RBV Weekly Newsletter 🧔📖 Week of 02/13/25: Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, & More

Author

Austin Ritter
February 13, 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! 🚨

—------------------------------------------------------------

🚀 RBV Spotlight:

3Box Labs and Textile, two pioneers in decentralized data storage, have merged in an all stock deal to create a unified platform for AI powered agents. Backed by investors like USV, CoinFund, and Multicoin, the companies have collectively raised over $42 million since 2019. RBV participated in 3Box’s $30M Series A round in 2022. The merger aims to build “the intelligence layer for the multi-agent economy,” enabling AI agents to securely store, access, and verify data on permissionless blockchain rails. Textile CEO Andrew Hill will lead the combined entity, which will retain its existing staff and product lines while developing blockchain based infrastructure tailored for AI driven automation. With AI’s rapid growth, decentralized data solutions are increasingly critical, and the newly unified Textile is positioning itself at the forefront of this evolving landscape.

 —------------------------------------------------------------

💼 Portfolio News:

  • OpenSea’s OS2 open beta now supports Flow, expanding interoperability across 14 chains.

  • Starting February 20, Flow-based projects will be tradable / mintable on OpenSea via Flow EVM.

  • This milestone follows LayerZero and Axelar integrations, reinforcing Flow’s role in seamless cross-chain NFT experiences.

  • Paradromics receives a strategic investment from Saudi Arabia’s Neom Investment Fund to advance brain computer interface (BCI) technology.

  • As part of the deal, Paradromics will establish a BCI Center of Excellence in the Middle East and North Africa.

  • The company plans to launch its first human trial later this year with its Connexus Direct Data Interface aimed at helping patients with severe paralysis regain communication abilities.

  • Immersive Labs has rebranded as "Immersive" with a new "Be Ready" tagline, emphasizing its shift from training to a full cyber resilience platform.

  • The company introduced "Immersive One", a unified platform designed to continuously prove and improve cybersecurity readiness across all teams.

  • A commissioned study found 94% of organizations plan to implement cyber drills, highlighting the growing importance of hands-on cyber resilience strategies.

  • Azuro is now live on Base, bringing its prediction infrastructure to the growing ecosystem.

  • The protocol enables anyone to build feature-rich prediction dApps with no upfront costs and permissionless integrations.

  • Users gain access to deep on chain liquidity, fast settlements, and thousands of liquid sports markets powered by Azuro’s technology.

  • Shardeum’s Atomium Stage 4 has crossed 30 million transactions marking a major milestone for the network.

  • The blockchain now boasts 17,000+ validators and 82,000+ participants.

  • As the world’s first EVM-based L1 with dynamic state sharding, Shardeum continues to scale its TPS with every new node.

  • bitsCrunch has announced a strategic partnership with eFrogs to enhance the security and integrity of their NFT ecosystem.

  • eFrogs, an NFT collection on Linea, offers ENS subdomains, a tradable CROAK token, and partnerships to boost asset management and liquidity.

  • bitsCrunch will provide AI-powered analytics and forensic tools to detect unauthorized branding use, ensuring a safer and more transparent experience for the community.

  • OORT has partnered with XYO, the largest DePIN network with over 8 million nodes, to advance decentralized AI infrastructure.

  • The collaboration integrates XYO’s data verification with OORT’s decentralized storage, improving data accuracy, security, and transparency for dApps.

  • This partnership aims to empower dApp growth, ensuring a more reliable and scalable decentralized cloud for AI applications.

—------------------------------------------------------------

🔔 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).

  • 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

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

—------------------------------------------------------------

🥳 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!

—------------------------------------------------------------

🤝 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

—------------------------------------------------------------

Onwards 🚀 

Drew, Elana, Joshua, Lauren, and Austin