An ETF entrepreneur in southern California recently expanded his team after launching three new funds this year. Watch for the startup to raise new capital soon, after launching a new website and perhaps a new brand.

"We'll likely do a capital raise in the fall," Eric Ervin, CEO of Reality Shares [profile], tells MFWire. The San Diego-based firm is currently backed by employees and angel investors, but Ervin says "now it's time" to bring in institutional money.

A few weeks ago Ervin made a pair of new hires: early cryptocurrency investor Mike Dow as chief growth officer and longtime Reality Shares consultant Eddie Ranchigoda as vice president of product marketing. Ervin also added Blockchain.com president Marco Santori to Reality Shares' blockchain advisory board.

Meanwhile, after three fund launches this year, Reality Shares may slow down on that front for a bit. Earlier this year the firm debuted both a blockchain ETF and a venture capital fund for investing in blockchain-related startups. Then yesterday they rolled out a U.S. ETF for investing in blockchain technology in China.

"I personally got really bit by the blockchain bug two years ago," Ervin says. "We're all in on this."

Online, Ervin expects to launch a new corporate Reality Shares website soon, while keeping its ETFs website (six ETFs in total now, plus an ETFMG ETF that Reality Shares powers) separate. Yet Ervin might even rebrand Reality Shares, keeping that brand for the ETF family while coming up with a new corporate brand to reflect the firm's broader business now (which includes the VC fund and more non-ETF products to come soon). 

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