RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖Week of 06/07/24

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.
  

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RBV Spotlight

Crawley Town F.C., an RBV-owned soccer team in Crawley, West Sussex, England, recently celebrated a championship in EFL League 2 after a 2-0 victory over Crewe Alexandra and a promotion into EFL Leauge One, the third highest tier of the English Football League System. After a seventh-place finish in this year’s regular season, the team struck fire and went on to perform as a top team in the playoffs, scoring the most goals by a side (team) in total in the playoffs this year and marking impressive wins like an 8-1 victory over MK Dons in the semi finals. The team is led by star striker Danilo Orsi and Klaidi Loloswho, with Oris having a hat trick in the MK Dons 8-1 victory.

Congrats to the team!! 

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Portfolio News

Bitcrunch launches beta for ‘Reverse Image Search’ for NFTs

• Bitcrunch, an NFT analytics and forensic data platform launched a beta feature for reverse NFT Search engine 

• Bitscrunch, launched in 2021, aims to solve the problem of gathering and enriching data for NFT sales - and has built category-leading analytics tools in NFT lending, exchanges, and fraud detection  

• The reverse search engine tool marks a first for fraud detection 

DFNS announces partnership with recently launched Sphere Labs

• Solana based Sphere Labs is an “operating system for stablecoins” connecting end users with merchants in emerging markets.

• DFNS is partnering with Sphere to enable apps to launch wallets on Sphere, reducing friction and uncertainty for cross-border transactions

• Sphere, backed by Jump Crypto, TCG, Bessemer, and SteelDAO, among others, recently emerged from stealth. 

Hydro one of ten companies selected for a Sui Grant

• Sui protocol announced 10 grant recipients for the months of March and April. Sui has awarded over $4.85 million dollars to 86 projects

• These 10 projects represent a diverse range of applications and uses for blockchain technology, from data aggregation to payment platforms. The Sui Foundation's support for these projects indicates a continued interest in the development and application of blockchain technology.

Limewire becomes second most active project on BNB Chain

• LimeWire is a studio for image, music, and video content creation, as well as a social platform for content creators, artists, and musicians powered by AI. 

• Limewire has the second-largest Discord community in the world, with 2mm, and is the second-most active project in BNB Chain, with $1.3mm in users. 

• Limewire has recently announced the launch of its AI Chat Assistant and yield farming program. 

Layer Zero announces integration with Omni Chain Yield Market Place Superform

• LayerZero Labs is an interoperability protocol that enables developers to build omnichain dApps. The firm integrates across 50+ blockchains and counting. 

• Superform is a universal yield marketplace which enables developers to deploy a vault to any chain and users to deposit into any chain after opting in to Sueprform. 

• Superform has used LayerZero for over 45k cross chain messages on vaults in early access

Anduril Secures Partnership with US Air Force

• On Wednesday, The US Air Force announced that Anduril will be one of two companies to move forward in building Collaborate Combat Aircrafts (CCAs)

• Anduril Industries specializes in the development of advanced aerial, amphibious, and other autonomous systems. CCA’s are intended to work alongside manned aircraft, and are crucial in the US DoD plans for next-generation warfare. 

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🔔 Active Investment Opportunities:

Aethir: Decentralized cloud infrastructure for gaming and AI.

• Aethir is building a decentralized cloud infrastructure (DCI) that aggregates GPUs from enterprises, data centers, miners, and consumers for gaming and AI.

• With the AI boom driving unprecedented demand for GPUs, the market is facing significant supply constraints, impacting costs, availability, and advancement across GPU-reliant industries such as AI, gaming, and IoT.

• Aethir's disruptive solution leverages underutilized GPU capacity, estimated at 50-75%, to create a vast reservoir of untapped digital resources that can be monetized and redistributed efficiently.

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

AltoCrypto: Revolutionizing Crypto Investing through IRAs

• Alto Crypto is a subsidiary of AltoIRA, the leading provider of the Alternative IRA

• Alto Crypto is revolutionizing the retirement investing landscape by providing a platform for individuals to invest in over 240 cryptocurrencies tax-free or tax-deferred through their Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs)

• Investors can gain exposure to the crypto market's exponential growth potential while benefiting from the stability and long-term outlook of the retirement investing space.

• Link to invest

Travelswap: Denarii Labs Alumni and the Only Crypto-Native Expedia Partner

• Building the lowest-cost and -friction crypto travel platform, with future token plans developed by Denarii 

• Backed by RBV and angels, the platform is already post-revenue

• Link to invest

Atmos Labs: Web3 Gaming Developer Powerhouse

• This is the seed extension, receiving both equity and tokens, is supporting the 2024 launch of their flagship game, ExoGP

• Atomos is building a narrative and economic ecosystem around their game series IP

• Led by Sora Ventures, Sfermion, GSR, Tectona, and more

• Link to invest

BrandGuard: Safety rails for AI-generated content

• This brand governance platform is able to ensure an AI agent will never generate embarrassing or inaccurate content on behalf of the brand

• In pilot programs with Amazon, Meta, Thermo Fisher, Colgate, Little Caesars, and more

• Backers include Bee partners, Frfly, Argon, Relay Ventures, and Baselayer Ventures

• Link to invest

FranShares: Fixing the Franchise Model

• They are fixing the operator-to-franchisee model by applying an equity share and crowdfunding model

• Live today, FranShares has already facilitated $18M in investments with a pipeline of $200M more

• Backers include Chicago Ventures, VU Venture Partners, and Shawntae Spencer 

• Link to invest

Matternet: Drone Delivery with Impressive Traction

• A16z, Sony, and Mercedes-backed Matternet is revolutionizing the instant delivery market by enabling ultra-fast, sustainable, and affordable delivery solutions for e-commerce, food, and medical items. 

• With an impressive 50k flights across 10 cities globally, Matternat is the first and only company to receive full FAA Type and Production Certification for its drone delivery system. Has also secured 135 strategic partnerships, including UPS.

• Link to invest

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🥳 Upcoming Events: 

Events are a great way to stay informed in our industry, so we are planning for a very full 2024. 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! 

We will be at Bitcoin Nashville and Token2049, please email [email protected] if you plan to be there too!

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

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Onwards 🚀 

Drew, Elana, Joshua, and Lauren