Postmates founder Bastian Lehmann’s new crypto startup TipTop was lightly teased out a few weeks ago, but now the stealth startup is sharing some info on its early funding, though there’s not much info on what they’re actually doing with that money.
Lehmann notes that the company has raised a $23 million Series A from a16z with Marc Andreessen himself joining the startup’s board. Other backers in the round include Sam Altman, Naval Ravikant, Andy McLoughlin, Jeff Clavier and Dan Romero, among others.
The startup is keeping things as vague as possible on its website and job listings with redacted graphics promising “consumer finance solutions for a changing web” and that they’re “building protocols and infrastructure,” doing something “at the intersection of fiat and crypto.” It’s all publicly unclear, but investors seem eager to throw some money behind Lehmann after Postmates’ $2.65 billion exit to Uber in mid-2020.
This round’s announcement comes at a rough time for the broader crypto markets after this past week’s crash, which was brutal even by crypto standards.
That hit is leaving plenty of venture firms in a tough spot and likely questioning their commitment to the sector. This lack of volume, specifically from growth firms, could make scaling a crypto business more difficult in the coming years if the sector is indeed on the cusp of a “crypto winter.” For repeat founders like Lehmann and ex-Meta executive David Marcus who also announced venture backing for his new crypto startup yesterday, these issues will obviously be less pronounced.