The Venom Foundation, an Abu Dhabi-based blockchain platform, and investment manager Iceberg Capital have unveiled a $1 billion venture fund to invest in web3 and blockchain projects.
The Venom Ventures Fund (VVF) plans to invest in pre-seed to Series A funding rounds with projects focused on decentralised finance (DeFi), payments, asset management, and blockchain gaming.
Venom Foundation is a layer-1 blockchain solution with a focus on “serving the needs of the Middle East, North Africa, and other emerging economies around the world”.
Iceberg Capital is an Abu Dhabi Global Market investment management firm which maintains a network of incubation programmes across its portfolio of investment solutions.
Iceberg plans to support companies and projects around the globe through its management of the fund. Investment will be led Peter Knez, former CIO of BlackRock, and Mustafa Kheriba, a board member for numerous family offices and investors in the Middle East and North Africa.
The fund will leverage Venom’s scalable, proof-of-stake blockchain platform to attract tech firms and startups looking to take advantage of an enterprise-driven approach to web3.
Iceberg Capital will manage the fund, investing in projects and companies through pre-seed and Series A funding rounds. The partnership aims to accelerate businesses developing blockchain, DeFi and Web3 products and services.
The capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi has been pushing ahead with regulatory guidelines for the blockchain and crypto industries in recent months.
In September 2022, the country’s financial regulator published its pro-market approach to digital assets.
With more than 1,500 web3 companies based in the UAE, Abu Dhabi is quickly becoming a hub for the industry in the Middle East.
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