Binance raises $500M fund to invest in Web3, blockchain

ANKARA

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange platform, announced Wednesday that its venture capital firm Binance Labs has raised $500 million for a fund that will invest in Web3 and blockchain technologies.

The fund includes institutional investors such as DST Global Partners, a London-based global internet investment firm, and US-based venture capital and private equity investor Breyer Capital.

Other investors in the fund include private equity funds, family offices and corporations, which have joined as limited partners, Binance said in a blog post.

The new fund will invest in projects that can expand cryptocurrency use cases and drive the adoption of Web 3 and blockchain technologies, and it will invest in three different stages -- incubation, early-stage venture and late-stage growth, it added.

"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," Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao said in the post.

"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," he added.

Web3 is a recent movement in technology that aims to redefine or create a new form of the internet by using blockchain technology and incorporating decentralization and token-based economics.