RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖Week of 01/23/25

Team RBV Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, & More

Author

Joshua Howard
January 23, 2025

RBV Weekly Newsletter 🧔📖 Week of 01/23/25: Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, & More

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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.


đź“Ł As a reminder, Red Beard Ventures has a syndicate, 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 where we invest $100k into companies interested in designing and launching a token, over a twelve-week hands-on program. 🚨Applications are now open for Wire Accelerator, apply here! 🚨

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RBV Spotlight 🚀

Venus Aerospace, a leader in hypersonic engine technology, has secured an investment from America’s Frontier Fund to accelerate the development of its breakthrough propulsion systems. The company’s VDR2 engine, capable of reaching 4,600 mph (Mach 6), has the potential to enable commercial flights from Los Angeles to Tokyo in under two hours. Founded in 2020, Venus Aerospace has pioneered some of the most efficient hypersonic engines, positioning itself at the forefront of high speed aviation, defense, and space travel. With this investment, the company plans to advance its hypersonic propulsion program and conduct the first atmospheric flight of its RDRE engine later this year. AFF’s backing comes at a critical time - “Venus Aerospace is poised to redefine hypersonic flight and ensure America’s continued leadership in aerospace innovation,” said Jordan Blashek, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at AFF. Looking ahead, Venus aims to push the boundaries of Mach 5+ flight with its Stargazer M4, the world’s first reusable commercial aircraft designed for hypersonic travel.

Congrats to the Venus team!

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Portfolio News

  • This collaboration allows AI agents to autonomously create and operate their own Layer1 blockchains, unlocking unprecedented scalability and customization.

  • Leveraging Saga’s “Layer1 to launch Layer1s” architecture, AI agents built with ElizaOS will benefit from secure, gasless environments to drive innovations in swarm intelligence, decentralized prediction markets, generative AI, and enhanced liquidity solutions.

  • Saga CEO Rebecca Liao called it a “paradigm shift” that will redefine AI-driven economies.

  • Showcasing the future of decentralized technology and its impact on global markets.

  • Speakers include Ovia Seshadri, Satheesh, Arjun Vijay, and Ritesh Kant, bringing insights into blockchain, DeFi, and crypto investments.

  • Involvement from industry experts from CoinDCX, PearBee, Giottus, and BlockOn Ventures

  • Seasats’ 11-ft Lightfish autonomous surface vehicle embarks on a 7,000+ mile journey from San Diego to Japan, now 500 miles in.

  • The mission showcases long-range, unmanned maritime capabilities, advancing autonomous ocean exploration and surveillance.

  • Follow the live tracking at track.seasats.com and learn more at Seasats.com.

  • stSTXbtc introduces liquid staking for STX, allowing users to earn Bitcoin rewards without locking up assets.

  • Launch Party AMA taking place to discuss the impact on the ecosystem.

  • The new model provides increased flexibility, DeFi integration, and the ability to switch seamlessly between stSTX and stSTXbtc.

  • TRUMP now bridged to Base using LayerZero’s OFT Standard.

  • Developed by Ambient Global to enable seamless transfers.

  • Transfers are live on Stargate Finance - expanding accessibility for Base users.

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đź”” Active Investment Opportunities:

XProtocol: Entertainment Focused DePIN + Phone | SAFE + Token Warrant | Phone Launch Imminent | Backed by Sequoia, Dragonfly Capital, and Coinfund

  • XProtocol’s XForge, is the world’s first node-operated blockchain smartphone, allowing users to contribute resources like bandwidth and computational power in exchange for rewards.

  • Aims to reduce transaction costs to millionths of a cent and support over 1,000 transactions per second, addressing the demand for economically efficient and scalable blockchain solutions.

  • 1.5 million monthly active users, 10,000 active nodes, and over 3,500 XForge devices sold.

  • Anticipates significant revenue growth, projecting $10 million by the end of 2025, with a target of selling over 30,000 devices. 

  • Led by Co-founder & CEO Peter Huang, a YCombinator Alum who previously co-founded Gotrade, a TradFi startup known as the Robinhood for Asia. Co-founder & CTO Dmitriy Paunin was the Former CTO at Coins Philippines’ crypto exchange with over 16 million users and the Former VP of Technology at Lazada, a unicorn in Asia.

  • Link to invest

Travelswap: Exclusive Expedia Crypto Partner Disrupting Travel

  • TravelSwap, an Expedia exclusive, combines travel booking with 100+ crypto payments, tokenized reservations, and rewards.

  • Impressive traction since July 2023 launch: 1,000+ bookings, 50+ B2B partners, 10k+ users (50% MoM growth), 12%+ repeat bookings.

  • 2024 plans: $TRAVL token, last-minute DEX, V2 B2B platform, expanded offerings.

  • Link to invest

SatRepublic: Leading Ordinals Studio Launches tool for collectors and developers

  • SatRepublic, the Ordinals Studio behind Pizza Artifacts, SatScribe is launching Runevo, a mobile-first infrastructure designed to enable users to transact, monitor, trade, and snipe Runes, Rare Stats, and Ordinals.

  • Pizza Artifacts, the first historical collection of Ordinals fully inscribed on the exotic 'pizza' Sats from the pizza transaction of May 22, 2010, trading at 25x mint; SatScribe, the first public platform for inscribing on rare and exotic Sats, which has done over 150k paid inscriptions for users; and Runevo, a collection of 6.025 pre-rune Ordinals that sold out in under 24 hours to raise $1.4mm USD, or 17.4 BTC.

  • Link to invest: 

PWR Labs: First Blockchain to Create Direct Interoperability with Web2 | Token Warrant

  • PWR Labs is revolutionizing blockchain infrastructure by creating direct interoperability with Web2, enabling seamless deployment of programming languages across external VMs, side chains, and smart contracts.

  • Testnet live since 2023 with various projects already building on the platform. Mainnet launch scheduled for Q4 2024. PWR Chain uniquely eliminates platform limitations, mirroring the decentralized structure of the internet.

  • $6M Pre-Seed raise via SAFT with a $90M pre-money valuation cap and token price of $0.09. 

  • Backed by notable investors including Tim Draper’s Draper Associates, Magnus Capital (Astra Protocol, Desofy), Alphabit Fund (Sire), GVG Capital, and Crypto Oasis Ventures.

  • Co-founder & CEO Melanie Mohr, serial entrepreneur with 20+ years in media and mobile technology, and Co-founder & CTO Edy Haddad, blockchain veteran with on-chain records for gas-efficient smart contracts, are leading this transformative project.

  • Link to invest

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🥳 Upcoming Events:

We will be attending ETH Denver Feb23 - March 2nd!

Join us for a dynamic day of discussions, workshops, and showcases at the forefront of blockchain and AI innovation. We’re bringing together thought leaders, builders, and visionaries to explore the intersection of Web3, tokenomics, and decentralized systems. From groundbreaking demos to engaging conversations about the creator economy and the evolution of DAOs, we’ll dive into how emerging technologies drive real-world applications and shape the future of innovation.

If you’re going to be at the festival and would like to meet up with Drew, please reach out to [email protected].

Stay tuned for updates on future events, and until then, keep spreading joy and positivity in our community!

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🤝 We are also 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, Joshua, Lauren, and Austin