Participated · Seed · May 2024

Pencils Protocol (formerly PenPad) is a Scroll ecosystem project that operates a Launchpad product for blockchain projects. The team has rebranded from PenPad to Pencils Protocol and plans to broaden its product functionality and service scope. It said it will continue to optimize its existing Launchpad and in May will launch two new main features: staking & liquid staking and liquidity vaults. The company completed a $2.1M seed financing at a $25M valuation. No operating metrics were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Equity · Apr 2024

Plena is a crypto super app centered on a wallet base layer and leveraging account abstraction. The product bundles a suite of crypto tools intended to simplify and strengthen user interactions within the crypto space. Its stated aim is to both streamline and enhance the overall user experience for crypto users. The company completed a $5 million strategic investment. Participating investors included Big Brain Holdings, DeWhale, GBV, WebWise, Galxe, Normie Ventures, and FounderHeads. No operating metrics or additional financial details were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Safe · Apr 2024

Sending Network is a DePIN project building SendingMe, a decentralized application that combines chat, social features, and trading to give users control of their social layer. The platform integrates messaging, social interactions, and transactions in a single dApp. Sending Network completed a $7.5 million financing round structured as a SAFE that closed in October of last year. Investors in the round include Nomad Capital, Symbolic Capital, Web3.com Ventures, Galxe, SWC Global, Balaji Srinivasan and Gabby Dizon. The team plans multiple testnets this year and aims to launch mainnet in Q1 2025, according to co-founder Mason Yang. Sending Labs is building a Web3 communications stack and launched beta versions of two flagship products, SendingNetwork and SendingMe. SendingNetwork is a developer-focused SDK that helps teams build secure, fully decentralized dApps with in-app/cross-app chat, notifications, wallet or Decentralized ID (DID) logins, and NFT/token-based transacting. SendingMe is an encrypted decentralized group chat platform for users, creators, and community managers that supports smart contract-powered payments, P2P swaps, airdrops, gifting, auctions, and token-gated memberships to enable creator monetization. The company centers end-to-end decentralization and user-led data ownership, offering community management and social toolkits that leave users in control of identification, data, and assets. Sending Labs secured $12.5 million in seed funding alongside the beta launch, backed by a syndicate led by Insignia Venture Partners, MindWorks Capital, and Signum Capital with participation from K3 Ventures, Lingfeng Innovation Fund, UpHonest Capital, and Aipollo Investment. Co-founders Joe Yu and Mason Yang previously built Dolphin at MoboTap, growing it to over 200 million users prior to its 2014 acquisition, and are applying that experience to improve Web3 user experience and accessibility.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2023

Fileverse offers a decentralized file management and collaboration service positioning itself as an alternative to centralized providers like Google or Notion. The platform leverages smart contracts and stores encrypted data on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) to avoid reliance on a single server provider. Fileverse also built cryptographic measures to be GDPR-compliant by design. The company emphasizes privacy and aims to bring recent crypto infrastructure and account-abstraction advancements to on-chain communication and collaboration tools. Financially, Fileverse completed a $1.5 million pre-seed raise and previously secured roughly $280,000 in grants and donations from Gitcoin community members, Polygon, ENS, a16z, Filecoin, and Aurora. The investment occurred amid a broader crypto funding slowdown, with venture capital fundraising at a three-year low.

Participated · Seed · Aug 2023

EthStorage is a Layer 2 storage rollup built on top of Ethereum that offers a programmable, dynamic key-value store. It leverages Ethereum data availability improvements, specifically EIP-4844 and Danksharding. The platform periodically submits storage proofs from its Layer 2 network to Ethereum L1 to capitalize on mainnet security while increasing storage capacity at lower cost. EthStorage plans to use the funds to expand operations and accelerate development efforts. The company raised $7M in Seed funding at a $100M valuation and received two grants from the Ethereum Foundation Ecosystem Program. EthStorage was founded last year by Qi Zhou.