Blockchain venture capital fund Tioga Capital has expanded its assets under management (AUM) to €42 million (US$50 million) ahead of its final close.

• The Luxembourg-based fund’s AUM tripled from its initial €14 million ($16 million) close following investment from Belgian sovereign-wealth funds (SWFs) and an endowment of KU Leuven University, according to an announcement by Tioga.
• The Belgian university’s endowment is the first in Europe to directly invest in blockchain. The Flemish and Brussels SWFs’ investments follow that of Walloon’s in 2020, the first direct SWF investment in blockchain technology by a European sovereign-wealth fund.
• “In Europe, SWFs are an important capital allocator since they are an institutional player that is managing big pools of capital and is being looked up to by certain other investors,” Tioga partner Patrick Van de Mosselaer told CoinDesk.
• Tioga Capital’s focus is on blockchain infrastructure startups and open finance.
• The company has made investments in five startups in recent months, including privacy infrastructure firm Nym and bitcoin self-storage provider Casa.