.

Deploying decentralized finance (DeFi) on any blockchain typically requires a combination of creators with ambitious ideas and investors willing to back them. This applies to both the base layers and the financial protocols that run on top of them.

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Arch Labs, whose namesake network is one of many projects looking to bring DeFi to Bitcoin, successfully raised $7 million in seed funding from leading venture capital firms last year. Now it’s shifting its focus to funding smaller protocols that can help the entire network grow.

To that end, she found a willing partner. Venture capital firm DPI Capital is dedicating millions of dollars in resources to support early-stage DeFi projects participating in Arch’s first accelerator program, called Keystone.

“Right now, we’re really focused on the key areas that are most important for growth,” said Brent Fisher, general partner at Cayman Islands-based DPI Capital. That means identifying and funding promising projects around lending and borrowing protocols, decentralized exchanges, stablecoin platforms, and real-world asset games (RWAs).

Venture capital firms often bet on a single protocol. Early Solana investor Multicoin Capital also backs a variety of smaller ecosystem projects that are activating the blockchain. But even a giant like them diversifies their investments beyond Solana. For example, last year they led the investment in Arch.

Previously, DPI had a more diversified risk appetite as it looked for deals across the entire Ethereum ecosystem. But that has changed. “I’m all in on Arch,” Fisher said.

While the DPI fund has not yet closed, it will serve as a quasi-official venture arm for early-stage projects exclusively on Arch. This narrow focus comes with high risks. First, it means that the “pillar” protocols that DPI selects as leaders must prove their theories. Second, and more importantly, Arch itself must survive.

Fisher is more focused on the opposite: Arch is a winning bet, and there is no better strategy than to back it to the fullest extent.

“This project has huge potential and could even surpass Ethereum,” said Brent Fisher, general partner.

His bullish view of Arch is based on Bitcoin’s enduring status as the world’s most valuable crypto asset, which is nearly a trillion dollars larger than Ethereum despite lacking a strong internal DeFi ecosystem, which has long been a contender for the second spot.

Many family offices, investment firms and, increasingly, publicly traded companies own BTC and do so without worrying too much about their inability to use it.

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