Joe McCann
About Joe McCann
Joe McCann is the Founder, CEO, and CIO of Asymmetric, a digital assets investment firm based in Portland, Oregon. Crunchbase lists him in that role since February 2022. His bio cites more than 24 years of work between Wall Street and Silicon Valley, covering systematic and quantitative trading, fundraising, and running a venture-backed open-source software company.
He founded NodeSource, which describes itself as the Node.js company and sold enterprise Node.js tooling. Tracxn lists it as founded in 2014 with $33.7M in total funding, last at Series B. He also founded Circle Media, a fan engagement platform. His X profile calls him a "3x Founder", and Crunchbase counts three founded companies.
Before Asymmetric he worked at Microsoft from October 2019 to February 2022, in the Cloud and AI organization on incubations, M&A and startups. Before that he ran quantitative and systematic cryptocurrency trading at Passport Capital, a San Francisco hedge fund. A conference profile says Asymmetric is backed by Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon and Circle, along with the founders of Solana, Multicoin and CoinFund.
Crunchbase counts 17 investments in 17 portfolio companies for McCann, with no lead investments and no exits. He is also an advisor to companies including Dharma (a DeFi app on Ethereum, acquired by OpenSea), Voltage (Bitcoin Lightning nodes as a service) and Zebec (a money-streaming protocol on Solana).
Tracxn dates a few of his rounds. He was in Zebec's seed round in November 2021 ($6M round), Rare Circles' seed in February 2022 ($7.5M round), Arkive's seed in July 2022 ($9.7M round) and GolfN's seed in June 2024 ($1.3M round). Crunchbase shows his latest entries as an angel round in Arcium and a seed round in Ryder. Round sizes are the total rounds, not his own cheques.
Most of his publicly listed investments are crypto and Web3 companies, not core AI companies. Arcium is the closest to AI infrastructure. It is an encrypted compute network, and Crunchbase and Tracxn list him as an angel there, with Tracxn dating the investment to 2025. NFX Signal also lists Spice AI, a $14M seed round dated September 2022, on his profile. I could not confirm his role or cheque size in that round.
On AI more broadly, his X bio lists "macro, flows, vol & AI" as topics. VC Sheet, a third-party directory, says he has a thesis on autonomous AI agents as the next platform shift. I found no first-party statement from him on AI investing criteria.
Public data points to early-stage, crypto-native companies. NFX Signal ranks him in Web3/Blockchain at Seed and Series A, and in Seattle/Portland Web3/Crypto. VC Sheet lists Web3/crypto, fintech, data, gaming and AI as sectors. Tracxn shows investments in the United States and Australia. Many of his portfolio companies build on Solana.
He has described Asymmetric as a technology company rather than a traditional fund. In a Solana Compass interview, he said cultural relevance matters alongside technology when picking projects.
He has not published a cheque size. Third-party directories estimate it differently. NFX Signal gives a range of $100K to $5.0M with a $1.5M sweet spot, and VC Sheet gives $10K to $1M. Founders should treat both as unverified estimates.
- Zebec: money-streaming protocol on Solana. Seed round in November 2021, and McCann is also an advisor.
- Rare Circles: seed round in February 2022.
- Arkive: seed round in July 2022.
- GolfN: seed round in June 2024.
- Arcium: encrypted compute network. Angel round, dated 2025 by Tracxn.
- Spice AI: listed by NFX Signal with a $14M seed round in September 2022.
- Ryder: seed round listed by Crunchbase as his latest entry.
- Syndica, Switchboard, Saturn, Dialect, Loopscale and Ranger: listed on his CryptoRank investor page, with no dates or details found.
- Dharma, Voltage and Zebec: advisory roles named in his bio.
- crunchbase.com/person/joe-mccann
- crunchbase.com/organization/asymmetric
- signal.nfx.com/investors/joe-mccann_1
- tracxn.com/d/people/joe-mccann/__orCjfSMpVAhekhZm29VngekONI4OT87q9heTQ
- cryptorank.io/funds/joe-mccann/portfolio
- vcsheet.com/who/joe-mccann
- salt.org/speakers/joe-mccann
- solanacompass.com/learn/Midcurve/technology-capital-culture-w-joe-mcca
Investing activity
Joe McCann has made 17 investments according to Crunchbase across 17 portfolio companies, and has founded 3 companies.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Joe McCann
Does Joe McCann invest in AI startups?
His listed investments are mostly crypto and Web3, with Arcium (encrypted compute) as an angel investment. NFX Signal also lists Spice AI. VC Sheet lists AI among his sectors.
What is Joe McCann's check size?
He has not published one. NFX Signal estimates $100K to $5.0M with a $1.5M sweet spot, and VC Sheet estimates $10K to $1M. Both are third-party estimates.
What stage does Joe McCann invest in?
His dated investments are mostly seed rounds, and NFX Signal ranks him at Seed and Series A for Web3. Crunchbase lists no lead investments.
Where is Joe McCann based?
Portland, Oregon, in the United States. Crunchbase and NFX Signal both list that location.
What companies has Joe McCann founded?
He founded NodeSource, the Node.js company, and Circle Media, a fan engagement platform. He also founded Asymmetric. Crunchbase counts three founded companies.
How can founders pitch Joe McCann?
He has no published pitch process. Founders can reach him through his X account @joemccann or through Asymmetric. A warm intro from a mutual co-investor is the more typical route.
Is Joe McCann an angel investor?
Yes. Joe McCann invests personally as an angel and is Founder, CEO, and CIO at Asymmetric. Crunchbase counts 17 investments.
How can founders reach Joe McCann?
Founders on Lounge can see Joe McCann's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Joe McCann to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.