Polygon Founder Launches Investment Firm for Web3 Projects
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The Polygon network has been one of this year’s most exciting cryptocurrency projects. After expanding beyond traditional transaction processing and expanding at an incredible rate, its developers are now seeking to follow the same path as several other well-established blockchains.
A Creator Fund Built by Creators
Earlier this week, Symbolic Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm for the crypto space, announced that it had launched its inaugural investment fund, hoping to invest $50 million in startups across several growing parts of the crypto market and Web3.
In a tweet, the VC firm confirmed that it had earmarked $50 million to fund projects in blockchain gaming, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and other fledgling spaces. The company explained that the move is especially significant as a group of Web3 developers founded it. By banding together, Symbolic’s founders are looking to find other developers who share their vision and bankroll their projects.
Launched in May 2022, Symbolic is the brainchild of Sandeep Naiwal – the founder of the Polygon network. Naiwal and Kenzi Wang, the founder of Cere Network, a decentralised cloud storage and data service provider built on the Polkadot blockchain, appear to be the company’s leading partners. Speaking on the rationale for establishing a Web3-focused VC fund, Naiwal explained that the current crypto landscape remains beset by an underrepresentation of Web3-native founders.
“When you look at the crypto VC landscape, it’s rare to find firms that were started by web3 founders. We built blockchain companies from the ground up and are intimately familiar with the unique challenges that these projects face” – @sandeepnailwal.
— Symbolic Capital (@symbolicvc) August 25, 2022
Considering that these founders built blockchains and protocols that are now powering the decentralised internet, Naiwal believes that they understand the challenges of the industry firsthand. They would like to meet with other founders who share the vision for Web3 and are focused on solving many of these problems. Thus, the need to establish an investment focused on the crypto space.
Naiwal also pointed out that Symbolic Capital will focus more on startups in emerging markets. Drawing from his experience creating Polygon in India, Naiwal believes that Symbolic could be a bridge between these emerging market-based startups and the funding and resources they need to scale. Already, the VC firm has invested in three gaming startups – BlinkMoon, Planet Mojo, and Community Gaming.
Some of our initial investments include @WeArePlanetMojo, @blinkmoonGames, and @CommunityGaming. Across the portfolio, we’ve invested alongside incredible partners like @Sequoia, @a16z, @Galaxyhq, @dragonfly_xyz, and @multicoincap.
— Symbolic Capital (@symbolicvc) August 25, 2022
While it failed to disclose the size of these investments, the company also claims to have partnerships with several of Silicon valley’s leading VC giants – including Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz.
Polygon’s Very Good Year
The launch of Symbolic is yet another milestone for Naiwal, whose company has been one of the most impressive in the market. Despite the downturn in crypto prices, the Polygon network has grown at an impressive pace, strengthening its ties within and outside the crypto market.
Earlier this month, the Polygon team shared figures showing the network’s state. They confirmed that the network’s number of decentralised applications (dApps) had hit 37,000 – a 400% increase since the start of the calendar year. While the numbers capture the cumulative apps available on Polygon’s testnet and mainnet, this is an incredible feat nonetheless.
Polygon also noted that its monthly active users hit 11,800 by July. The number marked a 47.5% increase from March. 74% of dApps on the platform are integrated on Polygon exclusively, while 26% used Polygon’s native Ethereum Virtual Engine (EVM) to deploy on both Polygon and Ethereum.
This is in addition to Polyon’s selection as part of Disney’s Accelerator Program for 2022. The blockchain network is expected to help the Walt Disney Company to integrate NFTs, collectibles, and other Web3 components into its entertainment offering, marking one of the biggest crossovers between crypto and Hollywood.
In the coming weeks, all eyes might be on Ethereum’s upgrade, but market participants believe that Polygon is in its strongest position ever.
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