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- RBV Weekly Newsletter 🧔📖 Week of 02/06/25
RBV Weekly Newsletter 🧔📖 Week of 02/06/25
Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, & More
Austin Ritter
February 06, 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, 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:
Seasats has raised $10 million in a funding round led by Shield Capital, with participation from Aero X Ventures, Techstars, and others, fueling its expansion into defense and international markets. Known for its solar-powered, 11-foot Lightfish vessels, the company is meeting rising demand for autonomous surface vehicles across border security, environmental monitoring, and maritime defense. With militaries seeking ready-to-deploy unmanned systems, Seasats plans to scale operations, grow its workforce, and enhance overseas sales. A Lightfish vessel is currently en route to Japan, following a successful California-to-Hawaii mission last year, and its ability to deploy small drones further showcases its innovation in autonomous maritime technology. As CEO Mike Flanigan emphasized at the WEST naval conference, Seasats’ technology is proven and mission-ready, marking a significant step in the evolution of autonomous naval capabilities.
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đź’Ľ Portfolio News:
Biofire’s 9mm “Smart Gun” has officially been added to California’s DOJ Handgun Roster following CRPA’s legal victory in Boland v. Bonta, which struck down the state’s microstamping requirement.
This marks a significant expansion of California’s semiautomatic handgun market, which has remained largely stagnant for over a decade. The Boland case continues to challenge other restrictive roster requirements, with CRPA aiming for further legal wins.
Biofire’s inclusion highlights the ongoing impact of the lawsuit, opening doors for more firearm models to enter the California market.
Liquid Death introduces three new soda-inspired sparkling water flavors: Rootbeer Wrath, Killer Cola, and Doctor Death, now available on Amazon and select retailers.
Fans praise the new flavors, with early tasters calling Doctor Death "incredible" and comparing Killer Cola to classic cola bottle candies.
A national retail rollout begins April 1, while the brand also expands its lineup with Sweet Reaper Iced Tea, a caffeinated option arriving in May.
XION has officially launched its open mainnet, introducing The Promethean Saga, a multi-month on-chain movement featuring daily explorations, leaderboards, and competitions to showcase its rapidly growing ecosystem.
Built to remove technical barriers, XION’s network enables seamless Web3 adoption, with over 60,000 daily active users and hundreds of developers transitioning their apps from the successful Believathon startup competition.
As the first Layer 1 blockchain purpose-built for consumer adoption, XION invites users and builders to explore its Generalized Abstraction and help stress-test the network.
LayerZero Labs has settled its legal dispute with the FTX estate over transactions involving Alameda Ventures in 2022, ending two years of litigation.
CEO Bryan Pellegrino announced that after millions in legal fees, LayerZero opted to resolve the lawsuit, which sought over $21 million related to withdrawn funds and equity stakes. The firm emphasized that its fight was not against FTX but rather the creditors, of which LayerZero is one.
Originally, Alameda Ventures had agreed to acquire a 5% stake in LayerZero, sending $70 million and purchasing $25 million in STG tokens. The settlement returns the repurchase agreement to the FTX estate, closing the chapter on its financial entanglement with the bankrupt exchange.
Alchemy V4 successfully integrated with Auth0, and the ElizaOS plugin is in development.
BTC_On_Base demo launched in collab with Zoom with over 1k developers engaging on GitHub.
Final preparations completed for Ethereum Denver launch.
OORT has unveiled OORT Insider, a new initiative to keep its community informed about major updates in its decentralized AI cloud ecosystem.
Highlights include: OORT DataHub Penalty Policy rollout, upcoming Halley Upgrade for OORT Mainnet (Olympus Protocol), bonus rewards for OORT Edge Nodes participants, exclusive KnowTechie interview with Dr. Max Li, Dr. Max Li’s latest feature in Forbes.
Check it out directly here: OORT Insider.
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đź”” Active Investment Opportunities:
Involio: The Future of Social Trading in Crypto | Backed by Flagstaff Ventures, Kraynos Capital, and Gaingels
Involio is revolutionizing crypto trading by enabling real-time portfolio transparency and seamless social trading experiences allowing users to follow and replicate top performing investors with confidence.
The platform has experienced explosive organic growth, scaling from 2,000 users to over 170,000 within a year—without any marketing spend. Now preparing for its next phase, Involio is launching its decentralized exchange in the coming months, integrating its upcoming token launch at a projected $1B valuation.
We are investing in their $4M seed round via SAFE at a $30M pre-money valuation with a $50M FDV token warrant.
The founding team, led by Ryan Pace and Ian Watson, has spent 8 years community-building in the crypto ecosystem. Ryan was recently recognized as a 2024 Inno Under 25 honoree for outstanding entrepreneurs. They are joined by a strong technical team and industry-leading mentors, including Cyril Mathew (COO of ZeroHash, ex-Facebook/Uber/Coinbase/Stripe), Luca Netz (CEO of Pudgy Penguins), and Hermine Wong (former SEC official, current Head of Policy at Coinbase).
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.
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.
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.
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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