Paradigm — ZHC Institute

Description

Paradigm is a crypto-native investment firm with $100M+ per investment capacity, backing the most ambitious technical teams in crypto. Founded by Fred Ehrsam (Coinbase co-founder) and Matt Huang (Sequoia alum), Paradigm combines deep technical expertise with significant capital to support protocol development, infrastructure, and breakthrough crypto applications.

For ZHC builders, Paradigm is unique — they're researchers and builders themselves, contributing to Ethereum development, open source tools, and protocol research. Portfolio companies get technical mentorship, research collaboration, and access to the sharpest minds in crypto.

Eligibility

Investment Focus

Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains
Core infrastructure - Consensus, cryptography, MEV
DeFi protocols - Novel financial primitives
Developer tooling - Infrastructure for builders
Frontier research - Zero-knowledge proofs, formal verification

Stage Preferences

Seed to growth
Strong technical founding team
Novel technical approach
Long-term vision (5-10 year horizon)

ZHC-Specific Fit

✅ Excellent for:

Technical founders building protocol-level innovation
Novel cryptography or consensus mechanisms
DeFi primitives with mathematical rigor
Developer tools for crypto infrastructure
Research-heavy projects

❌ Poor fit if:

Non-technical founding team
Quick flip or short-term thinking
Marketing plays without technical depth
Traditional SaaS without crypto innovation

Application Process

Investment Process

Step	Timeline	Details
Technical conversation	1-2 weeks	Deep dive on architecture and design
Research collaboration	Ongoing	Often starts before investment
Due diligence	2-4 weeks	Technical, security, and economic audit
Partnership discussion	1-2 weeks	Long-term vision alignment
Investment decision	1 week	Quick once convinced
Close	1-2 weeks	Streamlined legal process

Investment Size

Seed: $1M-$5M
Series A: $5M-$20M
Growth: $20M-$100M+
Flexible structure - equity, tokens, or hybrid

What Makes Paradigm Different

Technical team does deep research (not just financial analysis)
Open source contributors (Ethereum, Foundry, Reth)
Research publications and blog posts
Long-term horizon (not pressured by fund cycles)
Technical mentorship from in-house experts
Portfolio network of 50+ top crypto projects
Willing to take technical risk others won't

Research & Open Source

Foundry (Ethereum development toolkit)
Reth (Ethereum execution client)
Various cryptography research papers
MEV research and mitigations

Contact

Paradigm
Research
Open Source
Twitter/X
Technical intro via research or open source contributions highly valued