Early-stage venture capital Shima Capital will launch Shima Capital Fund I, the first fund to support emerging digital assets for web3 and crypto startups.
The latest fund will deploy $500,000 to $2 million in pre-seed funding to potential companies for recruiting and retaining talent, building communities, marketing, and conducting technology research and development.
The company points to startups in the fields of decentralized identity, decentralized social media, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), blockchain gaming, Metaverse and decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized infrastructure, and next-generation blockchain technologies (e.g. Layer 1/2, proof of zero knowledge as the target groups.
This round of funding has raised $200 million from famous investors, including Dragonfly Capital, Bill Ackman, Animoca, OKex, Mirana Ventures, Republic, and Andrew Yang.
Company founder Yida Gao said, “As crypto-focused VC’s continue to raise massive billion dollar plus funds, we identified a pocket of opportunity to support Web3 founders with their first institutional checks that are considered too small for other Tier 1 investors. At Shima, we take the opposite approach and Spend the necessary resources to provide our portfolio companies with surgical support typically found only with larger funds.”
The announcement comes amid a severe downturn in the industry amid the crypto winter. The current market turmoil has prompted several companies to slash their valuations, declare bankruptcy and even close stores.
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Source: https://blockchain.news/news/vc-shima-capital-to-launch-200m-shima-capital-fund-i-for-web-3-industry