With $5 billion in assets under management, Pantera Capital is one of the largest investors in blockchain technologies across the world. The firm launched its first venture fund in 2013 and has invested in over 120 companies in the blockchain ecosystem while leading 50% of those investments. Since then, it has launched three subsequent venture funds with the latest one focusing on companies that are enabling the institutionalization of digital assets. As Pantera expands and continues to invest in the blockchain ecosystem, it is looking for a way to formalize its data collection to create a centralized data repository.
Problem
Blockchain startups are nascent and data heavy, requiring a flexible and robust solution that can centralize and analyze their information. Investors collect multiple unique metrics per any given company, and need to have the latest information at the tips of their fingers.
Unstructured Data
Before Standard Metrics, Pantera had two major gaps in their data: up-to-date financing details and company financial performance. Data collection for Pantera was a highly manual process that involved sending out emails to its portfolio companies and manually entering information into spreadsheets on Airtable. Companies where Pantera had board seats did not report data, and for those where Pantera did have board seats, reporting was time consuming and inefficient. As the fund succeeded and the the portfolio grew, these manual processes became unsustainable long-term.
Valuation Difficulties
Because blockchain startups often take financing via both equity and token sales, performing accurate and timely valuations are extremely difficult. Without structured data and a way to marry both financing options, Pantera struggled to prepare the quarterly valuations.
Solution
Standard Metrics simplified and streamlined the entire data collection pipeline for Pantera, providing them with real-time structured data that met the collection needs of their finance team and the compliance needs of their investor relations.
Structured Data
From integrations to automated document parsing, Standard Metrics handled the entirety of Pantera’s information requests, pulling unstructured data from board decks, cap tables, investor updates, and term sheets. The platform gave the firm visibility into financial and custom crypto metrics across their investments. By centralizing the data collection and storage process, Standard Metrics helped prevent data fragmentation and made it easier to surface details instead of searching through multiple spreadsheets.
In-Depth and Accurate Valuations
Standard Metrics made it easy for Pantera to request the latest equity and token financing details from their companies, giving them up-to-date information about a company’s financing status. By having a standard ledger for company performance and financing history, Standard Metrics increased the accuracy, speed, and detail of Pantera’s valuations tracking.
Results
Standard Metrics’ streamlined information collection process helped Pantera increase their company reporting rates by 420% and reduced time spent on valuations by several months. Pantera has also become a key design partner for Standard Metrics, helping craft Company Tear Sheets, Live Token Tracking, and Real-time SOI. With Standard Metrics as their single source of truth, Pantera can better manage their data and continue to grow their investments.