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- RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖
RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖
Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, RBV Fund I Closing & More
Joshua Howard
September 30, 2023
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. 🚀
In this week's RBV Weekly Newsletter:
📻NEW EPISODE of Red Beard Radio 📻:
🎙️On this week’s episode, we dug into the future of gaming, joined by Ryan Trost of Zed Run.
Join us for a weekly dose of investing knowledge and industry expertise.
Subscribe now! → @red-beard-radio
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📣 As a reminder, Red Beard Ventures has both a syndicate, a fund, and a tokenomics accelerator:
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.
The Red Beard Ventures Fund I invests $100k - $1M in Pre-seed and Seed blockchain-based companies.
Denarii Labs is a tokenomics accelerator in partnership with Horizen Labs Ventures, where we invest $100k into companies interested in designing and launching a token, over a twelve-week hands-on program.
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🚨 TL;DR: This Week in Crypto
This Week:
Spot Bitcoin ETF closer to a reality
Uniswap funds $62M for developers
BAYCE collaboration announced with BAPE
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🪙 Crypto News:
SEC Chair Gary Gensler testified in front of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday
Several members sent letters on Tuesday urging the SEC to approve the several spot Bitcoin ETFs
This comes just weeks after a judge ordered the SEC to justify their disapproval of the applications in an appeals hearing
A governance proposal set to vote on October 4th will determine how much funding will go towards grants for the next several years
In the last 12 months, $4.8 Million was spent on research grants from the Uniswap Foundation
A $62 Million fund could be a catalyst for a new wave of crypto projects
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🗃️ Portfolio News:
The two have merged under a holding company to create a partnership with Tennis Channel
As part of the Tennis Channel’s broadcast integration of Pickleball games, they have also launched a 24-hour pickleball channel on all their platforms
The Tennis Channel’s parent company, Sinclair Ventures, has also been given the option to invest in the parent company of the PPA tour
Top Shot’s yearly Run it Back release has been a regular collaboration with the NBA to highlight different eras in Basketball history
2014-19 was considered a golden era for the NBA, and Top Shot will release packs to celebrate this time
A Legendary pack will cost $999 retail, and the Rare pack will cost $89
Coinbase announced on Saturday that Coinbase One members can claim a set of offers in an AltoIRA crypto account
For a limited time, Coinbase One members will have a half-off benefit to their CryptoIRA fees, no fees for their regular Alto IRA, a 1% contribution match, and much more
The Crypto IRA is just one of several alternative-asset IRAs that Alto offers, alongside private equity, venture capital, real estate, and more.
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💸 NFT Alpha:
The biggest retailer in the US has given toys from the NFT collection shelf space
Available since May on walmart.com, the move to physical stores shows the popularity of the IP
Each toy also gives unique characteristics to a “Forever Pudgy” nft inside Pudgy World, the Pudgy metaverse platform
The collection has not yet been fully released, but a teaser image has been shown with the classic BAPE logo tee with a Bored Ape integrated
During BAYC’s ApeFest this November, the rest of the pieces will be revealed
Ape holders will get first dibs on collecting these pieces, with a public drop to come later
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🔔 Active Investment Opportunities:
Brightvine: mortgage data on the blockchain as an industry standard
Brightvine is building a suite of next-generation products for the securities industry
They are engaged in programs with top investment banks and buyers
In one year, they have processed $5 Billion in volume
Tactogen: Mental health medicine using MDMA therapy
Science is now learning of the therapeutic effects of MDMA, and Tactogen is developing non-psychedelic ‘enactogens’ that provide a more focused, gentle healing
Conservative estimates suggest up to 25% of adults could benefit significantly from MDMA therapy
First patent awarded in April, on the road to FDA approval
Investing alongside Lifeforce Capital, and co-syndicating with Gaingels
National Cycling League: an NFL-style fan-friendly facing format
NCL is a revolution (get it, like a bicycle) in a sport ripe for racing fans of all types
Expansion plan in place expected to generate $5.2M in revenue from 8 events
10 signed teams, 2 year broadcast deal with Warner Bros., and Discovery+ listing
Low CapEx model for a high participation sport is a recipe for success
FuzzyBot: a new gaming genre changing the medium
Series A follow-on round of our Portfolio company
Investing in this round is Bitkraft (most active gaming VC, lead), Krafton, and Spielberg Family Office
FuzzyBot is targeting mass-market success without AAA studio costs
The National Thoroughbred League (NTL): Pioneer of team-based horse racing
Investmenting alongside Red Beard Ventures as part of the 100% ownership of the New Jersey Horse Racing team.
Key figures include rappers Nelly and Rick Ross, NFL star Kayvan Thibodeux, the NBA's Danny Green and retired basketball player Baron Davis.
Revenue streams from league-wide, mixed, and local sources.
Upcoming launch in Nashville with a $500,000 race and a concert by Anderson Paak.
NTL incorporates Web3 concepts for NFTs, digital games, virtual experiences, metaverse activations, and DAO participation.
Thrive Fantasy: Sports-betting made simple and more accessible
ThriveFantasy has exceeded $50M in entry fees, showing a 250% YoY growth, and anticipates reaching over $90M in 2023.
They're finalizing their white-label tech and aiming to launch by Q3, targeting $450K MRR in the first 6 months.
A revamped 2.0 UX is launching for the NFL season with the team planning for a whopping $10M/month in bets – the new UX is also expected to support multiple languages, opening the platform to an even larger audience.
Setscale: a Key Financing Tool for SMBs
Solves the cashflow gap that small/medium size businesses suffer: Post payment, pre sale
While large businesses have credit partners, SMBs generally have to float every shipment
Setscale solves this by covering the shipment payment in return for a small premium after the sale
Venus Aerospace: LA to Tokyo in ONE HOUR at Hypersonic Speed
A promise of the space age finally fulfilled, the craft designed by Venus Aerospace will be the fastest reusable hypersonic system in the world.
Their patented rotating detonation rocket engine (RDTE) will propel passengers at speeds up to Mach 9
The craft is designed to fly just outside of our atmosphere, where air friction poses no risk to the craft
Tafi: The Global Leader in 3D Assets and Text-to-3D genAI
Largest commercial library of 3D assets in the world; customers include Coca-Cola, HBO, Warner/DC, Coinbase, and others
Their product DAZ 3D (link to demo here) creates ultra-HD fully compatible and customizable characters
Exclusive partnership with NVIDIA to train even greater AI capabilities
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!
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 of 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
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
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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!
National Thoroughbred League New York Cup - Oct. 14 at Meadowlands Racetrack
Complimentary tickets for LPs that invest on AngelList (View the deal HERE)
Discounted tickets can be purchased on their website using the code “Degens50” (Purchase tickets HERE)
VIP tickets include private seating, early access to food stations, special tasting with Chef Andrew Zimmerman, exclusive after-hours party with special performance by Ja Rule
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🤝 We are hiring!
We are looking for part-time 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, Mitchell, Frankie, and Lauren