Binance Labs 2023 Investment Incubation Review

Source: Binance Labs Translation: Shan Oppa, Golden Finance

Binance Labs is the venture capital and incubation arm of Binance. Its goal is to find and support entrepreneurs with innovative ideas who are building projects that will shape the future of the Web3 industry. Binance Labs’ investments are not limited to specific chains or stages of development, but instead focus on supporting the success of early-stage projects through its incubation program.

Since 2018, Binance Labs’ portfolio covers 250 projects in 25 countries, with a 14x return on investment. Binance Labs’ investment in Web3 has supported high-profile companies such as Optimism, LayerZero, Celestia, Aptos, Mysten Labs, and Trust Wallet.

More than 50 portfolio companies are projects incubated by Binance Labs, including Dune Analytics, Injective Labs, Polygon, and SafePal.

Facing great changes, embracing resilience

Despite the sharp decline in the crypto market in 2023, Binance Labs Always maintain firm commitment, continue to invest in projects with transformative potential and solutions, and have completed more than 25 investments in the Web3 field. According to statistics, crypto venture capital funding faced strong headwinds in the third quarter of 2023, with both total market capitalization and deal count down 36% compared to the previous year. However, according to the Messari report, Binance Labs remained the most active venture capital institution in the second and third quarters of 2023, especially focusing on the DeFi and Web3 gaming fields.

Binance Labs’ investment philosophy has always been to support projects that build sustainable ecosystems, promote scalability, and explore ways to promote large-scale adoption of blockchain applications. required application layer. Investments in 2023 will mainly focus on the following areas:

• Fundamentals powered by zero-knowledge proof technology Facilities and Tools

• Driving widespread adoption of Web3 games

• Leading the development of Web3 and continuously innovating DeFi technology

Investment Highlights

Infrastructure:

• Invest $10 million in Neutron:  The first cross-chain smart contract platform based on replication security mechanism on Cosmos.

• Invest in AltLayer through the MVB 6 plan: A dedicated execution layer for highly scalable applications, with security derived from the underlying L1/L2 .

DeFi:

• Invest in Radiant Capital: Loan lending agreement to bridge the fragmentation of DeFi liquidity.

• Invest $5 million in Curve DAO Token (CRV): Support Curve and its deployment on BNB Chain.

• Invest $10 million in Helio Protocol: Multi-chain StaaS and LS decentralized stablecoin lending protocol on BNB Chain .

Web3 games:

• Invest $15 million in Xterio: A Web3 gaming platform and publisher led by gaming industry veterans, bridging free-to-play and on-chain gaming.

• Providing seed round financing for GOMBLE: a Korean blockchain casual game developer and an affiliate of game publisher 111Percent.

• Invest in Sleepless AI through the MVB 6 plan: A blockchain virtual companion game based on AI and LLMs, created using AIGC technology Rich plot-oriented gameplay and character interactions.

Tools:

• Made an early investment in Delphinus Lab: the infrastructure provider implementing the first known open source zkWASM virtual machine.

• Invest in Arkham Token (ARKM): The native token that supports Arkham's intelligence economy "Intel-to-Earn".

Incubation plan

In 2023, more than 2,000 people worldwide Startups signed up for Binance Labs’ six incubation programs, covering two quarters. **Binance Labs offers a bi-annual incubation program four times a year, providing early-stage founder builders with customized courses and one-on-one mentoring from the Binance Labs investment team. These programs integrate resources and expertise from across the Binance ecosystem to help projects achieve product-market fit.

Two core incubation plans:

• Binance Labs Incubation Program: This program is not limited to a specific chain, focusing on the growth of Web3 startups, helping founders achieve long-term success in a dynamic industry environment.

• Most Value Builder (MVB) Accelerator Program: This program focuses on BNB Chain, cooperates with BNB Chain, and supports Excellent builders and startups making outstanding progress within the BNB Chain ecosystem.

Subdivision track:

• Startup Track: Focused on accelerating early-stage crypto projects

• Founders Track: Helping Build founders into successful founders

2023 Highlights:

• Introducing founder meetups to connect program alumni, portfolio founders and new applicants.

• Hold the first incubation project showcase at Binance Blockchain Week in 2023 to help projects reach investors.

• MVB plans to establish a new "Founders Track" to work with CMC Labs to support 100 innovative projects that solve real-world problems.

• In 2023, Binance Labs provided funding for 9 outstanding projects and incubated and accelerated 36 projects.