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- RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖
RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖
Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, RBV Fund I Closing & More
Joshua Howard
May 17, 2023
RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖: Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, RBV Fund I Closing & More
Hello Red Beard Ventures LP community! We have a special bit of news that we wanted to share at the very top of the newsletter: CoinDesk published an article on the closing of our $25 Million Fund I! As part of their Web3 ecosystem coverage, CoinDesk covers important funds and investments, and you can read the news about our raise by following this link: Red Beard Ventures Closes $25M Funding Round With Animoca Brands, Others
Also, just a quick reminder that we have started our search for candidates for our Tokenomics Accelerator, Denarii Labs. This initiative, jointly powered by Red Beard Ventures and Horizen Labs Ventures (known for creating Yuga Labs’ ApeCoin and many other successful projects), aims to assist Web3 builders in designing, developing, and executing their tokenomics and token launch strategies with the help of top-notch advisors, strategic partners, and investors.
Through the accelerator, five fortunate projects will be selected and equipped with the necessary skills to achieve an exceptional token release within three months of the curriculum. Interested parties can register at www.denariilabs.xyz.
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🚨 TL;DR: This Week in Crypto
EU agrees on crypto rules
Cryptoys partners with Star Wars/Disney
Ledger introduces possible security flaw
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📣 As a reminder, Red Beard Ventures has both a syndicate and fund:
The Red Beard Ventures Syndicate is stage agnostic and invests in Frontier Technology with a focus on Web3, Space, FinTech, Robotics, Biotech, and Climate. We invest anywhere between $100k - $1.5M.
The Red Beard Ventures Fund I invests $100k - $1M in Pre-seed and Seed blockchain-based companies.
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🔔 Active Investment Opportunities:
0-G Launch: Better Rocket Launch Platform for the Growing Space Industry
0-G is building a fleet of Boeing 757s specially designed for precision high altitude flight
The first purpose of these aircraft is to launch rocket payloads high in the stratosphere
The second purpose will be flying long parabolic dives for zero-gravity testing and consumer experiences
Edison AI Systems: Zapier for AI, Link Multiple Models into One Workflow
Edison AI is building a web platform to build complex, interoperable AI systems
Developers can cut their time and costs by 60–90%, deploying in days, not months
The platform can operate as no-code or low-code, meaning even novices can link together StableDiffusion, GPT-4, a voice mimicking AI, and more!
Texas Ranchers, Major League Pickleball Team: The Fastest Growing Sport in the World
Ranchers global is acquiring the Texas Ranchers, one of the top pickleball teams in the league
The investment also comes with a stake in Major League Pickleball itself
The popularity of pickleball exploded in 2022, with now 36 million players worldwide
Storybook: #1 Parenting App in 90 Countries
We are cosyndicating with Umami Capital
$1.9 M in ARR, growing 20% monthly
Strong investor roster including Goodwater, Jason Calacanis, Magma Partners, Google Latino Founders Fund
Siegelman Stable: Streetwear with a Conscience - Gary Vaynerchuk Lead
Rapidly gaining mass appeal and A-list celebrity endorsements
Nearly one million dollars in gross revenue in 2022
Founded by the son from a top horse racing family, Max Siegelman, past collaborator with Kanye West, NBA teams, Puma, Hypebeast, Lexus, and more
One Earth Rising: Ownable Interoperability for Modern Gaming
Their standard has self-sovereignty and a format game engines can understand
This format seeks to become industry standard
All facets of the asset - items, moments, stats - are able to be minted
Meratas: Expedia for Student Loans - Last check, Oversubscribed Round
This round is led by Jason Calacanis, legendary investor from The All In podcast
Multi-lender marketplace allows users to compare and loan offers to compete
110 schools are current paying customers, at $1300/mo
Projected revenue of $6M in 2023
Toka: Cybersecurity Tools for Modern International Protection
Second year of revenue doubled with multiple government PoCs
Gross margins more than 90%
$22M forecast in 2023
Backed by Andreesen Horowitz
GET protocol: The Premium NFT Ticketing Solution
GET has been building NFT ticketing since 2016
They have a full range of ticketing products for event holders, from self-service to full concierge, and also whitelabel solutions
Issued nearly 3.4 Million tickets (1.7M in 2022 alone), over 17k events
Investment includes a token grant AND discounted token purchase rights
Simply Eggless: The Future of Egg Alternatives
Simply Eggless is the second-largest producer and supplier of plant-based eggs globally, with a revenue of $2M in 2022
Their products are sold in over 2.8k stores in North America and the company is looking to expand to 1k more stores, serving their massive popularity among Gen Z and Millennials
The main ingredient used by Eggless is lupin bean, which offers high protein, excellent baking functionality, and is environmentally friendly
The competitors in vegan egg alternatives all fall behind Simply Eggless, which has a much more versatile and shelf-stable product
Blocklords: GoT Meets Axie - Revolutionizing Play-To-Earn Gaming
Blocklords already has 120k pre-registered for their play-to-earn game
The medieval-based game allows players to craft their narrative while simultaneously earning cryptocurrency for tasks they complete within the game (Play-to-earn model).
Blocklords is focusing on delivering value to the user first to build up the user base and ecosystem first - This approach seems to be working by their massive sign-up and connection numbers
Money earned can be used to progress in the game or traded on crypto exchanges.
Bitscraft, Delphi Digital, and Animoca Brands are all investing
SAFT, $100M FMV
The Sandbox: Global leader and largest metaverse platform
$SAND is a Top 50 Cryptocurrency >$2B
$250M+ current virtual real estate LAND value
>$700M digital asset portfolio
$4.3M highest LAND price paid
~3X more LAND sales than competitor Decentraland
250K+ creators and brands are using the no-code tools to mind new items and experiences each month!
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🥳 Upcoming Events:
In-person events are a great way to stay informed in our industry, so we are planning for a very full 2023. We would love to hear about any other conferences you will be attending this year, so please let us know as we are still planning our event calendar!
Drew Austin will be in VeeCon this week, so any LPs that will be there, please feel free to reach out! Drew will be speaking at the “Art, Entrepreneurship, and Digital Culture” panel, Day 2 (5/19) 2:30-3:00PM on the Tubi Stage.
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🎙️ New Podcast Episode:
In this week's episode of The Girls Table, Elana Dickman, also known as TradingFemale is joined by Jalak Jobanputra who is the Founder and Managing Partner of Future Perfect Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in decentralized technologies. She has invested in over 50 companies in the blockchain, crypto assets, AI, and Internet of Things spaces.
She is also the founder of Collective Future, an organization that fosters diversity and inclusion in the blockchain sector. Prior to Future/Perfect Ventures, Jalak was Director of Emerging Market Mobile Investments at Omidyar Network and Senior Vice President at the NYC Investment Fund.
Watch the Latest Episode Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHLlhAHXKYE
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🪙 Crypto News:
Ledger Recover, an optional $9.99/mo service, is causing concern over potential security risks
The company maintains that the service is voluntary, and the new ability shouldn’t increase attack vectors on other users
Some developers are claiming that even the ability to send key info to these services allows for new attack vectors
EU member states have agreed upon the world's first comprehensive set of crypto regulations, set to roll out from 2024.
The rules necessitate licenses for firms wishing to issue, trade, and safeguard cryptoassets within the 27-country bloc, and aim to combat tax evasion and money laundering.
The move increases pressure on other countries, such as the UK and US, to establish clear crypto regulations.
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🗃️ Portfolio News:
Disney, in partnership with Cryptoys, is entering the crypto space with Star Wars NFTs.
The digital collectibles, modeled after iconic Star Wars characters, will be sold for $39.99 each.
Cryptoys, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Mattel and Dapper Labs, will power the NFTs using Dapper Labs' Flow blockchain.
Today, 5/17, owners will be able to mint up to two SSN1 Swoopsters
On thursday and friday, the presale and public mint goes live (respectively)
Two 5-star, top-3 rookies will be randomly minted within day 1 or 2
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💸 NFT Alpha
The decision to halt development comes a year after the company secured $40 million in funding from investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Solana Ventures
Irreverent Labs has offered to buy back any mechabot NFTs for 18 SOL each, approximately $365 apiece, from May 15 to June 29
The studio's focus is now shifting towards artificial intelligence, with plans to release a new product under new branding later this year
The Secret Service, known for safeguarding the nation’s financial infrastructure, has a vested interest in understanding and monitoring blockchain technology, which can be used to circumvent sanctions and facilitate illicit activities.
The agencies indicated that the transparency and immutability of blockchain are useful tools in tracking illegal financial activities.
The Secret Service acknowledged that it holds crypto to better understand the mechanics of digital assets and blockchain transactions.
The Secret Service also disclosed its own NFT collection, featuring a faceless 3D agent character, available on OpenSea.
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🤝 We are hiring!
We are looking for syndicate vertical leads in the following categories - if you are interested please reach out and we can discuss the opportunity in greater detail:
Biotech
Space
Robotics & Automation
Climate
Fintech & SaaS
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Onwards 🚀
Drew, Elana, Whit, Mitchell, and Lauren