Vice Ventures raises $25M to fund startups in ‘bad’ industries
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Vice Ventures has closed a $25 million second fund to finance “bad” industries that cater to human vices.
Following up on Vice Ventures’ first fund, the new firm will in non-traditional venture verticals such as cannabis, alcohol, sextech and wellness, esports, gambling, caffeine, nicotine, psychedelics, addiction recovery, and yet to be known vices, said Catharine Dockery, founding partner of Vice Ventures, in an interview with VentureBeat.
During tough times, it’s a countercyclical strategy that could pay off, in Dockery’s opinion. The fund is sure to cause some controversy, but Dockery is used to it and she points out the hypocrisy of people supporting harmful products like big oil, guns or polluting industries.
On top of that, she said these industries are superficially “bad,” as they “don’t harm other people” and she draws a line between the bad and the really bad industries. Of course, it may be debatable whether or not the products can be harmful to those who use them.
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But Dockery started the original $25 million fund in 2019 and didn’t shy away from the controversy back then. In fact, she challenges the social stigma around vices.
In college, she studied a combination of neuroscience and finance.
“My first job out of college was a high yield trading desk, which I hated, and I literally hated my life,” she said. “I realized my brain was dying and I couldn’t do that job anymore. The whole time I was there, I was like, ‘How
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