With the rise in the cryptocurrency market, significant investment programs continue to emerge. Accordingly, Binance Labs, the venture capital and investment arm of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance with a market value of 10 billion dollars, has invested in seven startups for its 6th investment season program. The public announcement did not disclose the amount of investment made in the startups.
Notable Move by Binance Labs
On March 8th, Binance Labs announced that the seven startups include synthetic dollar protocol developer Ethena Labs, zkSync-based decentralized futures exchange Derivio, a purpose-driven DeFi protocol called Shogun aiming to maximize extractable value for investors, decentralized exchange trading platform UXUY, blockchain strategy game developer Cellula, AI-powered Web3 user-generated content platform NFPrompt, and AI-powered Web3 knowledge sharing platform QnA3.
Thus, the 6th season program that started last December has come to an end. The investment program initially included twelve startups, but ultimately, investments were made in seven. A Binance Labs spokesperson stated that the firm does not invest in all startups, the investment program is designed to support founders, and investments are not guaranteed.
For example, the 5th season of Binance Labs’ investment program last year made investments in five out of the initially selected twelve startups, including zkPass, Mind Network, and DappOS.
Binance Labs Continues Its Investment Efforts
Binance Labs is set to launch its 7th season program soon. Binance Labs is currently looking for visionary founders of early-stage projects to participate in the program and has announced that the application process is continuously open. Binance Labs’ investment programs attract a significant number of project applications.
Binance Labs reported that the 6th season program received hundreds of applications and ultimately selected 12 startups, or approximately 3% of the applicants. Recently, Binance Labs has increased its investment activities, supporting Bitcoin stake protocol Babylon and Ethereum restaking protocols Renzo and Puffer Finance this year. Last year, Binance Labs closed a 500 million dollar fund, accepting its first external capital, but the firm has begun returning unused capital to limited partners.
