RBV + Denarii Labs Weekly Newsletter 🧔📖 Week of 05/15/25

Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, & More

Author

Austin Ritter
May 15, 2025

Welcome to the latest edition of the Red Beard Ventures newsletter, where we dive into exciting updates and insights from all over blockchain, frontier tech, and the angel investing landscape.

As a reminder, Red Beard Ventures has a syndicate, fund, tokenomics accelerator, and Web3 consultancy:

  • The Red Beard Ventures Syndicate is stage agnostic and invests in Frontier Technology with a focus on Web3, Space, FinTech, Sports, Robotics, Biotech, and Climate. We invest anywhere between $100k - $1.5M.

  • Red Beard Ventures Fund I invests $100k - $1M in Pre-seed and Seed blockchain based companies.

  • Denarii Labs is a tokenomics accelerator which invests $100k into companies interested in designing and launching a token over a twelve week hands-on program. Denarii also features a consulting business for later stage clients with higher touchpoint needs in tokenomics, communications, growth, and marketing.

đŸŽ€ RBV / Denarii Labs Announcements:

Denarii Labs Accelerator Cohort 003 - Applications Now Open

Denarii Labs is accepting applications for its third accelerator cohort - designed to help Web3 founders refine their token models, prepare for investors, and execute a best in class GTM strategy. Participating teams will receive $100,000 in funding and gain access to a robust network of 200+ Web3 portfolio companies—including Animoca, Dapper Labs, and SuperRare—for business development. Additionally, founders will connect with a community of over 4,000 investors ready to support their growth.

Red Beard Ventures Fund II - Now Raising

Red Beard Ventures is launching Fund II, building on the success of our first fund and extensive network in Web3, blockchain, and DePIN. With a track record of early investments in high growth companies and a strong investor base, Fund II is positioned to capitalize on emerging opportunities in the space.

Reach out to [email protected] for more information.

🚀 RBV Spotlight:

LimeWire has entered a new phase of expansion with the acquisition of File.io, a file sharing platform with over 500,000 monthly active users and 500,000 monthly uploads. The deal comes amid a 10x surge in LimeWire platform traffic this year marking 2025 as a breakout year for the company. The File.io acquisition significantly enhances LimeWire’s core infrastructure for creators and enables large scale content distribution and onboarding a highly active user base. It also positions LimeWire to expand its offering beyond NFTs and music into broader content and file sharing services. Management described the acquisition as “just the beginning” signaling continued momentum as LimeWire evolves into a next generation hub for creators and digital media tools!

đŸ’Œ Portfolio News:

  • Akko announced a new partnership with Bark, the leading parental control app used by 7M+ families, to bundle device protection with child safety services.

  • The integration enables Bark customers to access Akko’s comprehensive phone and device insurance directly through the Bark platform.

  • This collaboration positions Akko to reach a broader family demographic while enhancing Bark’s value proposition with physical device protection.

  • Version 15 introduces a custom post-quantum consensus protocol (Falcon-based signatures) to future-proof security against emerging threats.

  • The update adds a high-performance Merkle tree engine and binary JSON RPC format to enhance throughput and dApp efficiency.

  • VIDA toolkit, new SDKs, and structured data layers prepare PWR Chain for developer scaling and EVM relaunch.

  • LimeWire reports 10× platform traffic growth and acquires File.io with 500K monthly active users.

  • Deal expands LimeWire’s infrastructure for content sharing across creators and collectors.

  • Management teases more strategic moves as 2025 sets new platform records.

  • $SHM is now tradable on KuCoin, Gate.io, Bitget, MEXC, BitMart, CoinW, and ProBit.

  • Listings rapidly follow the mainnet debut of Shardeum’s autoscaling Layer-1.

  • Ecosystem development accelerates with increased global liquidity access.

  • Partners include Cheqd and Nuklai in forming a new decentralized AI data alliance.

  • The initiative promotes privacy, transparency, and open-source AI development.

  • Kickoff includes a roundtable event and whitepaper launch.

  • Official WNBA gear from Round21 now live inside NBA 2K25 as avatar wearables.

  • Launch includes Las Vegas Aces merch designed by artist Cat DroĂłls.

  • Amplifies Round21’s positioning in digital merch and sports crossover drops.

  • Over 13,800 players participated globally within 14 days of SDK launch.

  • New dashboard lets devs upload, test, and launch games with one-click tooling.

  • Highlights early user engagement with community-built Web3 games.

  • All pre-sale bundles for Upland’s Sydney city sold out before launch.

  • Sydney opens as the first Australian market in Upland’s metaverse.

  • Pre-launch hype signals strong regional and in-game economic growth.

  • New state rollout features over 200 leagues and always-on betting.

  • Offers 24/7 support and a $10K bonus bet sweepstakes.

  • Differentiates by extending VIP-level service to all users.

  • Adaptive Inference dynamically reallocates compute based on scene complexity.

  • Enables more efficient real-time video analysis in surveillance and smart cities.

  • Demonstrated at the World Police Summit as a breakthrough edge AI use case.

  • Early test weekend attracted over 1,000 concurrent metaverse players.

  • “Shozza” shotgun teased as new content alongside immersive gameplay features.

  • Also launched on Solana 

  • SuperRare announces year-long collaboration with Roger Dickerman and 24 Hours of ART.

  • Supported by Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal for curated NFT exhibitions.

  • Reinforces SuperRare’s positioning in fine-art-focused Web3 collecting.

  • Mew is a new platform launch focused on active crypto trading.

  • Teased by Saga as a hub for decentralized trader tooling.

  • Details coming next week as product rollout nears.

  • Launching two gamified staking pools for token and collectible rewards.

  • Adds DeFi mechanics to boost player retention and daily activity.

  • Reinforces KittyPunch’s hybrid gaming-yield model.

đŸ„ł Upcoming Events:

We’re at Consensus Toronto this week!

Some of the other events you’ll find our team at include:

🚀 Onwards!

Drew, Elana, Joshua, Lauren, and Austin