Binance launches $500 million fund for investments in Web3

Web3 remains in the spotlight of both the crypto market and the traditional technology market. And one of the companies making efforts to develop projects focused on Web 3.0 is the digital asset exchange Binance.

Its venture capital and incubation arm, Binance Labs, announced this Wednesday (1st) the creation of a fund that has already raised US$ 500 million to support investments in Web3.

Web3 refers to the “future” of the internet, which is already under development. Its focus is on decentralization – enabled by blockchain – and user-created content. So, the idea is that people can use the internet without giving up their data.

“The purpose of the newly closed investment fund is to discover and support projects and founders with the potential to build and lead web3 in DeFi, NFTs, gaming, metaverse, social and more,” Binance said in a statement.

Binance estimates that there are currently around 300,000 to 500,000 active Web3 developers. And, according to the company, that number is still expected to grow substantially.

Support for Web3 startups including NFT and DAO

According to Binance Labs, the fund’s supporters include DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital as well as private equity funds, family offices and corporations as limited partners. According to a Binance spokesperson, this is the company’s first externally funded fund.

With the funds, Binance Labs plans to support Web3 startups that want to integrate into the Binance ecosystem. The exchange intends to do this in three stages: incubation, early stage, and late-stage growth.

“In a web3 environment, the connection between values, people and economies is essential. So if these three elements come together to build an ecosystem, it will accelerate the mass adoption of blockchain and crypto technology,” said Changpeng Zhao, Founder and CEO of Binance.

Meanwhile, Ken Li, executive director of investments and mergers and acquisitions at Binance Labs said the company is looking for projects with the potential to drive the growth of the Web3 ecosystem.

These projects can include infrastructure, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).

Created in 2018, Binance Labs has funded over 100 startups to date. These include Sky Mavis, which develops the popular NFTs game Axie Infinity; the startup StepN; the 1inch exchange aggregator, as well as the blockchain auditing firm CertiK.

As Li pointed out, Binance Labs “always does its due diligence and has strong conviction in its investment strategy.” She then added, “we know that investing in the early stages involves risks.”