Foresight Ventures, a Singaporean Web3 VC firm, has announced it acquired a majority stake in The Block, a cryptocurrency-focused news outlet. The deal, which values The Block at around $70 million, will allow the news platform to purchase the stake belonging to former CEO Mike McCaffrey, who had received funding secretly from Alameda Research, an investment company co-founded by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
Foresight Ventures Acquires 80% Stake in The Block
Foresight Ventures, a Singaporean Web3 and crypto-focused investment firm, acquired a majority stake in The Block, a cryptocurrency news outlet. According to reports from Axios, the deal valued the company at $70 million and allowed the VC firm to acquire 80% of the company for roughly $60 million.
The funds will be used almost entirely to buy out the company’s stake still in the hands of former The Block CEO Mike McCaffrey, who acknowledged he had received more than $40 million in loans from Alameda Research, a VC firm co-founded by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried, in 2021 and 2020, to restructure the company given that it was in a “precarious place.”
The purchase aims to steer The Block to acquire Asian users, a goal that has been difficult to reach for Western news companies due to several factors, including the language barrier. Tony Cheng, a Foresight Ventures partner who will now also be part of The Block’s board, stated:
We’re focused on helping companies bring in more users from Asia. We’re seeing significantly more regulatory clarity in this part of the world. We’re also seeing significantly more capital flow into this region.
More Changes and Expectations
As part of the deal, Foresight Ventures CEO Forest Bai becomes Chairman of The Block. Nonetheless, the company will keep operating as usual, with no structural changes expected.
On how the news outlet will be structured from now on and his experience managing the company towards this deal, The Block CEO Larry Cermak stated:
I will be staying as CEO, and nothing else is impacted. Running the company and getting it to a more sustainable state while at the same time working on this tx, has certainly been a lot of work but I have also learned a sh*t ton.
Cermak was optimistic about the company’s future, stressing this deal gives the company a “fresh start ahead of the bull market,” providing it with a new opportunity to reach Asian audiences.
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