On June 1, Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, officially announced the launch of a new $500 million investment fund on Twitter. With the new investment fund, the exchange plans to invest in blockchain, web3, and “value-building technologies.”
Binance Labs, the exchange’s venture capital arm, raised the funds. The fund’s major supporters, DST Global Partners, Breyer Capital, and Whampoa Group, are among the fund’s major supporters, with additional investment companies serving as limited partners.
The fund will make investments in firms at various phases of development, including incubation, early-stage, and late-stage.
Binance is not new to investing in cryptocurrency companies. The Axie Infinity, Polygon, Elrond, The Sandbox, and STEPN are among the key future crypto businesses in which the exchange’s venture capital arm has funded.
Binance’s funding comes at a difficult time for crypto markets, with a May crash sending values to their lowest since early-2021. While markets are already rebounding significantly, additional price strength is yet to be observed.
Still, Binance has lately expanded beyond crypto investments. The exchange invested $500 million in equity in Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter.
Binance isn’t the only company raising capital amid the market drop. Andreessen Horowitz, a crypto venture capital firm, has launched a $4.5 billion fund to capitalise on lower valuations caused by the current crisis.
Dragonfly Capital launched its largest fund to date, valued at $650 million, in late April. This follows on the heels of many other significant firms raising crypto-focused companies earlier this year.
