Strategy 04 · Early-Stage Access
Sourcing
Deal flow is a function of who calls you first.
Early-stage allocations in digital assets, private token rounds, equity in protocol companies, strategic allocations in networks before they launch, are not found on a screen. They are offered, and they are offered first to the parties a founder already knows and trusts. Wesvel’s access is the product of years of operating in this market as a trading counterparty, a liquidity provider and an infrastructure user.
Channels
Direct founder relationships built through the firm’s trading and infrastructure activity. Co-investment alongside specialist venture firms that value an allocator with market-structure expertise and a live trading book. Strategic allocations offered by networks that want a counterparty who will provide liquidity or run infrastructure after launch. Secondary purchases of locked positions from early holders who need liquidity before their vesting completes.
What makes access proprietary
A founder building a derivatives venue, a lending protocol or a settlement layer wants investors who will use the product, stress-test it and tell them what is wrong with it. An allocator that runs those strategies every day is more useful than one that does not. That usefulness is what puts Wesvel in the round, and it is not something a fund can buy.
Filtering
Most of what is offered is declined. The filter is thematic (infrastructure, market structure and financial primitives, where the firm has operating knowledge) and disciplined about stage, size and terms. Deals outside the firm’s competence are passed to co-investors who have it.
Practice
How Wesvel approaches it
- 01The mandate invests only in themes where the firm has operating expertise it can apply in diligence and after investment.
- 02Sourcing relationships are recorded and reviewed; no allocation is made on the strength of an introduction alone.
- 03Secondary purchases of locked positions are priced from the vesting schedule and the liquidity of the unlocked asset, with a discount for both.
- 04Conflicts between the venture book and the trading book, for instance, holding a stake in a venue the fund trades on, are disclosed and managed under a written policy.
More in Early-Stage Access
- DiligenceThe review an early-stage opportunity goes through before capital is committed.
- Valuation and Side PocketsHow locked and illiquid venture positions are valued, segregated and charged, so liquid investors are not exposed to them.
- Structures and SPVsWhen an allocation is held through a dedicated special purpose vehicle rather than inside the fund, and how that vehicle is run.