Key takeaways:
- The venture capital unit of Binance has launched a $500 million crypto fund with support from several prominent institutional investors
- The funds will be used to pursue investment opportunities across DeFi, NFTs, blockchain gaming, Metaverse, and more
- Binance Labs launched in 2018 and has since provided financial backing for over 100 projects, including Axie Infinity, Optimism, and Polygon
Binance debuts a $500 million fund to pursue investments in the Web3 space
Binance Labs, a venture capital arm of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has raised $500 million for a new crypto fund that will invest in blockchain, Web3, and “value-building technologies”. According to the company’s blog post, the fund will invest in companies at various stages of development, ranging from incubation to late-stage ventures.
The company has launched the new fund in partnership with DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, and several other prominent corporate investors. Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao commented on the recently closed fund in a statement:
“The goal of the newly closed investment fund is to discover and support projects and founders with the potential to build and to lead Web3 across DeFi, NFTs, gaming, Metaverse, social, and more.”
Launched in 2018, Binance Labs has invested in more than 100 projects in the past four years, including 1inch, Axie Infinity, Elrond, Polygon, Optimism, and The Sandbox.
In related news, one of the leading crypto investment firms–Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)–launched a $4.5 billion Web3-oriented fund last week. The trend of VC capital flowing into crypto funds has been picking up momentum in the past two years – Financial Times reports that the total money raised in 2021 doubled compared to 2020.
