According to CoinMarketCap data, the crypto market is valued at over $1.12 trillion. Given the saturated nature of the market, new projects have trouble standing out and getting the needed attention to soar.
Above -Image source: DepositPhotos.
However, the presence of venture capital firms allows new projects to gain smoother entry into the market by leveraging the support of their backers. Venture capital firms fund founders’ dreams, allowing them to bring innovative solutions to the Web3 ecosystem.
A 2022 KPMG report reveals that institutional investors have pumped over $23.1 billion into the crypto market in the year’s first half. This data affirms that new projects — with huge growth potential — are on VCs’ radars, despite the bear market.
As a result, it is nearly impossible to overlook the crucial role of VC firms in driving the progress of the Web3 space. Although venture capitalists provide assistance to new projects, not all are easy to work with. This article will highlight 5 investment firms that are actively contributing to Web3 growth, giving insight into the type of support they offer and the numerous projects they have backed.
Hashed
Image source: Hashed
Hashed is a Seoul and San Francisco-based venture capital firm that seeks to support emerging innovative crypto projects worldwide. Founded in 2017, the company is run by three Asian serial investors, Simon Seojoon Kim, Ethan Kyuntae Kim, and Ryan Sungho Kim, whose primary goal is to drive global blockchain and Web3 adoption through investments, acceleration, and education.
The VC firm boasts of a great portfolio, investing in numerous areas of Web3. These areas include DEXs, wallets and payments, lending, NFT/gaming, derivatives, synthetics, analytics, and infrastructure.
In December 2021, the company mapped out a $200 million fund, The Hashed Venture Fund 2, to focus on thriving crypto sectors, including GameFi, DeFi, metaverse, and NFTs.
But before that, Hashed had become a well-known Web3 player with major investments in metaverses like The Sandbox, Axie Infinity, Decentraland, Enjin Efinity, etc. Hashed’s latest investment (as of writing) is in the NFT platform, Aura.
The company co-led a $4 million Pre-series A funding round with Coin98 Ventures. Other notable participants include GuildFi, K300 Ventures, Republic Crypto, and Istari Ventures. After many investments, Hashed has cemented its place in Web3 with its role in supporting innovative founders.
a16z Crypto
Image source: a16z
a16z Crypto is the crypto arm of Andreessen Horowitz founded in 2018 by popular entrepreneurs, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The company has invested in blockchain, privacy and security, developer tools, applications, infrastructure, and gaming since inception.
Using its substantial expertise and resources, a16z Crypto has positioned itself as a leading VC firm in the Web3 ecosystem. The investment firm invests in pre-seed, seed, startup, early, mid, growth, and late stages of a company.
Also, they primarily focus on crypto and Web3-related companies. In May 2022, a16z Crypto announced its fourth crypto fund, summing up to $4.5 billion. It allocated $3 billion to venture investments and the remainder to seed investments. The 2022 fund brought a16z’s Web3/crypto funds raised to over $7.5 billion.
a16z Crypto also offers services to founders, enabling them to launch their projects faster and with precision. The VC’s active portfolio comprises nearly 50 companies with more expansion plans.
Overall, a16z Crypto is in a class of its own. Many VC firms like Alameda Research, went under in the 2022 bear market. In late 2022, CEO Chris Dixon stated the company had billions to invest in Web3. a16z Crypto has maintained a stellar reputation and is a VC to watch out for in 2023 and beyond.
DWF Labs
Image Source: DWF Lab
DWF Labs is a Switzerland-based venture capital firm founded in 2018. It is a subsidiary of Digital Wave Finance (DWF), a leading trading company that works with over 40 prominent exchanges, including Binance and ByBit. While the company’s headquarters is in Switzerland, it has offices in Singapore, China, Hong Kong, and Dubai.
DWF Labs plays crucial roles in many areas of the crypto industry, such as market making, early-stage investments, secondary market investments, OTC (over-the-counter) trading services for Web3 projects, advisory services, and token listing.
As an investment firm, DWF Labs invests in Web3 companies allowing them to sell their tokens for capital. This allows for capital efficiency while allowing founders to focus entirely on their projects’ success.
DWF Labs provided $15 million during the bear market to support troubled Web3 projects through Binance Labs. They also promised to discover new avenues to increase their support for the Web3 space.
As of writing, DWF Labs has participated in numerous funding rounds and secured more than 30 VC deals, with the largest valued at $25 million. In an interview, DWF Labs’ managing partner, Andrei Grachev, mentioned the increasing investor interest in Web3 projects and affirmed that the company would capitalize on the market’s potential to become the leading Web3 VC firm.
The investment firm also pledged a $10 million in support to help develop the TON ecosystem. In addition to the financial support, DWF Labs promised to assist in token creation, listing, and market making. Another beneficiary is Yield Guild Games, a P2E gaming guild that raised $13.8 million in a funding round co-led by DWF Labs and a16z.
The company made its latest move on February 23, 2023, investing $25M in Beldex, a Web3 ecosystem of dApps designed to protect users’ identity and data.
Managing partner, Andrei Grachev, spoke on this big move, “We are excited about Beldex’s ecosystem, which offers scalable and secured decentralized applications prioritizing privacy.”
DWF Labs is relatively new to the industry; however, it is showing continued interest in innovative Web3 projects and will continue investing, despite the bear market.
Collider
Image Source: Collider
Israeli-based Collider is an over $200M in AUM venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage startups, supporting next-gen companies, products, and protocols that are building disruptive technologies, services & products worldwide.
Founded in 2018 by serial investors Adam Benayoun, Avishay Ovadia, Ofer Rotem, Collider aims to drive widespread blockchain and Web3 adoption through seed investments, acceleration, incubation, and education.
Since its launch, the VC firm has built a solid portfolio, investing in digital assets, decentralized finance, game finance, infrastructure and tooling, and web3 companies.
In its latest investment in February 2023, the company, alongside Disruptive AI, co-led a $7 million Ironblocks funding round with the funds aimed at product development, new products, hiring, and partnerships. In October 2022, Collider also participated in a $5.4 million funding round led by General Catalyst to secure funding for Sovryn to expand its global financial operating system.
Major investments in remarkable crypto/web3 projects, such as Nexus Mutual, Voltage Finance, and RedStone, have further strengthened Collider’s status as a reputable player in the blockchain industry.
In February 2023, Collider joined Israel’s most successful web3 businesses to organize an inaugural event, ETHTLV, to strengthen the country’s growing startup community and establish the community’s foothold in the global web3 space.
Node Capital
Image Source: Node Capital
Node Capital is a venture capital firm that focuses on the blockchain sector. The company also offers a variety of digital analytics solutions to meet the needs of investment management funds for cryptocurrency trading.
Founded in 2017 by Amos Meiri and Rotem Lev, the company continues to build a solid reputation in the crypto/web3 space with a robust portfolio, including SubQuery, Axelar, and Stride.
Node Capital, alongside leading crypto investment firms, Distributed Global, Fabric Ventures, Galileo, and Chapter One, participated in a recent $3.5 million Squid funding round. The round led by North Island Ventures aims to help the founders build a next-gen routing protocol that will enable developers and users to access cross-chain liquidity seamlessly.
In August 2022, the company co-led the $5M in pre-seed funding of dWallet Labs, an Israel-based cybersecurity firm specializing in blockchain technology with Digital Currency Group (DCG), further demonstrating its commitment to foster Web3 adoption.
Conclusion
The rising development of Web3 projects has increased the need for venture capital firms to support founders. With the Web3 space evolving constantly, only the quick-adapting companies will survive.
The above VCs have remained relevant because of their willingness to adapt and commitment to the Web3 ecosystem’s growth. As a result, they will be great fits for new founders who want their projects to achieve incredible feats.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.