Singapore venture firm launches $100M Web3 and metaverse fund

The startup fund, which is backed by Babel Finance and Huobi Ventures, will back emerging projects that are building for the Web3 and metaverse economies.

Crypto-focused venture firm NGC Ventures has launched a new ecosystem fund dedicated to Web3 projects, underscoring heightened investor demand for startups that are contributing to the development of a decentralized internet. 

NGC Metaverse Ventures, the company’s third blockchain fund, raised $100 million from investors that included Babel Finance, Huobi Ventures, Nexo Ventures, Altonomy and GBIC. The fund will allocate capital towards “high-potential projects” in the Web3 economy, according to Roger Lim, NGC Ventures’ general partner.

The Web3 fund has already invested in three startups, NGC disclosed on Wednesday.

Based in Singapore, NGC Ventures was founded in 2017 as a blockchain and fintech-focused venture firm. It was an early investor in Solana (SOL), Algorand (ALGO) and Oasis (ROSE), among others.

Web3 and metaverse projects have attracted significant interest from the VC community. Since mid-April, venture firms have pledged nearly $3 billion to invest in such projects. Most notably, Silicon Valley VC Andreessen Horowitz launched a $600 million fund dedicated to gaming startups within the Web3 economy.

Related: VC Roundup: Gaming, crypto fintech and blockchain infrastructure dominate venture capital rounds

Google is looking for Web3 talent.

The Google Cloud division is looking for a ‘Head of Product Marketing’ who will be responsible for raising awareness about Google Cloud’s Web3 initiatives in addition to eventually building customer demand. https://t.co/fdKd31Asue

— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 25, 2022

The Web3 economy has been a key talking point at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting, which is underway in Davos, Switzerland this week. In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Polkadot (DOT) founder Gavin Wood said the growth of Web3 has been “encouraging because it means that people are seeing this underlying technology feed into different applications” that go beyond just crypto.

2022 is shaping up to be another record-breaking year for crypto VC. In the first quarter alone, venture firms allocated $14.6 billion, or 48% of all the capital invested in 2021, toward crypto and blockchain startups, according to Cointelegraph Research.