Highlights:
- OWC Ventures, the new investment arm of Open Web Collective, will invest in early-stage Web3 firms.
- As part of its investment strategy, OWC Ventures plans to fund entrepreneurs in various parts of the digital asset ecosystem subsectors.
Open Web Collective, a venture capital firm that backs blockchain firms, has formed a new subsidiary called OWC Ventures.
Open Web Collective invests in blockchain startups in their early stages and runs a startup accelerator program. The company was founded as a spinoff of the NEAR Protocol blockchain initiative. Open Web Collective reported that the companies in its portfolio have garnered over USD 360 million from investors.
OWC Ventures, the new investment arm of Open Web Collective, will invest in early-stage Web3 firms. NEAR Protocol and Digital Currency Group are said to be backing OWC Ventures. Digital Currency Group is the parent business of numerous significant actors in the digital asset ecosystem, including Grayscale Investments, a cryptocurrency investing firm.
OWC Ventures is apparently in the process of raising a fund to support pre-Series A startup investments. According to the division, the fund is expected to start with USD 20 million in initial funding.
As part of its investment strategy, OWC Ventures plans to fund entrepreneurs in various parts of the digital asset ecosystem subsectors. OWC Ventures will invest in startups creating DeFi technologies or systems that enable the trading of financial products without the need for intermediaries such as brokers. Additionally, the division will invest in video game and SocialFi (solutions that integrate social media elements with blockchain technology) firms.
OWC Ventures is being launched weeks after it was revealed that venture capital company Seven Six was seeking USD 177.6 million for a cryptocurrency investment fund. Before this, Variant raised USD 450 million to back Web3 and DeFi businesses.
In May, the renowned venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz introduced the industry’s most prominent blockchain venture fund to date. The fund was formed with initial funding of USD 4.5 billion, which would be used to support Web3 firms “at every level.” To make Web3 investments, Andreessen Horowitz has raised a total of USD 7.6 billion from investors.
According to Crunchbase analysis, Web3 startups raised USD 6.6 billion in financing during the second quarter. This is an increase from the USD 6.4 billion invested in the category during the same period last year. It’s estimated that there are 79 unicorn firms or startups with values surpassing USD 1 billion in the Web3 ecosystem.
Mysten Labs, the creator of the Sui blockchain, is one of the most recent Web3 firms to attain a unicorn value. Earlier this month, the business secured USD 300 million, headed by FTX Ventures at USD 2 billion.
