Binance VC Arm Raises $500M To Drive Blockchain And Web3 Adoption

Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation unit of Binance has completed a $500 million investment funding round.

According to a Wednesday, June 1 announcement, the funds were pooled from a list of leading global institutional investors including Breyer Capital, DST Global partners as well as private major equities, family offices, and corporations that contributed to the fund as limited partners.

According to Changpeng Zhao (CZ), Founder and CEO of Binance, “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.”

The fund is the latest in a string of rounds by Binance aimed at leapfrogging the building and adoption of digital assets.

“With incubation, Binance Labs aims to connect projects with Binance’s network of resources, experts, and mentors to help them drive successful product development and growth.” Read the announcement. 

Through incubation, the firm discovers and funds young but promising projects as it seeks to create a connection between values, people, and economies through Web 3. From incubation, successful projects receive an early-stage venture fund before getting another late-stage-growth investment fund to carry on with their activities on themselves. According to Binance labs, the $500 million investment will be used to fund selected projects in all three stages.

Binance, which is the world’s largest exchange by traded volume has been active in the venture capital scene raising billions of dollars for over 100 projects from over 25 countries since 2018 through its VC arm. Some of the most noticeable projects under the firm’s wings include Axie Infinity, Dune Analytics, Polygon, Optimism, and The Sandbox.

Other venture capitalists have also been stockpiling to fund crypto startups despite the market facing a string of headwinds. Just last week, Andreessen Horowitz raised $4.5 billion– the largest fund in the industry to date, aimed at powering web3 startups. Others such as Sequoia Capital, Carthona Capital, and Hack VC among others have been betting huge on the future of web3 with millions in funding. 

Last year, crypto companies raised a record $30 billion in venture capital. According to a Tuesday report by Morgan Stanley, the number of funding deals remains elevated despite cryptocurrency dumping.