Multicoin Capital launches its new $430 million venture fund

Multicoin Capital, the crypto investment firm known for its backing of multiple Web3 and DeFi projects, announced its latest fund, Venture Fund III, with commitments of up to $430 million. The fund will be used for investments in projects based on a “proof of physical work” model, permissionless data aggregation, and offering creator monetization.

Multicoin said in an announcement it plans to use the fund for investments in projects that are “poised to reshape massive consumer-facing markets.”

In 2021, Multicoin closed its second $100 million venture fund with a major focus on Web3 projects building on the Solana blockchain.

Now the firm outlined several other areas it says it is most excited about, including projects that fit into its “proof of physical work” investment thesis. According to an announcement, projects that fall into that category can be described as the ones that “incentivize people to do verifiable work that builds real-world infrastructure.”

Multicoin pointed to the two most notable “proof of physical work” projects it already has in its portfolio – decentralized wireless network Helium and Hivemapper, a Solana-based decentralized digital mapping network – adding that it is “increasingly interested in this space” and is looking for projects capable of “disrupting incumbent industries with this model.”

This April, Hivemapper, which incentivizes users to drive around and record their surroundings via dashboard-mounted cameras to create navigation maps, raised an $18 million Series A round led by Multicoin.

Another area Multicoin is paying enhanced attention to are the so-called DataDAOs – decentralized entities, which are based on “a spiritually similar idea to Proof of Physical Work” but focus primarily on data rather than physical infrastructure.

The investment firm argues that there’s a lot of fragmented data that “would be more valuable than the sum of the parts” if aggregated; however, collecting that data together is impossible “because it’s either too sensitive or personal, or because the aggregators are not subject to governance by users.”

Multicoin believes that crypto can help to solve these issues, as it allows to create both stronger incentives for users to contribute data and permissionless data intermediaries, as well as by transferring the governance authority “from the hands of a few to a community of many.”

Among other domains Multicoin is looking to use the fresh funds, there are projects offering creator monetization through online platforms that use crypto for payments, DeFi apps, NFTs, and social tokens, as well as building crypto-native consumer products.

Also, the firm added that as one of the most active investors in core Web3 infrastructure since 2018, it also plans to continue backing this area and will soon reveal several new projects in its portfolio.

Image Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/05/04/multicoin-capital-debuts-100-million-venture-fund-to-bet-on-crypto-startups-and-tokens/