A live performance from The Chainsmokers. Photo Credit: Julio Enriquez
The Chainsmokers’ Mantis VC has officially scored $100 million in fresh capital following a “grueling” third fundraise.
Alex Pall, who founded Mantis in 2019 alongside fellow Chainsmokers member Drew Taggart, confirmed the news in a lengthy LinkedIn post. As described by Pall, the funding process entailed “thousands of calls,” “endless follow-ups,” and more, all rendering the effort “a grind.”
“Even when it felt like we’d tapped out, we stretched a little further, found one more person, and got a dozen more intros,” the 40-year-old proceeded. “It took a lot of sacrifice. Pretty much everything in my life took a backseat to this goal and I lost some things that were very important to me as a result…”
(Mantis technically closed its “fund 3 at the end of 2024 and wanted to stay heads down until we announced this summer,” per Pall. The Chainsmokers dropped a new track last week.)
“I also could have harped on here about what we are going to do now with this fund,” proceeded Pall, “the founders and companies we are going to back and the type of fund we are trying to be…
“But I think the above sums up our commitment and the hustle we bring to what we do and why we are going to be successful, not just for our founders but for ourselves and our investors,” he concluded.
Shifting to financial and tech trades’ concise accounts, Mantis now has $225 million in assets under management, per Bloomberg. And TechCrunch noted that the raise represents a 25% boost from the VC’s second funding round.
Meanwhile, 238 U.S. VCs raised a cumulative $26.6 billion during H1 2025, with the capital representing a 33.7% YoY decline, according to Reuters.
Despite its founders’ music-space presence, Mantis says it focuses on “[s]eed & Series A technology-enabled startups” and looks to have pursued relatively few entertainment plays. Just in passing, the company’s portfolio includes a number of AI developers, fintechs such as Kalshi, e-commerce operations, and a variety of consumer businesses, the appropriate website shows.
Nevertheless, Mantis has backed Superplastic, the since-sold Fanhouse, and a different superfan platform called Slushy; the latter apparently specializes in content falling well outside the music world. The Chainsmokers have also advised Riffusion, but Mantis doesn’t appear to have invested in the AI music generator.
Bearing the points in mind – and given the industry’s steady stream of funding – it’s certainly possible that Mantis will take an interest in core music-sector startups moving forward.
Investor + VC Financing, Music Industry News
This post was originally authored and published by Dylan Smith Digital Music News via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.
