• Talus Network

  Participated · Equity · Nov 2024

  Talus Network operates a new Layer-1 blockchain designed to let AI models act as fully on-chain agents that can execute tasks and manage assets without centralized intermediaries. Its infrastructure includes the Nexus protocol (currently in testnet), a no-code AI-agent builder called Talus Vision, and the consumer app Idol.fun where agents compete in social settings. The project’s native $US token, with a 10 billion total supply, debuted on multiple exchanges on 11 December and quickly climbed about 15 percent, stabilizing near $0.020. Early investors were allocated 2.2 billion tokens that unlock gradually to limit sell pressure. Backers have provided more than $10 million, valuing the project at roughly $150 million. This capital is intended to accelerate product roll-outs and attract additional developers and users to the network. Although revenue and user counts were not disclosed, initial trading interest indicates strong market traction for its AI-centric blockchain vision.

• Yala

  Participated · Seed · Oct 2024

  Yala builds a modular liquidity protocol that issues Bitcoin-backed stablecoins and enables cross-chain deployments to connect Bitcoin with multi-chain DeFi ecosystems. Its core products include a multi-token system with $YU (a Bitcoin-backed stablecoin) and $YALA (governance token), plus features such as an overcollateralized stablecoin mechanism, an insurance derivatives service, and a MetaMint functionality. The protocol’s architecture supports deployments across EVM-compatible platforms like Ethereum and non-EVM systems such as Solana to enhance Bitcoin composability. Yala plans to expand engineering, growth, and security teams as it moves toward mainnet launch and will release a testnet next week. Financially, the team raised an $8 million seed round and reports over 2,000 BTC in committed deposits from investors, and the round was 3x oversubscribed.

• Sahara AI

  Participated · Equity · Aug 2024

  Sahara AI offers a decentralized blockchain platform designed to ensure security, equity, accessibility, and provenance for AI development and deployment. The platform is built to support open and equitable AI, with features that prioritize sovereignty and provenance of AI models and data. The company is used by 35+ tech innovators and research institutions, including Microsoft, Amazon, MIT, Motherson Group, and Snap. Sahara AI has partnered with strategic angels and advisors from industry and academia, such as Laksh Vaaman Sehgal, Rohan Taori, Teknium, Vipul Prakash, and Elvis Zhang. The company intends to use new funding to expand its global team, enhance the performance of its AI blockchain, and grow its developer ecosystem. Sahara AI is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA. Sahara operates a decentralized AI network built around personalized Knowledge Agents that let businesses and individuals monetize proprietary data and expertise while preserving privacy. The company also offers Sahara Data, a data infrastructure service providing data annotation and AI model training services that has attracted interest from more than 30 enterprise clients, including Fortune 500 companies and unicorn startups. Sahara describes a Collaborative Economy model that rewards knowledge developers, providers, compute providers, execution node operators, validators, and knowledge consumers for their contributions. The team announced coming out of stealth on March 5, 2024 and reported rapid community demand: more than 50,000 people joined the waitlist within five days. Founders Sean Ren and Tyler Zhou have discussed the product and web3 architecture in interviews with Coindesk, emphasizing transparent tracking of contributions and rewards via blockchain. The company is actively building community engagement on Discord, Twitter, and LinkedIn as it develops Sahara Knowledge Agents and expands Sahara Data enterprise traction.

• BounceBit

  Participated · Seed · Feb 2024

  BounceBit is a Singapore-based BTC restaking infrastructure provider focused on enabling BTC holders to earn yield across multiple networks via a CeFi + DeFi framework. The company is building the BounceBit chain, a PoS Layer 1 secured by validators staking both BTC and BounceBit’s native token in a dual-token model that combines Bitcoin security with full EVM compatibility. Ecosystem infrastructure such as bridges and oracles are secured by restaked BTC, and custody for the model is provided by regulated providers Mainnet Digital and Ceffu. Led by Founder and CEO Jack Lu, BounceBit positions its chain as a showcase restaking product within a broader ecosystem of restaking offerings. The company recently raised $6M in Seed funding and plans to use the proceeds to expand operations and accelerate development efforts.

• NAVI Protocol

  Participated · Equity · Jan 2024

  NAVI Protocol operates a native one-stop liquidity protocol on Sui that combines lending, borrowing and liquid staking (LSDeFi) functionality. The Move-based protocol enables users to act as liquidity providers or borrowers and supports multi-asset collateral strategies. Since launching on Sui mainnet eight months ago, NAVI reports 150m+ TVL, roughly $55 million in borrowed assets and about 800k users, and it has accounted for 66% of lending volume on the platform. The team emphasizes security via Move and risk-balanced strategies to support assets at different risk levels. NAVI plans to expand its product set and scale operations, including completing its acquisition of Volo and rolling out features like flash loans and isolated pools. The protocol intends to broaden its footprint within and beyond the Sui ecosystem.

No current team members are available.