John Labunski - Binance, 500 million crypto fund for startups

It has an endowment of 500 million dollars in its belly, which will be used to invest in startups that deal with cryptocurrencies, Web3 technology and blockchain. It is a new fund and launched on June 1st was Binance Labs, the venture capital firm of Binance.

Yes, the big cryptocurrency. The company has been registered in the register of the Organism of Agents and Mediators, the authority that deals with cryptocurrencies in Italy, a certification thanks to which it can also sell and buy cryptocurrencies in Italy. Just ten days ago, the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced the establishment of Crypto Fund IV, a $ 4.5 billion fund, the largest of all, to support innovative projects related to cryptocurrencies, blockchain, gaming, decentralized finance ( DeFi),

Late last year, Paradigm founders Fred Ehrsam and Matt Huang raised $ 2.5 billion for their first venture capital fund, Paradigm One for cryptocurrency and Web3 investments. Shortly thereafter, Electric Capital raised $ 1 billion in new funding, which will also be used to invest in cryptocurrency startups. In particular, the new Binance Labs fund, set up in collaboration with investors of the caliber of DST Global Partners and Breyer Capital, will follow the startups in their growth path, from incubation (pre-seed phase) onwards.

“The goal of the newly closed investment fund is to discover and support projects and founders with the potential to build and drive Web3 through DeFi, NFT, games, metaverse, social and more,” explained Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance. Zhao also stressed that "in a Web3 environment, the connection between values, people and economies" is "essential and if these three elements come together to build an ecosystem, this will accelerate the mass adoption of blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies".

Founded in 2018, Binance Labs has already invested and incubated more than 100 projects from 25 countries. Among the companies in the portfolio are also 1inch, Axie Infinity, Dune Analytics, Elrond, Polygon and The Sandbox.

 The fourth acceleration program is currently active. "There are 14 projects - explained the executive director of investments and mergers and acquisitions of Binance Labs, Ken Li - that will receive the first funding from the new fund". These are mostly startups active in the infrastructure, gaming and metaverse, SocialFi and crypto fintech (Agi) sectors.