Pitch a crypto VC syndicate: 4 steps, 28 shared rounds

To pitch a crypto VC syndicate, start from the rounds 2 funds have already shared: NAUT tracks 28 rounds backed by both Shima Capital and Genblock Capital, announced between 27 April 2021 and 16 April 2024 and worth $158.35M across 27 companies. That pair is 1 of the 15 pairs at 28 or more shared rounds among NAUT's 32,340 tracked co-investor pairs, the syndicates around those rounds ran from 5 to 28 backers, and NAUT's record carries no lead flag for either fund on any of the 28.

Data note. Every count here comes from NAUT's own co-investor records, read on 10 November 2026: the rounds where both funds appear as a backer, the full backer list on each of those rounds, and the dates NAUT holds for every round each fund has joined. Amounts are the disclosed figures NAUT stores, and the shared-rounds set is 28 round records at 27 companies, because Root Protocol appears twice. 6 claims went to outside sources for this article: 3 X handles and 3 fund descriptions. 5 of the 6 are used below, and the 1 that was dropped is named in Sources.

One caveat before the steps, because it changes how you use this pair. The 28 rounds are a finished pattern rather than a deal in motion: the most recent is April 2024, NAUT's latest tracked investment for Shima Capital is 1 October 2026, and its latest for Genblock Capital is 29 October 2024. Read the pair as a map of how a syndicate forms, then run step 4 on any pair before you send a note.

How do you pitch a crypto VC syndicate on NAUT's data?

4 steps, each one a read you can do on NAUT before you write anything. The order matters, because the point of the sequence is to pitch a crypto fund on the rounds it has already said yes to:

• Step 1, pick the pair. 2 funds that have shared 28 rounds have a working relationship. 1 warm answer tends to pull the other fund into the conversation.
• Step 2, size the room. A 28-backer round and a 5-backer round need different asks. The median shared round here carried 11 backers.
• Step 3, list the regulars. AU21 Capital sits in 13 of the 28. The funds that keep showing up are your second and third calls.
• Step 4, check the clock. A fund with no tracked round for 2 years is a different pitch from a fund that closed one last month.

Each step below is the same read, done on the data.

Step 1: which fund pair carries enough shared rounds?

NAUT holds 32,340 co-investor pairs, and 15 of them sit at 28 or more shared rounds, so a pair at 28 is in the densest band NAUT tracks. The Shima and Genblock pair is in that band, and the overlap is a large share of each fund's own book: NAUT's data shows 117 rounds recorded against Shima Capital and 95 against Genblock Capital, so the 28 shared funding rounds are 24% of one book and 29% of the other.

That ratio is what makes the pair worth a pitch as a pair. A fund that shares 3 rounds with another has met it. A fund that shares 28 has an operating habit, which means a partner at one firm can tell you in 1 line whether the other firm is worth your time.

The 28 shared rounds are dated 27 April 2021 (Dfyn, $2.4M) to 16 April 2024 (Saakuru, $2.4M), with 15 in 2021, 11 in 2022 and 2 in 2024. NAUT holds no shared round for the pair in 2023, 2025 or 2026.

Step 2: how many backers sit in the round you want to join?

Across the 28 shared rounds the syndicate averaged 13.6 backers, with a median of 11. The spread matters more than the average: 5 rounds carried 20 or more backers, 10 carried 15 or more, and 9 carried 9 or fewer. Liqwid Finance's $2.7M seed of 29 November 2022 is the smallest at 5 backers, and Saakuru's $2.4M private round of 16 April 2024 is the largest at 28.

Read that as a sizing rule. If your round is shaped like the small end, 2 funds plus 3 others, these 2 are a plausible half of it. If it is shaped like the 20-plus end, you are running a long list, and the pair is 2 names on it rather than the spine of the raise.

Every shared round NAUT holds for the pair, ranked by the number of backers NAUT records on it:

Company	Round	Date	Amount	Backers
Saakuru	Private	16 Apr 2024	$2.4M	28
Metaverse.Network	Seed	13 May 2021	$4M	26
Dfyn	Funding	27 Apr 2021	$2.4M	25
Senate	Seed and Private	4 Feb 2022	$10.5M	24
Sidus	Seed and Private	4 Feb 2022	$10.5M	24
Snackclub	Seed	26 Apr 2022	$9M	19
Continuum World	Private	28 Sep 2021	$2.1M	19
Waggle	Strategic	22 Sep 2021	$3M	19
RaceFi	Seed and Private	3 Dec 2021	$2.9M	17
NftyPlay	Funding	31 Jul 2021	$1.5M	17
Sigmadex	Private	2 Jun 2021	$4.2M	14
Bullieverse	Funding	17 Feb 2022	$4M	12
Root Protocol	Seed and Strategic	1 Feb 2022	$7.5M	12
Rebase	Funding	26 Jan 2022	$8M	11
Portal to Bitcoin	Funding	23 Sep 2021	$8.5M	11
Jambo	Series A	10 May 2022	$30M	10
MixMob	Seed	15 Feb 2022	$7M	10
Artem	Seed and Private	16 Dec 2021	$4.75M	10
Every Finance	Strategic	4 May 2021	$3.3M	10
Ertha	Funding	27 Dec 2021	$5.4M	9
Bloktopia	Funding	12 Aug 2021	$4.2M	9
Root Protocol	Seed	19 Jan 2024	$10M	8
Firework Games	Funding	12 Apr 2022	$1M	7
DotOracle	Funding	25 Oct 2021	$3M	7
Humanode	Seed	11 Feb 2022	$2M	6
Monsoon	Funding	27 Aug 2021	$1.5M	6
Flurry Finance	Funding	21 Jul 2021	$3M	6
Liqwid Finance	Seed	29 Nov 2022	$2.7M	5

Jambo's $30M Series A of 10 May 2022 is the largest disclosed amount in the set and it carried 10 backers, so a big round in this syndicate did not mean a crowded one. Senate and Sidus share a date, a round label and a $10.5M figure in NAUT's records, which is how NAUT stores a raise recorded against 2 company pages.

Step 3: which third funds show up alongside both?

The third firms in the room are your follow-on calls, and they are the ones most likely to give you a read on the pair. Ranked by how many of the 28 shared rounds each one also joined, the 10 most frequent crypto syndicate backers around this pair are:

Fund	Shared rounds	Share of 28
AU21 Capital	13	46%
X21 Digital	9	32%
LD Capital	9	32%
Spark Digital Capital	8	29%
Animoca Brands	6	21%
Double Peak Group	6	21%
Magnus Capital	6	21%
OKX Ventures	5	18%
ExNetwork Capital	5	18%
Morningstar Ventures	5	18%

AU21 Capital is the strongest third name at 13 of 28, which puts it in roughly half the rounds. Its own public description is of early-stage and seed work, quoted on an outside fund profile as "early-stage and seed investments, supporting companies that are pushing the boundaries of blockchain technology", so an early-stage team pitching this circle has 3 plausible doors rather than 2.

The handles are worth having before you write: NAUT holds @shimacapital for Shima Capital, @GenblockCapital for Genblock Capital and @AU21Capital for AU21 Capital, and each was checked on 10 November 2026 against the fund's own site or X profile. Note that a lookalike account exists for the AU21 handle, so copy it rather than typing it.

Step 4: what to check before you pitch a crypto VC syndicate

This is the step that saves the pitch, and this pair is the worked example of why it exists. NAUT's data shows 117 rounds against Shima Capital with the latest dated 1 October 2026, and 95 rounds against Genblock Capital with the latest dated 29 October 2024. A NAUT page for Genblock Capital records that last tracked round as "Streamflow_fi - Funding round of $1.9M on October 29, 2024", read on 10 November 2026.

So the honest read of this pair today: pitch Shima Capital on current work, and treat Genblock Capital as a reference rather than a live check. 3 reads give you that answer in under 5 minutes:

• Latest tracked round. Each fund's NAUT page carries its round list with dates. A fund quiet for 2 years is on a different footing.
• Round count and sizes. 117 rounds against one fund and 95 against the other says both wrote many small cheques, with a median shared round of 11 backers behind them.
• The regulars list. If the pair is quiet, the third funds in the table above are the live part of the same circle.

What does NAUT's record not carry on these 28 rounds?

3 limits, said plainly, because a pitch built on a gap is a wasted send.

NAUT's record carries no lead flag for either Shima Capital or Genblock Capital on any of the 28 shared rounds. That is NAUT's record of who led, not a statement that the rounds had no lead: a round can have a lead that NAUT does not hold a flag for. Treat the pair as participants in these 28 and confirm any lead with the company.

The backer counts are the firms NAUT records on each round, from 5 on Liqwid Finance's seed to 28 on Saakuru's private round. A round can carry angels and funds that NAUT does not list, so the counts are a floor for syndicate size rather than a full cap table.

The 32,340 pair figure counts co-investor pairs inside NAUT's own data as read on 10 November 2026. A pair that invested together without either round reaching NAUT is not in it.

Related reading on NAUT: Crypto co-investors: 3 steps, 168 on 66 rounds for 1 fund and Shima Capital portfolio: 112 companies, median round $4.0M.

Can you pull this data through the NAUT API?

Yes. The round lists behind this article come from NAUT's fund records, so GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors/shima-capital returns Shima Capital's portfolio with its team and 1 row per round carrying company, roundType, amountUsd, announceDate and isLead, and the same call on genblock-capital returns the other side of the pair, with the shared rounds being the companies that appear in both. Each call is 5 credits against a key you mint at naut.so/developer, authenticated with Authorization: Bearer $NAUT_KEY; the parameters and quotas are in the API docs and the plans are on pricing, where the Essential plan at $49 a month carries 3,000 credits. Verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn for the people at these funds unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so start a 7-day trial if you need the channels as well as the rounds.

Pitch a crypto VC syndicate FAQ

How do you pitch a fund that is already co-investing?

Pitch the pair rather than the single fund: find 2 funds with a long shared history on NAUT, open with the rounds they already share, and ask the one that is still active for a read on the other. For Shima Capital and Genblock Capital that history is 28 rounds between 27 April 2021 and 16 April 2024, worth $158.35M across 27 companies.

How many rounds do Shima Capital and Genblock Capital share?

28 round records at 27 companies, read from NAUT on 10 November 2026, with Root Protocol appearing twice. That puts the pair among the 15 pairs at 28 or more shared rounds inside NAUT's 32,340 tracked co-investor pairs.

Which funds appear most often alongside Shima Capital and Genblock Capital?

AU21 Capital joined 13 of the 28 shared rounds, X21 Digital and LD Capital 9 each, and Spark Digital Capital 8. Below those, Animoca Brands, Double Peak Group and Magnus Capital each joined 6.

Did either fund lead any of the 28 shared rounds?

NAUT's record carries no lead flag for Shima Capital or Genblock Capital on any of the 28 shared rounds read on 10 November 2026. That is NAUT's record of leads rather than proof the rounds had none, so confirm the lead with the company before you write it into a pitch.

Are Shima Capital and Genblock Capital still investing?

NAUT's latest tracked investment for Shima Capital is dated 1 October 2026, and its latest for Genblock Capital is dated 29 October 2024, both read on 10 November 2026. Pitch Shima Capital on current activity and use the shared history with Genblock Capital as context.

Where can I find these funds and their co-investors on NAUT?

Each fund in this article has a NAUT page with its round list, its team and the channels NAUT holds for each person, from Shima Capital and Genblock Capital to the 10 third funds ranked above. The same data comes back from GET https://api.naut.so/v1/investors/shima-capital at 5 credits a call, and verified Telegram, email and LinkedIn unlock on any paid NAUT plan, so start a 7-day trial to reach the people behind the rounds.

Sources

• NAUT's own co-investor and funding records, read on 10 November 2026: the 28 rounds carrying both Shima Capital and Genblock Capital as backers, the full backer list on each, the 32,340 co-investor pairs in the same data with 15 at 28 or more shared rounds, and the 117 and 95 round records held against the 2 funds.
• Genblock Capital's last tracked investment, "Streamflow_fi - Funding round of $1.9M on October 29, 2024", read on Genblock Capital's NAUT page on 10 November 2026, with a second record of the same raise on Cypherhunter.
• AU21 Capital's stated stage focus, "early-stage and seed investments, supporting companies that are pushing the boundaries of blockchain technology", on its Waveup fund profile, read on 10 November 2026, with a second profile on VC Sheet.
• The 3 X handles were each checked on 10 November 2026 against the fund's own site or X profile: @shimacapital, @GenblockCapital and @AU21Capital. 6 claims were sent for checking in total; the 1 dropped claim was a description of Shima Capital's base and investing stages, left out because the checker did not find its wording on the page it cited.