We embrace the impact we create, both now and in the future

Bijan is a leader within the blockchain ecosystem and has a longstanding track record of spearheading blockchain adoption in the MENA region and globally. In 2015, Bijan co-founded Phoenix (part of the Phoenix Group of companies), which is building one of the largest mining farms in the United Arab Emirates. Bijan also co-founded Phoenix VC, a venture capital firm that has successfully invested $10 million in blockchain startups. Following Phoenix VC’s great success, Bijan established Cypher Capital. It is covering venture capital, public markets, nodes, mining, etc., and is recognized globally with its highly successful track record of investments. Bijan believes in working with visionary innovators and outstanding talent to create a holistic blockchain community, whereby the ecosystem can benefit and grow.

Before joining Cypher Capital, Bill was the Global Head of Fundraising, Binance Labs, and M&A for Binance ‒ the largest global crypto platform holding 55% of the global market share, with $34 trillion in transactions in 2021. Before this, Bill was the Head of Investment of Fintech/Tech for JD.COM ‒ an Asian internet tycoon with more than $400 billion in annual e-commerce transactions. Bill has also worked with Trustbridge Partners, a leading technology-focused private equity fund with more than $15 billion in assets under management, and has deployed and managed over $20 billion across Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 projects in his career. Bill sees himself as a “web-native investor”, looking for phenomenal founders in the Web 3.0 industry.

Kim Wong is a seasoned financial markets leader with deep expertise in treasury, securities, and convertible bond trading. Before joining Cypher, Kim served as Managing Director and Group Treasurer at Phoenix Group, and held senior roles including Executive Director at Mizuho Securities and Head of APAC Convertible Bonds Trading at Citigroup.

Elaine Liu is a Partner at the Cypher Capital Group. Her core responsibilities reside within Cypher’s Investor relations and its Asian ecosystem build-up. Before joining the Cypher Capital Group, Elaine served as an operating partner at Trustbridge Partners, a global growth-oriented PE firm with more than $15bn AUM. Elaine is also one of the major investors in ICB Hiring Platform (https://www.smartdeer.work/en), enabling global Web3 founders to hire best-in-class personnel through her team’s more than 20m developers connections.

Karan Gandhi is a seasoned investment professional with over a decade of experience in Private Equity, Venture Capital, and Banking. As an Investment Director at Cypher Capital, Karan has become a top-tier Web3 investor in the Middle East, with notable investments in projects like TON, Berachain, Aethir Cloud, ZKLink, and Jambo. Karan's expertise extends beyond Web3 investments; he is an avid enthusiast of decentralized economies, token utility mechanisms, blockchain infrastructure, and consumer tech. Karan has shared his insights on Blockchain and Web3 at prominent events such as GITEX, Future Blockchain Summit, and Blockdown. Additionally, he has served as a jury member for startup pitches at the World Blockchain Summit, AIBC Startup Day, and TRON Hackathons. Before venturing into Web3, Karan was a senior venture architect, developing tech startups for the largest licensing authority in the UAE. His extensive experience in scaling startups has allowed him to advise numerous tech companies on fundraising, business models, and market strategies. Academically, Karan is a CFA charter holder and holds an accountancy degree from Heriot-Watt University.

Sumeet is an entrepreneur turned investor with a decade of experience across Investment banking, Tech Startups, and Private Investments in high growth emerging sectors. He joined Cypher Capital in 2022 and since then led investments into notable companies such as Peaq Network, Carv, Sei Network, Layerzero, Bouncebit, zkPass, and Particle Network. Sumeet is alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and holds an MBA from INSEAD. He started his career in Investment banking with JPMorgan where he was covered the technology sector. Before moving to the investment world, he worked in an early-stage technology startup and has also founded a startup in the ed-tech space. Being on both side of the table, he loves the zero to one grind of startups and meeting passionate founders.

With over 7 years in blockchain, Harsh began his journey as a Bitcoin miner, navigated the ICO wave, and spent time in research and DeFi with JP Morgan. He later established the venture arm at Kyber, then contributed to Polygon's growth, and now serves as Investment Director at Cypher Capital, driving strategic investments on group level.