Benchmark just made one of its most surprising moves in years, leading a $17 million Series A for crypto trading app Fomo - marking the elite VC's rare venture into consumer crypto. The app has exploded from zero to $40 million in daily volume since launching in May, using an unconventional funding strategy that landed 140 angel investors.
Benchmark doesn't usually bet on crypto startups. The legendary VC firm that backed Uber, Twitter, and Instagram has been notoriously selective in the space, with investments limited to Chainalysis and a handful of others since 2018.
But Fomo, a consumer crypto trading app that launched just six months ago, managed to break through. The company announced its $17 million Series A led by Benchmark partner Chetan Puttagunta today, bringing total funding to $19 million.
What convinced Benchmark wasn't just the product - it was the numbers. "We're now doing about $20-$40 million in volume a day, and about $150,000 in revenue a day," co-founder Paul Erlanger told TechCrunch. That's explosive growth for an app that didn't exist seven months ago.
The trajectory started with an unusual fundraising approach. Instead of a traditional seed round, Erlanger and co-founder Se Yong Park - both veterans of crypto trading platform dYdX - compiled a dream list of 200 potential angel investors.
"We knew that every single person would be valuable to us in the business," Erlanger explained. They worked their networks for warm introductions, made cold calls when necessary, and landed checks from 140 of their targets. The roster reads like a who's who of crypto: Polygon Labs CEO Marc Boiron, Solana co-founder Raj Gokal, and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan.
"There's a lot of people we never got to, like Elon Musk," Park admitted with a grin. But of those who took their call, less than a handful said no.
The angel strategy paid off in an unexpected way. Three separate people reached out to Puttagunta offering introductions to Fomo's founders. "Paul and Se and the entire team have a clear vision to make crypto assets both easy to discover and trade," Puttagunta said. "Their vision is clearly resonating with truly exceptional growth since they launched a few months ago."
Fomo's pitch centers on removing friction from crypto trading. The app promises access to millions of crypto assets across any blockchain - from Bitcoin and Ethereum to meme coins and altcoins - with no technical barriers. Users can follow friends and crypto leaders to see their trades, turning investing into a social experience.
The breakthrough moment came in June, one month after launch, when the founders added Apple Pay support. "We saw a massive influx of users and revenue," Erlanger said. The feature essentially let users download the app and start trading immediately, without the usual crypto wallet setup friction.
Volume exploded from essentially zero to $3 million daily, with weekly revenue hitting $150,000. The app charges 0.50% transaction fees (with a $0.95 minimum on Solana transactions) but absorbs blockchain gas fees - a significant selling point for retail users.
Since closing the Series A in September, growth has accelerated further. The app now boasts over 120,000 users and daily volumes that regularly hit $20-40 million. The founders say they're on track to offer assets from every major blockchain within six months.
The long-term vision extends beyond crypto. Fomo wants to become a super app for all asset trading, eventually including prediction markets and traditional securities like bonds. It's an ambitious goal that mirrors the expansion strategies of apps like Robinhood and Revolut.
For Benchmark, the investment represents a calculated bet on crypto's mainstream adoption. While the firm has largely avoided the space's volatility, Fomo's consumer focus and explosive metrics proved irresistible. Puttagunta took a board seat, making Benchmark the only institutional investor in the round alongside the army of angels.
Benchmark's bet on Fomo signals a potential shift in how elite VCs view consumer crypto. The app's explosive growth - from zero to $40 million daily volume in six months - proves there's genuine demand for frictionless crypto trading. As traditional finance boundaries blur and retail investors demand access to everything from meme coins to prediction markets, Fomo's super app vision could position it at the center of the next wave of financial innovation. The real test comes in sustaining this growth while expanding beyond crypto into traditional assets.
