Collider Ventures is launching Collider Labs— a $1m pre-seed blockchain and crypto venture building vehicle
Collider Labs is a response to the new realities 2020 had brought upon the crypto industry as well as the global economy. The need for creative solutions is tremendous. Nearly everyday at Collider, we meet top entrepreneurs who are adapting to the changing landscape. We would often see companies at the inception phase and we decided we must take action to support at this stage too.
In addition, COVID19 has accelerated the world toward a remote-first work culture, we see it as an opportunity to think outside the box and this is why we’ve structured Collider Labs as our own iterations of an accelerator program where Collider Labs will participate in the work done with 10 remote teams. Collider Labs is a synergistic addition to the foundation Collider has built with Collider Ventures 1 LP’s 15 investments.
Collider Labs Backstory
In the midst of lockdown, it became very clear that the world after COVID is not going to be the same anymore and we were determined to adapt fast and innovate. We observed the global trends and set our predictions and insights for the industry. We formed our strategy based on what are the most important industry segments we believe are set to grow significantly and where we want to be actively influencing.
Underpinning the current narrative are a few important factors that come together to shape to the DeFi market uptrend:
DeFi technologies maturity
Two years ago the use of stablecoin as a hedge from volatility was most of what DeFi was about. MakerDAO and a handful of other projects were gaining interest. But the DeFi ecosystem was in a barely embryonic state.
Fast forward to today, there are numerous versatile stablecoin, decentralized exchanges, smart contracts insurance, synthetic assets markets, DeFi focused interface products, cross network protocols and solutions. Bitcoin DeFi is the latest to get the spotlight shined on as a lucrative and rather less developed area in DeFi that we’re excited to see teams innovate in.
Decentralized Governance Incentives
People value their participation in the ecosystem more than ever before. With the Cambrian explosion of the DeFi space, we’re seeing significant advancements in the decentralized governance space too, more people participate in DAOs and contribute to open source projects. This is providing a tailwind for the entire DeFi ecosystem. Many DeFi projects have doubled down on community inclusion and provide incentives and stakeholder benefits for contributors. This phenomenon became even more characteristic of the DeFi bull run with projects like yEarn that has brought to the fore a new discourse around Fair Launches.
Traditional Finance meet DeFi
The future of crypto is the future of finance, we are beginning to see much closer ties between the legacy financial world and the crypto world. A few notable cases provide indisputable evidence to the institutional maturity the industry is gaining:
- Major US exchange Kraken was granted a US banking license. This puts the stamp on crypto companies officially becoming a challenger to the legacy financial industry.
- A DeFi project for non-custodial lending and borrowing protocol, Aave gains a UK licence for Electronic Money Institution.
- Major bank in Singapore, DBS is planning to launch a Digital Asset Exchange.
The strides made by different teams in the industry are providing a solid foundation on which innovative solutions can be built and grow at a faster pace than ever before.
Collider Lab Launch
With trends we’ve observed and our hypothesis, we’re thrilled for Collider Labs to kick off with great tailwinds. We are eager to work with world class founders who are working on important projects, Collider Labs will support, partner with and accelerate entrepreneurs through the process of achieving product market fit and reaching growth.
We’re very grateful to Collider Labs’ LPs for their vote of confidence. Labs’ LPs come from across several regions and industry sectors.
Crypto and Blockchain is becoming much more than the niche it used to, it is the New Economy. In 2020 we’ve witnessed an acceleration toward digital and the crypto world is playing a key role in this shift. I’m excited to work with great teams on cutting edge projects in the crypto space. We believe that the projects we partner with at Collider Labs today, are those set to become the foundations on which the future of digital finance will stand upon for decades to come.
“Forming a Collider Labs, a venture builder vehicle is strategic to the investments we’ve done in Collider Ventures. We have backed some of the leading projects in the industry across the stack, adding more capabilities to Collider strengthens our capabilities as a VC firm. With Labs we are able to invest across wider spectrum of deals and most importantly support world class founders who are building great projects.
Details about Labs:
Collider Labs will invest in 10–12 companies over the coming 2 years as well as incubate in house products.
Check out more details on Collider Labs’ website:
Collider Labs in the media
Learn More about Collider Ventures
- Website: www.collider.vc
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/collidervc
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/colliderventures/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/colliderventures/
