Polygon and Cere Network founders launch $50 million web3 fund
Quick Take
- Founded by Polygon’s Sandeep Nailwal and Cere Network’s Kenzi Wang, Symbolic Capital will look to target web3 startups located in emerging markets.
- The fund is backed by crypto exchanges, protocols, auditing firms, and traditional LPs such as family offices and institutions. It will also use its own data platform to support its portfolio companies and guide its upcoming investments.
Symbolic Capital, a venture capital firm launched in May by Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal and Cere Network founder Kenzi Wang, has raised a $50 million VC fund.
The fund will target "pioneering web3 applications" and its limited partners — the backers of funds — include crypto protocols, exchanges, auditing firms, and crypto vendors, and traditional LPs such as family offices and institutions, according to an announcement Thursday.
“We’re specifically focused on supporting founders from emerging markets that have often been passed over by traditional VC. Starting Polygon in India, we struggled to get connected to VCs that believed in our vision and abilities as founders," said Nailwal in a statement. "Our mission with Symbolic is to empower the next generation of emerging founders who have historically been overlooked by the VC industry.”
It says that it will also aim to differentiate itself by utilizing a data platform to support its portfolio companies and guide its upcoming investments. The data engine will track metrics such as GitHub contributions, social media traction and token performance, and recruiting information such as employee migration trends and job histories.
“Our data platform will provide a leg up on the rest of the market,” claimed Nailwal.
Launched only three months ago, the firm has already invested in the gaming company Blinkmoon, play-to-earn chase game Planet Mojo and crypto asset management company Arcana. However, this announcement marks its first formalized fund launch.
While venture capital investment in crypto startups declined in the second quarter of this year by 22% according to The Block Research, Symbolic Capital's fund launch follows some of the sector's biggest players' continued push to raise more capital.
Earlier this month, web3 investment firm CoinFund launched a $300 million fund. This year has also seen Lightspeed Ventures raise over $7 billion along with launching a crypto-native fund and a16z announce a $4.5 billion fund for crypto and blockchain startups amid a tough market for crypto startups looking to raise cash.
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