Summary of projects funded by Binance Labs in 2023
The Binance exchange closed out 2023 recording many outstanding results in investment activities with the Binance Labs fund despite challenging market conditions.
Despite challenging market conditions when institutional investors (VC) cash flows pouring into cryptocurrencies in 2023 decreased by 36% compared to 2022 according to Messari report, Binance venture capital and incubation fund Labs of the world's largest crypto exchange Binance still had a busy and productive year with more than 20 projects funded.
In the summary of 2023 activities, Binance Labs has invested in more than 25 projects overall across the Web3 market in many DeFi pieces, infrastructure, and development tools based on Zero-technology. Knowledge Proof and Web3 Gaming/ SocialFi, including:
Bracket Labs - Project to build on-chain leveraged structured products with a simple interface.
Maverick Protocol - AMM DEX DeFi protocol that uses the Dynamic Distribution AMM mechanism.
Kinza Finance - Lending platform built on BNB Chain using Solidly's ve(3,3) model.
KiloEx - Derivatives DEX built on the BNB Chain ecosystem, was among the Top MVB VI projects in 2023 invested by Binance Labs.
Pendle - Protocol that optimizes yield across various DeFi protocols.
Initia - Layer-1 blockchain project on the Cosmos network is designed according to the highly connected Rollup model.
CyberConnect - SocialFi Web3 project.
Open Campus - Web3 and SocialFi educational platform that allows the community to create educational content and profit from the content they have created was invested with 3.15 million USD.
Kryptoskatt - The project aims to simplify Web3 finance for global users, with a comprehensive suite of solutions from accounting, portfolio management to tax reporting.
Mind Network - Data storage engine aimed at decentralized privacy protection, pay-for-performance data storage and computing.
DappOS - Focuses on building an operating protocol to create solutions that improve the usability and accessibility of Web3 applications.
zkPass - Based on zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) technology aims to provide a secure identity verification and privacy protection solution for Web3 applications.
In particular, Binance Labs lists 10 projects that stand out because of their different operating models:
Investing 10 million USD in Helio Protocol - Open source liquidity protocol where users can lend and earn profits on stablecoin HAY.
10 million USD investment in Radiant Capital - Cross-chain lending protocol built on LayerZero's infrastructure.
5 million USD in Curve Finance's CRV token supports Curve and deploys it to BNB Chain.
Delphinus Lab - Project that incorporates zero-knowledge (zk) technology into the first fully deployed WebAssembly (WASM) environment for developers.
Neutron - Smart contract platform on the Cosmos blockchain.
AltLayer - Infrastructure project, providing rollup solutions for projects through Rollup-as-a-Service (RaaS).
Investing in Seed round funding for Gomble - a Korean blockchain-based casual game developer and a subsidiary of gaming publisher 111Percent.
SleeplessAI - Web3 gaming platform uses AIGC (AI Genetated Content) and LLM (Large Language Model) to create diverse gameplay and allow players to interact with virtual characters in the game as realistically as possible they are interacting with real people.
Xterio - Game project and game platform with an investment of 15 million USD invested on July 12, 2023.
Arkham Intelligence - Platform providing on-chain data that supports users in tracking entities such as individuals, investment funds, and exchanges.
Not only is it one of the prominent VCs in investment activities, Binance Labs has also supported a series of startup projects to success through incubation programs (Incubation Program) and acceleration programs (MVB Accelerator Program), lays the foundation for a sustainable Web3 ecosystem and promotes scalability across blockchain applications.
9 outstanding projects participating in Binance Labs Incubation Program season 5 and MVB Program season 6: AltLayer, Bracket Labs, DappOS, KiloEx, Kinza Finance, Kryptoskatt, Mind Network, SleeplessAI and zkPass. These projects have received advice, resources, and support from Binance Labs and the fund's network of partners and experts.
Previously, there were more than 50 companies in the investment portfolio that successfully "graduated" from Binance Labs' incubation program, including:
Dune Analytics - Platform for users to query and visualize public blockchain data.
Injective Protocol - Layer 2 decentralized exchange protocol supporting unlimited markets, fast transactions, and zero gas fees has been launched on Binance Launchpad.
Polygon - Layer 2 solution was developed to solve the problems that the Ethereum network is facing. Polygon has become one of the most popular platforms for Web3 applications, with over 3,000 dapps, 200 million transactions and 7 million users as of December 2023.
SafePal - Crypto Asset Management and Storage Wallet Launched on Binance Launchpad in 2021.
The year 2023 also marks a milestone in the assets of Binance Labs' incubation fund increasing from 7.5 billion USD to 9 billion USD, and the assets of Binance founder Mr. Changpeng Zhao (CZ) as of the end of 2023. reached 36.2 billion USD, an increase of 25 billion USD compared to 2022.
