Quick take:
- MetaWeb has launched its first fund (fund I) with $30 million commitments.
- The fund is backed by leading VCs and web3 companies including Sequoia China. Dragonfly Capital, NEAR Foundation and SevenX, among others.
- NEAR’s co-founder Illia Polosukhin, Matrix China’s co-founder Bo Shao, and Alchemy Pay’s founder Shawn Shi, are also backing MetaWeb.
MetaWeb Ventures has announced its emergence from stealth with $30 million in commitments for its first fund (Fund I). The global venture capital firm will use the Fund to scale its pre-seed and seed investments in products focused on supporting developers and researchers building the future of Web3.
MetaWeb’s web3 fund is backed by some of the leading venture capital firms and web3 companies, including NEAR Foundation, Sequoia China, Dragonfly Capital, GSR Markets, Octopus Network, SevenX, and Mentha Partners.
Individual investors in support of the fund include NEAR’s co-founder Illia Polosukhin, Matrix China’s co-founder Bo Shao, Alchemy Pay’s founder Shawn Shi, and Dodo’s co-founder Mark Wang, among others.
MetaWeb invested in Orderly, Niche, CornerstoneDAO, Sender Wallet, Kino, and Play3 whilst in stealth mode.
The company is targeting aggressive growth startups that focus on onboarding masses to web3 by unlocking the mainstream adoption of blockchain technology.
Commenting on the fund launch, Amos Zhang, Managing Partner at MetaWeb Ventures said: “We founded MetaWeb to back the future Web3 leaders who will disrupt the world through blockchain. As former entrepreneurs, we will work side by side with the founders throughout their journey.”
MetaWeb’s first fund will focus on a select number of segments in the web3 space, including decentralized social media, DeFi, blockchain gaming, infrastructure, and DAO verticals. The company has already drawn an action plan for its second fund (Fund II) in 2023.
“At the core, MetaWeb is unique in that we’re all builders who also invest– we have direct access to early projects as we can provide a very special kind of support to our founders,” said Dani Osorio, Partner at MetaWeb Ventures.
Blockchain games have become one of the most viable options for onboarding billions to web3. Some companies are trying to create bridges between web2 games and the blockchain by leveraging the play-and-earn mechanism as a sell-point.
However, not all mainstream gaming communities are eager to jump on the play-and-earn train just yet amid low-quality blockchain games.
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