Crypto Investing App CoinSwitch Launches $10 Mn Fund To Invest In 100 Web3 Startups

Crypto investing app CoinSwitch on Tuesday launched a fund that will invest in and incubate early-stage startups building blockchain solutions for the Web3 landscape. 

The Web3 Discovery Fund aims to catapult up to 100 startups in India.

“The fund has an initial corpus of $10 Mn. We are also curating and facilitating subsequent fundraising from marquee investor partners,” CoinSwitch co-founder and CEO Ashish Singhal told Inc42.

While Tiger Global, Ribbit Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Sequoia Capital India, Woodstock Fund and Elevation Capital (ex-SAIF partners) are investor partners, Buidlers Tribe is the incubation partner for the new fund. 

The Web3 Discovery Fund will curate portfolio startups and provide single-window access to investor partners. 

“The venture programme is a result of our firm belief that India will be the launchpad for population-scale Web3 projects. To realise this vision of MadeinIndia Web3, we have to identify and enable entrepreneurs and early-stage startups leveraging the potential of crypto to solve real-world problems unique to India. That’s the raison d’être of the Web3 Discovery Fund,” said Singhal.

A Window To Apply For AWS Credits

The corporate venture capital initiative of CoinSwitch will also be an AWS Activate Provider. 

The fund’s early-stage portfolio startups can apply for AWS Activate Portfolio and receive AWS credits, technical support, training, resources, and more to accelerate their growth, CoinSwitch said in a release.

The portfolio startups can also benefit from ready access to CoinSwitch’s in-house capabilities, ecosystem network and its strong user base. 

The Evolving Web3 Landscape

India’s Web3 ecosystem has of late been seeing a lot of activity, with many startups in the space raising funding. Last month, Web3 startup zbyte raised $10 Mn to accelerate blockchain adoption by enterprises. Cryptocurrency startup Crypso also raised $3 Mn in seed funding to expand its user base and offerings.

Earlier this year, Web3 startup Polygon raised $450 Mn from a slew of investors, including SoftBank, Tiger Global Management, Galaxy Digital, and Sequoia Capital India. 

In an interaction with Inc42, Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao said that India will be a natural frontrunner for Web3 startups. However, Binance itself is involved in a controversy now with the crypto exchange saying that its acquisition of WazirX, announced in 2019, never went through. Meanwhile, WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty claims that Binance ‘effectively’ owns the Indian crypto exchange, leading to uncertainty about the ownership of the exchange.