The amount and frequency of investments in Web3 gaming have been rising rapidly in recent times. Amid a resurgence of interest in cryptocurrency efforts, some Web3 firms are looking to gain access to accelerator programmes.
In exchange for early ownership, accelerator programmes provide coaching and support to founders. San Francisco-based Y Combinator is well-known, having graduated several cryptocurrency companies like Coinbase and OpenSea.
Leading tech VC fund a16z unveiled this week the participants in its spring 2024 crypto startup accelerator. The a16z crypto team will lead a ten-week mentorship programme in London for the 25 shortlisted firms.
Operating partner Jason Rosenthal provided a list of initiatives including zero-knowledge passport authentication, decentralised food delivery, and Farcaster infrastructure. A16z offers $500K to startups in its accelerator programme in exchange for 7% equity. Phantom and Flashbots are two examples of alumni.
The company behind Avalanche, a layer-1 blockchain, unveiled the first round of businesses in its exclusive accelerator, Codebase, earlier this week. Colony Lab, a decentralised venture capital fund that focuses on AVAX, will invest $500,000 to $1 million each startup in this accelerator, which is only reserved for startups working on Avalanche.
Web3 gaming infrastructure provider Helika disclosed that it has partnered with venture capital companies Pantera, Spartan Capital, Sfermion, and others to provide up to $50 million to entrepreneurs who take part in its recently launched gaming accelerator.
The crypto-native venture firm 1kx revealed an oversubscribed $75 million financing amid a renaissance of venture capital activity in the space, and Hack VC concluded a $150 million round last month. Strong crypto accelerators are essential for building founder communities in the network-centric Web3 space, according to Sam Lehman, principle at Symbolic Capital.
Lehman drew attention to the emergence of new cryptocurrency accelerators, which are being driven by funds looking to expand rapidly and build their brand. But he cautioned about possible exploitative behaviour on the part of certain accelerators. Lehman stated via SMS,
“Some accelerators are entering companies at an extremely large scale right away by taking advantage of the early stage at which they invest along with their suggested ‘value-add.'” Founders ought to carefully consider if the conditions they agree to with an accelerator are worth the benefits they would gain in exchange. Recently, there has been a consistent rise in the volume and frequency of investments made in Web3 gaming. One such example is 0G Labs, which on March 25 raised $35 million in pre-seed fundraising. More than 40 crypto-native organisations, including Blockchain Builders Fund and Hack VC, participated in the round.