Participated · Equity · Nov 2021

Spectral builds credit risk assessment infrastructure for web3, creating an on-chain equivalent to a FICO score called the Multi-Asset Credit Risk Oracle (MACRO) Score. Its platform allows users to check on-chain scores and aims to provide a trustless, permissionless alternative to traditional credit scoring. The company emphasizes privacy, decentralization, and pseudonymity while enabling risk assessment for DeFi lending and other crypto use cases. Spectral currently covers the majority of DeFi and plans to adjust to a multichain world as new lending protocols and data sets emerge. The startup raised $23M in a recent round and has raised about $30M to date; the fresh capital will be used to build and scale its credit scoring network. Its long-term vision is to make credit scoring a publicly accessible network to bring risk-based finance and more personalized on-chain experiences to users. Spectral builds infrastructure for assessing credit risk in Web3 and aims to create a new asset class of programmable creditworthiness. Led by co-founder and CEO Sishir Varghese, the company's first product is an on-chain credit score (MACRO score) that gives lenders an improved mechanism to evaluate borrower risk while preserving user control over identity and pseudonymity. The MACRO score is designed to enable access to existing financial applications such as credit delegation and securitized debt. Spectral positions its technology as a foundation for new implementations that leverage on-chain transaction history to build user creditworthiness. The company is backed by a group of crypto-focused angel investors and builders in addition to institutional backers. Financially, Spectral announced $6.75M in funding to support its product and infrastructure development.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2021

Nas Academy is a Singapore-based EdTech startup founded in 2020 by Nuseir Yassin that builds a platform for creators to create and run classroom-based academies. Creators can set up an academy, create courses, market to students, get discovered, and interact with virtual classrooms through a learning portal, WhatsApp groups, Zoom sessions, and individual sessions. The founding and leadership team—experienced creators themselves—help onboard, coach, and grow the academies. Nas Academy says it has served students from over 110 countries and aims to enable millions of creators to share knowledge and monetize their presence. The company raised $12M in fresh funding to strengthen global engineering and product teams and to grow its Web3 offering; it has raised $23M to date. It plans to expand its team to 1,000 over the next five years and recently attracted controversy in the Philippines over a planned course with tattoo artist Apo Whang-Od. Nas Academy builds a platform for creators to monetize their knowledge by creating on-demand and live classes and entire academies. Founded and led by video blogger Nuseir Yassin, the marketplace helps users discover and purchase courses that currently skew toward the business of online influence. Courses on the platform range from $29 to $499, with bundle options and plans for a subscription offering in the future. Nas Academy is invite-only for creators at the moment, and course operators will have access to emails of their audiences to reach them directly. The company plans to monetize by taking a cut of course revenues and aims to provide trusted quality assurances to reduce consumer risk in online education. Yassin expects the platform to evolve into a network of “virtual universities” and to serve as an on-ramp for aspiring creators.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2021

Mintable operates an NFT marketplace and a minting platform that enables users and creators to build NFTs onto blockchains and immediately provision them. Its platform includes a gas-free minting feature designed to make NFT creation more accessible by avoiding high transaction fees. The company has seen rapid user growth and platform activity, with about 700,000 items minted on its marketplace. Mintable has worked with notable creators and brands, including a Trevor Lawrence collection that sold for more than $400,000, streetwear brand Bape, and a charity auction that raised $100,000. The company intends to use new funding to scale operations, support acquisition and growth initiatives for individual users and brand clients, and expand marketplace capabilities to increase mainstream adoption. The article frames the raise as a key milestone as NFTs reach broader appeal across entertainment, fine arts, sports and other sectors.

Participated · Equity · May 2021

Animoca, also known as Outblaze Ventures, focuses on developing and publishing mobile games and educational applications for iOS and Android devices. Since its debut in January 2011, the company has launched over 150 titles across smartphones and tablets. Animoca also operates several brands, including Dream Cortex, to broaden its reach in the mobile entertainment space. In only ten months on the market, its apps have amassed more than 40 million downloads worldwide, underscoring strong early traction with users. The firm’s rapid content rollout demonstrates an aggressive product strategy targeting global smartphone audiences. Backing from major technology investors suggests confidence in the company's ability to scale its portfolio further. While revenue figures were not disclosed, the significant download volume highlights Animoca’s potential for future monetization and growth opportunities.

Participated · Seed · May 2021

Opolis is a member-owned digital employment platform that uses blockchain and web3 technology to provide employment infrastructure for independent workers. The platform supplies tools to professionalize independent businesses, including payroll, benefits management, and shared services such as unemployment, disability, and tax compliance. Opolis positions itself to democratize access to career development and next-generation employment services regardless of geography. The company plans to scale its business and deliver a more frictionless user experience, with a roadmap prioritizing improved access to accounting data, tax reporting details, and health insurance information. Leadership includes Executive Steward and founder John Paller, who has roughly 20 years of experience in HR technology and founded ETHDenver. Opolis has raised capital to support growth and is headquartered in Denver. Opolis operates the Opolis Employment Commons, a digital employment cooperative that provides payroll, benefits and shared services to independent workers. The Independent Worker Coalition grew to more than 2,500 global members across 63 countries shortly after launching in April 2021. The Commons uses token-based incentives: it runs $WORK reward programs, referral and sign-up bonuses, and a member dashboard that supports staking to earn additional $WORK. Opolis emphasizes a community-led Web3 funding model and completed a Series Seed II round combining equity and grants to support its infrastructure. The funding involved DAOs, DeFi projects, investment syndicates, and HR-tech and blockchain industry investors from around the world. The company aims to reshape how independent workers relate to employment by aligning community stakeholders and ecosystem participants.