Web3 Deals to Watch
Sourcery Collab w/ Kirsten Stainer
(This piece is in collaboration with Sourcery by Molly O'Shea with deals sourced from the Sourcery platform.)
A new era of decentralized computing, Web3 (also known as Web 3.0), is here. It has begun to touch every major industry as we know it and with only further impact to come from the latest evolution of the internet, new use cases of Web3 integration are being explored — and quickly.
It is no longer specific to unique ownership of an NFT art asset. Web3 applies to the universes of royalties, gaming, a new kind of social interaction, and smart contract visualization, among other iterations. The volume of community members in the Web3 universe currently stands at 25 million and is only poised to increase.
It wouldn’t be right to dive into a recap of the biggest deals in Web3 without going into predictions for 2022.
I’m optimistic that millennial and Gen Z entrepreneurs will be the key segment to drive Web3 innovation forward, considering the generation’s acute awareness toward climate and sustainability, social proof, social impact, and democratized marketplaces, all major categories for this year and beyond.
User ownership and reputation are at the core of the Web3 new world order. Companies that are growing their Web3 acumen are showcasing that community and peer-to-peer software are driving profitability.
As world participation and curiosity grew exponentially during the phenomenal popularity of Bitcoin and the world of altcoins, a similar impact by Web3 will manifest itself in a similar way by creating new business categories, crossing over to spaces initially deemed impossible, and proving that Web3 will become a modern necessity rather than a fleeting novelty. Individuals and businesses alike will be fostering new and meaningful relationships with their end-users, fostering an incredibly exciting market for the creator economy.
I’ll curb my excitement and get into the notable Web3 deals of 2021, divided into two categories: early-stage funding rounds and late-stage, high growth funding rounds.
Early-stage companies to highlight:
Danvas is an NFT art display technology company that brings digital art into the real world through a museum-quality display.
Danvas raised $7 million in seed funding led by VaynerX, Greycroft, Lerer Hippeau, UTA Ventures, and Waverley, among others.
A play-to-earn gaming platform that connects gamers, games, and guilds worldwide.
From a single interface, Rainmaker helps users track rankings, skill levels, among other metrics in the world of gaming.
Rainmaker raised $6.5 million in seed funding from CoinFund, Polygon Studios, Alameda Research, Republic Realm, Skyvision Capital, Animoca Brands, and Merit Circle.
BBS Network is a decentralized Web3 public network of user-run online message boards.
The company has raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by Binance Labs.
Algofi is a decentralized finance lending market and stablecoin protocol.
The platform has raised $2.8 million in a recent seed round led by Union Square Ventures, Arrington Capital, and Pillar VC, among others.
Structure is a globally distributed crypto and decentralized finance investment startup.
The company has raised $2 million in seed funding led by Polychain Capital and joined by Bixin Ventures and Ascensive Assets.
The Thirdweb software simplifies the process of building a Web3 project, may it be an app or an NFT.
With this technology, brands, creators, and developers can access Web3 integration without having to hire a new team or learn a new coding language.
Thirdweb has raised a $5 million seed round led by Mark Cuban, Gary Vaynerchuk, Adam Foroughi, and Ryan Hoover.
The Web3 community platform, Islands, onboards new users into the world of crypto assets and NFTs. Features of the site include digital wallet display, peer-to-peer communication, and a space to trade digital assets.
Islands officially launched last November and has raised $3.5 million in a recent seed round led by Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital fund, Seven Seven Six.
Jadu is a 3D NFT company built on the Ethereum network.
Jadu raised $7 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst and was joined by investors including Metapurse, LionTree, Coinbase Ventures, The VR Fund, and PKO Investments & Progression Fund.
Mnemonic is an NFT application-building platform that helps companies navigate and track the NFT marketplace, helping them build their own applications using its API.
Mnemonic has raised $4 million in a seed round led by Kenetic and was joined by investors including Monochrome Capital, Sound Ventures, and Tribe Capital.
Heir is a personalized community Web3 platform allowing athletes to connect with their most loyal fans.
Heir has raised $10 million in a recent seed round led by Thrive Capital and was joined by Solana Ventures, Alexis Ohanian, among others.
Yup is a social network that rewards tastemakers and curators who produce high-quality, engaging material across Mirror, OpenSea, and Twitter, among others. They hold a particularly strong relationship with the NFT creator community.
The company raised $3.5 million in an October seed round led by Distributed Global, and LD Capital, among others.
GigLabs is a blockchain-focused company that brings IP to life by way of NFTs, allowing the company to create a sustainable infrastructure for creators, brands, and collectors alike.
GigLabs raised $4.5 million in their October seed round led by Dapper Labs, and Panoramic Ventures, among others.
Social infrastructure platform, CyberConnect, is a developer of tools for emerging Web3 gaming, metaverse, and social media applications.
CyberConnect raised $10 million in their November seed round co-led by Multicoin Capital and Sky9 Capital.
Thai NFT gaming infrastructure startup, GuildFi, is a solution to discovery and access barriers that players face in order to join pay-to-earn games.
GuildFi has raised $6 million in their recent seed round co-led by DeFiance Capital and Hashed. They are joined by Coinbase Ventures, and Dapper Labs, among others.
Bit.Country, a New Zealand-based startup, allows anyone on the internet to create their own metaverse.
The individualized metaverse platform raised $4 million in seed funding in May, co-led by Animoca Brands and Walsh Wealth Ventures.
Later-stage, high-growth companies to highlight:
In October, FTX raised $420 million in their Series B-1 round, with participation by Tiger Global, Blackrock, Sequoia Capital, Temasek, among others.
Arriving at a whopping $32 billion valuation, the cryptocurrency derivatives exchange is seeking to raise $1.5 billion.
The world’s leading digital marketplace for crypto assets and NFTs raised $100 million in their Series B round led by a16z, bringing OpenSea to a $1.5 billion valuation.
Two and a half years since MoonPay’s inception and in a historic funding round for the crypto payment infrastructure platform, the company raised $555 million in their Series A round led by Tiger Global and Coatue, and joined by Blossom Capital, Thrive Capital, and NEA.
This is the largest Series A on record for a bootstrapped crypto company.
Web3 development SaaS company, Alchemy, raised $250 million in their October Series C funding round which was led by a16z. This brings their valuation to $3.5 billion.
One of the global leaders in blockchain infrastructure, Figment announced a $110 million Series C round, bringing the company to a $1.4 billion valuation.
The recent funding was led by Thoma Bravo, with the participation of Mirae Asset, Binance Labs, among others.
Unsure of the difference between Web1, Web2, and Web3?
Fear not — here’s an easily digestible diagram below that nicely differentiates each iteration of the web.
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