The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Mar 2024

Stack is building infrastructure that translates traditional loyalty points into trustless, auditable on-chain assets. Using the product, developers can allocate points on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chains, link both on-chain and off-chain actions to point issuance, publish public leaderboards, and enable smart-contract-based redemptions. The company targets both web2 brands and web3 native applications that want more transparent, composable incentive programs. Lower fees on emerging Layer-2 and Layer-3 networks further improve the economics of these point schemes, encouraging broader adoption of crypto-powered consumer apps. CEO and founder Graeme Boy, formerly CTO of Mirror and Head of Engineering at Dharma, leads a crypto-native engineering team with experience onboarding millions of users to web3. Although still pre-revenue, Stack has secured initial seed capital to accelerate product development and marketplace penetration. Future plans include expanding integrations that tie NFTs, social media engagement, and other consumer touchpoints directly to tokenized rewards.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2023

Stackr Labs provides developer tooling to help teams launch Web3 applications and progressively decentralize Web2 stacks using familiar Web2 tools. Its core product is a micro-rollup framework that breaks monolithic rollup architecture into composable micro-rollups (MRUs), enabling smaller, independent off-chain compute modules. The start-up aims to attract independent developers and enterprise teams working on Web2 and Web3 applications. Stackr plans to release a developer preview soon, publish a technical paper detailing its architecture and roadmap, and launch a grants programme to encourage building on the platform. The company will use the recently raised funds to support team expansion, prepare for the upcoming v1 launch, and expand its developer ecosystem. CEO Kautuk Kundan said the goal is to make decentralized app development accessible beyond crypto-natives by easing the process of building and operating rollups.

Participated · Series A · Jul 2023

Sound is a San Francisco–based Web3 music platform that lets artists upload songs onchain and mint them as NFTs, using Ethereum and the Optimism layer-2 scaling solution. Artists maintain creative control, set valuations for their catalogs, retain 100% of master and publishing rights, and receive instant, transparent payments whenever a fan collects a song. The platform emphasizes direct artist–fan relationships without intermediaries and rewards listeners for discovering and curating music. Fans can collect music, leave permanent comments, access group chats with artists and other collectors, and earn money by making playlists and sharing links. Sound launched to the public and plans to use new funding to expand operations and broaden its business reach. Sound.xyz builds web3 tools to help recording artists monetize their communities via NFTs. Its first product, Listening Parties, lets artists sell limited-edition NFTs tied to song releases. Early drops have been limited to a couple dozen NFTs that sold out and have generated roughly $10,000 in proceeds for artists. The company does not take a commission on those NFT sales. Sound.xyz is experimenting with features like enabling NFT holders to leave comments on streams and plans broader tools for fan crowdfunding and new incentive models for curators. CEO David Greenstein says the goal is to get music heard and get artists paid through new NFT-driven economics.

Participated · Equity · Jun 2023

Connext Labs develops a communication layer protocol that enables developers to build interchain applications accessible from any network and able to interact with funds and data across multiple blockchains. The protocol runs on top of existing infrastructure to provide strong security regardless of the chain used. The company is led by Arjun Bhuptani and is based in San Francisco, CA. Connext reports over 1.2 million crosschain transactions to date and, since launching V2 in late February 2023, added over 20,000 new users in the last month. Thirty-five companies are actively building on the protocol, including Metamask, Planet IX, and DODO. The company intends to use the new funds to fund the setup and operation of its foundation.

Participated · Seed · Jul 2022

Lines is building a crypto-native messaging platform that lets users send messages from wallet to wallet and join group chats based on token ownership. The product aims to provide verifiable communications for web3 users so people can find NFT owners, discover like-minded token holders, or coordinate DAO contributors. The team says the communication layer will be largely ambivalent to underlying blockchains and wallets to maximize interoperability and consumer ease-of-use. The founders — three Harvard philosophy students led by CEO Sahil Handa — are still developing the technology and have not settled on a business model. Lines plans to pursue partnerships with platforms where web3 conversations and marketplaces live, which the company views as important to driving adoption. The startup is using its seed capital to recruit engineers as it builds toward that vision.