Leading Cardano Group (Midnight)'s Institutional Entry into the Gulf

Institutional GTM

Investor relations

Event strategy and execution

Brand positioning

About the Client

Cardano Group is a multi-entity blockchain ecosystem spanning 10+ projects, including Input Output, Atala Prism, Midnight, RealFi, Lace Wallet, and others. We worked with one of their umbrella projects, Midnight. Midnight is a privacy-first L1 blockchain addressing the trade-off between public transparency and corporate privacy, positioning itself as infrastructure for enterprise and institutional use cases.

Challenge

Midnight came with a dual ask: the ecosystem fund looking for capital commitments and the foundation focused on gaining more market share. 

In under two months, LKI facilitated 76 direct investor introductions at ADFW and secured 6 EOIs for the Midnight ecosystem fund - including Cypher Capital, HashKey Capital, and Raffles Family Office - at a 7.8% first-touch-to-EOI conversion rate. Midnight’s Foundation also increased their brand share in the Gulf through a series of high-profile speaking engagements, sponsorship of the Polo Classic Cup, and a curated private dinner.

Solution

Gulf institutional decision-makers don't commit capital based on a deck. They need to see you, hear you, and break bread with you - in that order. LKI executed a four-stage relationship funnel designed around this reality:

Stage 1. Awareness:

Secured a speaking engagement for Midnight's COO at the Global Blockchain Show (part of ADFW), establishing credibility with a broad institutional audience and publicly announcing the upcoming TGE and L1 roadmap.

Stage 2. Interest:

Positioned Midnight as the sponsor of the Polo Classic Cup - the most prestigious ADFW event - attended by 400 HNWIs from TradFi and digital assets. LKI curated and facilitated 76 direct meetings between Midnight and key decision-makers at the event.

Stage 3. Consideration:

Hosted a private dinner with 30 senior operators, targeting two audiences: institutional investors (VCs, Funds of Funds, and Family Offices) and projects exploring building on a privacy chain.