AU startup launches fund: Aiming for DKK 100 million within the next 12 months
It started as an idea at Aarhus BSS. Now, after almost two years of development and testing, Azpire Capital has launched its first investment fund. The goal is to have DKK 100 million in assets under management within the next year.
23 months.
That is how long Azpire Capital has spent developing, testing, refining and, not least, documenting the investment strategy that now forms the foundation of its first fund.
But the wait is over.
The Aarhus-based asset manager has launched a fund that seeks to capitalise on fluctuations in the crypto market, offering professional investors an alternative way to invest in an asset class that most people probably associate with Bitcoin, speculation and dramatic price swings.
For the three founders behind Azpire Capital, the launch therefore marks the culmination of several years of work.
“We have spent almost two years developing and testing our strategy, and now we are ready to take the next step and launch the fund. We believe crypto will become an increasingly established and central part of the investment market. That creates a need for new and more professional ways of investing in the asset class,” says founder and CEO Andreas Blom.
And their ambitions do not stop with the launch.
Azpire Capital’s goal is to have DKK 100 million in assets under management within the next 12 months. In the longer term, the ambition is to scale the fund to DKK 500 million.
Capitalising on market fluctuations
Although Azpire Capital operates in the crypto market, its strategy is not based on the conventional approach of buying Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies and waiting for them to increase in value.
Quite the opposite.
It is precisely the market’s constant movements and price fluctuations that Azpire Capital seeks to capitalise on.
“Although we call it a crypto fund, it is not simply a matter of buying digital currencies and hoping for the best. We see potential in the mechanisms and price movements that occur in the market, and that is what our fund is built around,” Andreas Blom explains.
At the heart of the strategy is a data-driven predictive model used to identify movements in the market. This means that the fund is not necessarily dependent on a rising crypto market. Instead, the aim is to generate returns in both rising and falling markets.
And this is the model that the team has spent most of the past two years testing.
According to Azpire Capital, the strategy generated a return of 25 per cent during the first 14 months of the testing period. Over the same period, Bitcoin fell by around 30 per cent.
“We have developed the strategy from scratch, tested it and are now ready to make it available to investors. Throughout the process, we have placed a strong emphasis on rigour and professionalism to demonstrate that the crypto market can be approached with the same focus on analysis, discipline and risk management as traditional asset management,” says CFO and co-founder Anthon Lorentzen.
Experienced investors on board
The fund launch comes after a year in which Azpire Capital has brought several experienced investors on board.
Earlier this year, the three founders announced that business executive Claus Linde, together with four other investors, had invested in the company.
At the time, Andreas Blom described the investment as a crucial step towards launching the fund – but also as important validation of the strategy and product they had been developing for some time.
Alongside developing the fund, they have also had to contend with the scepticism that continues to surround the crypto market.
“When you mention crypto, a lot of people immediately put their guard up. They associate it with high risk, uncertainty and speculation, so one of our challenges has been to break through that barrier and get people to see that this is built on a serious model,”
Andreas Blom explains.
The idea began at Aarhus BSS
The journey towards launching the fund began long before Azpire Capital was founded in 2024.
The idea first took shape while the founders were studying at Aarhus BSS, where they worked with investment models and spotted the potential in a crypto market characterised by far greater fluctuations than many traditional financial markets.
They have since continued to develop the model, while working closely with Christian Montes, a researcher and lecturer at Aarhus BSS.
From the outset, he has helped challenge and strengthen the academic foundations of the model – and he remains involved in the work surrounding Azpire Capital’s approach.
“It has been important to us that the model rests on a strong academic foundation. Christian has continually challenged our approach and helped validate the model on which we have built the investment fund,
says Andreas Blom.
Today’s fund launch also marks the second anniversary of Azpire Capital’s founding.
A lot has happened since they moved out of their office at Kitchen, where countless hours were spent developing, testing and fine-tuning the model that now forms the foundation of the fund.
Now the fund has launched, the course is set – and the first target is clear:
DKK 100 million in assets under management within the next 12 months.