Binance’s VC Arm Raises $500M to Fund Web3 and Crypto Adoption
- The fund is the first in Binance Labs’ history to be created with outside capital, namely from DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, unnamed private equity funds, and others.
- The new $500 million fund will invest in cryptocurrency companies in three stages of development, from incubation, to early-stage venture, and finally late-stage growth.
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao speaking at an “Ask Us Anything” conference. Binance
Binance Labs, the investment and incubation arm of the popular exchange, has launched a new $500 million fund to support innovation across the crypto industry, the exchange said in a blog post on 1 June.
According to the announcement, Binance Labs launched the new fund in partnership with global investors, such as DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, unnamed private equity funds, and others. The fund will help Binance Labs to continue to back startups focused on increasing crypto adoption, and invest across companies in three stages of development, namely the incubation period, early-stage venture, and late-stage growth. The CEO and founder of Binance, Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, said in a statement:
“In a Web3 environment, the connection between values, people, and economies is essential, and if these three elements come together to build an ecosystem, that will accelerate the mass adoption of the blockchain technology and crypto. 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.”
Incubation stage projects will have the opportunity to connect to Binance’s network of resources to help them drive product development and growth, a program that Binance Labs runs regularly. When it comes to early-stage ventures, the fund will participate in token and equity investments across the crypto, web3, DeFi, NFT, gaming, Metaverse, and other sectors. The late-stage growth investments, however, will target more mature companies that aim to scale or bridge the web3 ecosystem.
Binance Labs was first launched in 2018, and since then has incubated and invested in more than 100 projects globally, with some of the more prominent being 1inc, Axie Infinity, Dune Analytics, Elrond, Polygon, and The Sandbox. The first projects to receive investments from the new fund are currently participating in the fourth Binance Labs Incubation Program.
- The popular crypto exchange has decided to sell its business in Russia to CommEX, a crypto exchange business that was officially launched on Tuesday.
- Binance noted that it will fully exit the Russian market, and have no ongoing revenue split or any option to buy back shares in the business.
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- The company said it will be suspending its crypto-backed debit card service in the Middle East on 25 August, and in Latin America by 21 September.
- Although no reason was given for the decision, the company noted that “less than 1% of users” in those regions will be affected by the change.
- A spokesperson said the change was due to the “changing market and user needs”, and that Binance will now be refocusing its resources on its main products and long-term goals.
- Launched in March 2022, Binance Connect helped crypto businesses connect with the traditional finance system, and supported 50 cryptocurrencies and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.