At DePIN Day Singapore, Mike Zajko — co-founder of early-stage crypto fund Lattice — cut through the noise with calm clarity. In a market flooded with whitepapers and hype decks, Lattice focuses on one thing: backing real builders, in real markets, with real revenue potential.
The Market is Quiet And That’s a Good Thing
Over the past 12 months, DePIN tokens have underperformed. It’s not a secret. Even Helium, widely seen as the sector’s flagship, is trading below a $500M valuation—despite solid growth in core metrics.
But Mike doesn’t see this as a red flag. He sees it as an opening.
Backing the Builders Before the Token Exists
Lattice isn’t in the business of chasing charts. Their focus is pre-token, often pre-launch—where the real work happens.
Two projects Mike casually mentioned during our conversation:
- Dawn Internet: A fixed wireless network with 10K+ users and 7-figure revenue, preparing for token launch
- A stealth energy DePIN project incentivizing solar panel and battery deployments
“We’ve seeded many of the top DePIN projects you haven’t heard of yet. That’s the point.”
What Founders Get Wrong — and What VCs Are Actually Looking For
Mike laid out three clear things that separate investable DePIN projects from forgettable ones:
1. Founder-Market Fit
“If you’re building in energy, we want to see that you’ve worked in energy. Crypto-native is not enough.”
Plenty of teams think DePIN is just a cool category. But domain expertise still matters—especially in regulated or capital-intensive sectors.
2. A Market Worth Chasing
“Some teams are targeting ultra-niche use cases. But the TAM just isn’t there. We want DePINs that have scale potential.”
It’s why Lattice is bullish on infrastructure categories like energy, connectivity, and compute—industries with massive tailwinds (especially from AI demand).
3. A Real Reason to Use Blockchain
“Ask yourself: does this actually need to be a token project? What does the token enable that couldn’t be done otherwise?”
It’s not a rhetorical question. If you can’t answer it clearly, the project probably doesn’t need to exist on-chain at all.
Where It’s Going: Quiet Markets Build Real Things
There’s something refreshing about how Mike talks. No bravado. No moon talk. Just measured optimism for what comes next.
“We’re not momentum investors. We’re conviction investors.”
In a cycle where attention is hard to earn, the smartest money is often moving before the headlines catch up.
And right now, Lattice is quietly doubling down on the infrastructure layer of DePIN.
Takeaways for Founders:
- Be a domain expert, not just a protocol theorist
- Build for real users with real problems
- Don’t force a token — make it indispensable
Because the investors still watching DePIN? They’re betting on you.
