Key takeaways:
- Binance Labs has detached its connection to the Binance exchange and is now a stand-alone venture funding arm.
- The division aims to provide resources from the larger Binance ecosystem as well as one-on-one mentoring and investment in early-stage Web3 startups.
Binance Labs has detached its connection to the Binance exchange and is now a stand-alone venture funding arm.
According to a blog post by Binance Labs on March 12, the portfolio of the autonomous venture capital fund has over $10 billion, covering over 250 businesses from over 25 countries, and has an over 14x return on investment rate.
The division aims to provide resources from the larger Binance ecosystem as well as one-on-one mentoring and investment in early-stage Web3 startups.
The separate fund was covertly established early this year by Binance, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. Workers at Binance Labs are under different contracts than those at Binance Exchange.
The independent venture capital fund is focusing on more Web3 projects. Founders must submit an application for funding through Binance Labs Season 7 Incubation by April 15, 2024.
Yi He, co-founder of Binance and CEO of Binance Labs, stated in an announcement that the organization’s goal is to assist promising early-stage founders:
“Our support extends across all chains and ecosystems for projects that are committed to long-term development across various sectors. We look forward to seeing each project’s continued growth and contribution to the Web3 ecosystem.”
With a 3% acceptance rate, hundreds of applications were submitted for Binance Labs’ sixth investment round. By the end of the round, just seven potential projects had been funded.
One of these noteworthy projects was Ethena, a provider of derivative infrastructure, which broke the $6.8 million daily cumulative income mark in the week ending March 8 to become the highest-earning decentralized application (DApp).
On February 19, Ethena Labs released the USDe synthetic dollar on the public mainnet. The Ethereum-based synthetic dollar has a 27.6% annual yield (APY), which alarmed many investors.
The founder of Ethena Labs, Guy Young, has refuted the rumors, stating that the public can independently verify the yield on USDe because it is produced by shorting Ether everlasting future contracts and staking returns.
On its website, Ethena states that it currently provides over 53,000 users with a yield of 60.9% on their USDe synthetic dollar. The project has a value locked at above $1.1 billion.
