Binance Labs, the venture capital and incubation arm of the crypto exchange Binance, has invested in seven startups from its incubation season 6 program.
The seven startups include:
Ethena Labs, a synthetic dollar protocol developer
Derivio, a zkSync-based decentralized derivatives exchange
Shogun, an intent-centric DeFi protocol aiming to maximize trader extractable value
UXUY, a decentralized exchange trading platform
Cellula, an on-chain autonomous life simulation strategy game developer
NFPrompt, an AI-powered Web3 user-generated content platform
QnA3, an AI-powered Web3 knowledge sharing platform
The season 6 program, which commenced in December 2023, has seen Binance Labs investing in seven startups out of the initial 12 included in the incubation program. According to Binance Labs the firm does not invest in every startup it incubates, emphasizing that the program is structured to provide support to founders, with investments not guaranteed.
In the previous Season 5 incubation, Binance Labs invested in five startups, which included zkPass, Mind Network, and DappOS, out of the initial selection of 12 startups.
Season 7 is expected to launch soon.
“We’re currently looking for forward-thinking founders of early-stage projects to join the program,” Binance Labs said, adding that the application process ‘will be open on a rolling basis.’
Binance Labs’ incubation programs attract a significant number of project applications. For the Season 6 program, Binance Labs reported receiving ‘hundreds of applications,’ from which around 12 startups were ultimately selected, representing roughly 3% of the total applicants.
Recently, Binance Labs has ramped up its investment activity by supporting various projects. Among these investments are the backing of the Bitcoin staking protocol, Babylon, as well as Ethereum restaking protocols, Renzo and Puffer Finance, all made in 2024.
In 2023, Binance Labs made a significant move by accepting external capital for the first time, closing a $500 million fund. However, the firm started returning undeployed capital to Limited Partners (LPs). Initially, LPs had invested a total of $150 million in the fund, and Binance Labs repaid almost half of that amount, according to reports.
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