Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has raised $500 million to establish a fund that will invest in Web3 and blockchain companies.
DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, Whampoa Group and other private equity funds all participated in the raise, according to a blog post on Wednesday.
“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,” Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said.
The fund will make investments across companies in three stages: Incubation, early-stage venture, and late-stage growth.
Binance Labs’ fund is the latest in a string of recently established crypto funds by venture capitalists, with Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) raising $4.5 billion last week to demonstrate confidence in the market in spite of the recent downturn.
The entire market cap for cryptocurrencies is at $1.3 trillion, a 55% drop since November when it was at $2.9 trillion.
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