Everybody in web3 is aware of names like Andreesen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, and Binance Labs. However outdoors of the large enterprise capital corporations, there are tons of extra that undertake the identical work, funding and supporting startups and advocating for web3 adoption.
From this lengthy tail of web3 VCs, just a few names stand out. Not solely are their founders educated and their starvation for achievement palpable, however they exhibit an earnest want to assist the trade notice its full potential. The next VCs are moral, multidisciplinary, and intent on serving to not simply themselves however their portfolio firms obtain the success they warrant. Take a notice of those names cos you’ll be listening to much more from them within the years to return.
GBV Capital
Based in 2020, GBV Capital is a Hong Kong-based web3 fund. It has no LPs, with its founders as a substitute utilizing their very own funds to again the startups it believes have an outsized probability of going the gap. Having invested within the likes of Canto, Pendle, Pyth, and Zerolend, it’s honest to say the GBV crew know their DeFi and infra performs.
The agency is especially energetic throughout the multichain panorama, investing in protocols rising to deliver liquidity and DeFi tooling to L2s. GBV takes an open-minded strategy to investing, contemplating submissions from pseudo-anon groups in addition to extra standard startups. It “will get” crypto tradition and embodies the WAGMI spirit, making it an excellent companion to assist crypto tasks that dare to assume outdoors the field.
DWF Labs
DWF Labs is an formidable web3 VC that’s keen to seek out essentially the most proficient early-stage tasks. It invitations submissions from startups that meet its funding thesis and is barely too completely satisfied to provide them the time of day. When the agency commits to an funding, it provides it 100%. Not simply funding but additionally mentoring, networking, and each different weapon in its in depth arsenal.
As a result of DWF Labs additionally runs a market-making and OTC buying and selling desk, it’s an excellent match for tokenized tasks. Whereas its preliminary value-add is by way of financing, later its complementary companies show invaluable in offering the liquidity required to make sure a profitable TGE. DWF Labs is aware of the trade inside out and its work ethic has helped make it one of many fastest-rising web3 VCs.
Facet Door Ventures
Facet Door Ventures is run by a particularly sensible crew that’s excited by moon pictures. It’s not searching for one more L2 or information layer: it needs founders with grander aspirations. Facet Door’s personal founders have a background in fields starting from life sciences to house – no surprise they’re so hungry for moon pictures. Its web3 investments have included Ether.fi and Mysten Labs and it’s continually scouting for brand new alternatives.
Whereas Facet Door Ventures, like several good VC, is extraordinarily selective concerning the firms it backs, when it does commit, it commits totally, furnishing them with all of the instruments they should succeed. Its digital asset fund offers checks of as much as $300K for web3 startups, giving them the gasoline to advance their ideas right into a working onchain actuality.
First Minute Capital
Headquartered in London, First Minute Capital is targeted on the European market the place it’s funded a number of fintech and crypto startups. Based by serial entrepreneurs, it’s searching for founders who share the identical mindset, ambition, and imaginative and prescient. Or as VCs are apt to place it, they put money into individuals. Based by Spencer Crawley and Brent Hoberman in 2017, First Minute is “sector-agnostic” so doesn’t simply restrict itself to web3.
Firms to whom it provides the thumbs up can anticipate seed or pre-seed funding starting from £250K to £3M. First Minute Capital loves a superb founder story, the kind pushed by a person or crew impressed to create a product that solves a ache level they’ve first-hand data of. For founders with the ambition to match their grand imaginative and prescient, First Minute is the VC to strategy.
Lunar Capital
A part of ecosystem progress agency Lunar Technique, Lunar Capital is a Lisbon, Portugal-based incubator and accelerator. It’s an investor whose star may be very a lot within the ascendancy, having simply wrapped up a whirlwind H1 2024 that’s seen it writing checks, co-hosting EthCC, elevating over $4M and accelerating its mandate to assist the startups which are intent on reworking web3 over a very long time horizon.
Lunar Capital makes a speciality of seed spherical and Sequence A/B funding, however its companies don’t simply finish there. As soon as tasks attain the general public funding stage, sometimes within the type of a TGE, Lunar will get hands-on, aiding with all the things from advertising to post-IDO technique. It additionally works intently with KOLs to assist tasks appeal to the influencers who can broadcast their message to the lots.
1confirmation
Based by Nick Tomaino (ex-Coinbase), 1confirmation is an early stage enterprise fund investing within the decentralized internet. It’s notably targeted on Ethereum-native startups that align with its philosophy and which are working to make the EVM ecosystem extra accessible to builders and end-users. Its portfolio contains OpenSea, Polymarket, and Maker.
1confirmation is extremely energetic on Twitter, the place it makes use of its model to assist its portfolio firms and evangelize the newest blockchain breakthroughs which are unlocking new use circumstances and onboarding new customers at scale. 1confirmation can also be closely invested within the macro panorama, with its common newsletters to LPs offering evaluation of the market outlook and making multi-year projections about the place the trade is headed subsequent.
CoinFund
CoinFund is a Berlin-based web3 VC that prides itself on figuring out rising traits and new metas earlier than the remainder of the trade has caught on. Based in 2015, it now boasts over 100 portfolio firms together with the likes of Neutron, LI.Fi, and Gensyn. An skilled founder crew, led by Jake Brukhman, has a collective background in investing, engineering, pc science, regulation, and emergent applied sciences.
One of many smartest groups working out of Europe, CoinFund additionally offers market insights and analysis into web3 sectors starting from DeFi to DePIN. Its founders are adept at becoming a member of the dots to determine traits that can form the way forward for web3. These expertise feed into its funding technique, equipping CoinFund to determine the startups which are likeliest to succeed inside their respective web3 verticals.
KR1
Based mostly in London and based in 2016, KR1 invests in main gamers inside particular web3 sectors. Whereas a whole lot of its funding is directed in direction of digital property, it’s additionally looking out for startups which are doing one thing completely different and whose tech has a powerful defensive moat. This yr, it’s supported Mode Community, Avail, and Tanssi, whereas former investments embody StarkNet pockets Argent and Superchain.
The KR1 crew is searching for true entrepreneurs who will stick at it by good occasions and lean, and who possess the qualities to show an thought right into a multi-billion greenback firm. It’s notably excited by decentralized networks and protocols that provide one thing completely different to what’s gone earlier than. Whereas selective concerning the startups it funds, when it does write a examine, it follows up with ongoing assist and mentoring.
First Spherical Capital
As its title suggests, First Spherical Capital is searching for early stage startups which are intent on altering the world for the higher. It has a broad remit spanning enterprise, healthcare, fintech, and crypto. Whereas already a significant participant in enterprise capital, First Spherical has a decrease profile inside web3 – however that’s beginning to change.
First Spherical may not make investments steadily in web3, however when it does, it tends to be on the cash. It’s backed startups corresponding to web3 social platform Farcaster, crypto financial institution Abra, and Dynamic pockets. Among the best issues about First Spherical Capital is that it’s nice at speaking what it appears to be like for in startups and offering instructional content material to assist founders navigate the darkish artwork of fundraising. Even if you happen to’re not planning on sending First Spherical your deck, they’re a terrific useful resource for attending to grips with what VCs are after.
Outlier Ventures
Outlier Ventures is a VC that has many aptitudes and pursuits. Regardless of having been based a decade in the past, the London-based agency has saved a comparatively low profile for many of its lifespan. However to those that know, Outlier is among the greatest within the biz. Crypto startups which are intent on constructing merchandise that reinforce the core ideas of blockchain – decentralization, open entry, safety – know to make Outlier Ventures prime of their pitch record.
As a web3 incubator, Outlier doesn’t simply fund startups: its crew likes to roll up their sleeves and get their palms soiled, doing the work of supporting DAOs, mentoring tasks, and serving to crypto firms obtain fast progress whereas retaining true to their ideas. If you companion with Outlier Ventures, you acquire a buddy for all times that can assist your startup by bull markets and bear. That’s the mark of a superb VC.
