Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation arm of US-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has closed a US$500 million investment fund to back projects that can expand crypto use cases and drive the adoption of Web 3 and blockchain technologies.
Since 2018, Binance Labs has invested in and incubated more than 100 projects from over 25 countries, including African startups such as Bundle and Xend Finance. Its portfolio includes industry-leading projects such as 1inch, Audius, Axie Infinity, Dune Analytics, Elrond, Injective, Polygon, Optimism, The Sandbox, and STEPN.
The new Binance Labs fund is supported by leading global institutional investors such as DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, and Whampoa Group. Other major private equity funds, family offices, and corporations also subscribed to the fund as limited partners.
It will invest in projects that can extend the use cases of cryptocurrencies and drive the adoption of Web3 and blockchain technologies, and will invest in three different stages – incubation, early-stage venture, and late-stage growth.
“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,” said Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance.
