$500M Binance Labs Investment Fund to Boost Blockchain, Web3

Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation arm of Binance, announces the closing of a new $500 million investment fund. The 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.

The new fund will invest in projects that can extend the use cases of cryptocurrencies and drive the adoption of Web3 and blockchain technologies.

Changpeng Zhao ‘CZ’, Founder and CEO of Binance, said: “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.”

Since 2018, Binance Labs has invested in and incubated more than 100 projects from over 25 countries. Its portfolio includes industry-leading projects such as 1inch, Audius, Axie Infinity, Dune Analytics, Elrond, Injective, Polygon, Optimism, The Sandbox, and STEPN.

Ken Li, Binance Labs’ executive director of investments and M&A told CNBC that the plunge of Bitcoin doesn’t have a current impact in early-stage private markets. the fund will invest in tokens as well as shares. “We are looking for projects with the potential to drive the growth of the Web3 ecosystem,” Li said

Binance Labs makes investments across three different stages: incubation, early-stage venture, and late-stage growth. The $500 million investment fund announced is expected to be allocated to projects spanning all three stages.