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Brad Holden

Brad Holden

Managing Partner at Protocol VC; Web3 and infrastructure investor

brad
San Francisco, California
Joined January 2025
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Summary

Experienced early-stage investor focused on Web3 and decentralized computing: Brad has led PL Ventures inside Protocol Labs and now serves as Managing Partner at Protocol VC, deploying capital and the Protocol Labs network to support teams building on IPFS, Filecoin, libp2p and other infrastructure primitives. heybeluga+1
Builder of startup programs and ecosystem initiatives: At AWS he launched and ran Angel/Seed and pro-rata introduction programs to connect investors and startups within the AWS ecosystem, demonstrating experience designing corporate-backed startup programs and founder-facing initiatives. zdnet+1
Operator with legal and VC foundations: Brad's earlier career as a corporate associate at Wilson Sonsini and as Principal/Investment Counsel at TomorrowVentures gave him hands-on experience with deal execution, portfolio support and the legal/transactional side of venture investing. prweb+1
Public-facing advocate for developer- and infrastructure-focused startups: Brad frequently speaks publicly about the difference between crypto-native and traditional VCs, participates in ecosystem demo days and quotes in press releases about Filecoin and related tooling—positioning him as a visible connector between protocol teams and early-stage capital. x+1

Work

Education

Projects

Writing

Spotlight: Brad Holden, Head of Investments at Protocol Labs

September 1, 2024

An in-depth interview covering his role leading PL Ventures, investment horizons across ecosystem/emerging crypto/new computing breakthroughs, and views on Filecoin and web3 themes.

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Notes

SYSeref Yararsaid they've seen
BHBrad Holden
lead or invest in standout pre-seed projects in the open-source decentralised AI space.

Nov 27, 2025

AIAnji Ismailsaid they've seen
BHBrad Holden
add significant value to frontier tech startups through their investments.

Nov 21, 2025

EWErick Watsonsaid they've seen
BHBrad Holden
add significant value to frontier tech startups through their investments.

Nov 19, 2025