RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖Week of 3/29/23

Open Deals, Portfolio Updates, Crypto News, RBV Fund I Closing & More

Author

Joshua Howard
March 29, 2024

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.

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RBV Media

In this week’s episode, Drew and Alex sit down to discuss the breaking news: SBF sentenced to 25 years in prison.  Also notes on NFT NYC, the BASE ecosystem, meme tokens, and more.

Join us for a weekly dose of investing knowledge and industry expertise.  Subscribe now! →  @red-beard-radio @FewPod

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RBV Spotlight

Frax Finance has selected Truflation's real-time US inflation data to peg the value of its Frax Price Index ($FPI) stablecoin - or “flatcoin” - using Truflation's US CPI index. The partnership will involve launching Truflation oracle feeds on Fraxtal, creating a "Flatcoin Basepool" with FPI pegged to the Truflation inflation data oracle, and airdropping $TRUF tokens to Fraxtal holders. 

This is the second such flatcoin to partner with Truflation, after Nuon. With the average US consumer losing 24% of their purchasing power in the past three years, flatcoins like $FPI and Nuon provide a way for investors to protect their purchasing power in a decentralized and transparent way. Truflation, a leading real-world asset oracle service, tracks over 18 million items with three price feeds per item, providing the necessary data infrastructure to bring about systemic advancements in the DeFi economy.

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Portfolio News

  • With the upcoming release, Wilder World has partnered with Epic Games, creator of gaming sensation Fortnite, to distribute in their Epic Games Store

  • Launched at the end of 2018, their store is one of the biggest in gaming, with 270 Million PC users, 36 Million DAU, and a total $950 Million in sales.

  • Gamers can now wishlist in the listing page in the Epic Games Store

  • Sarah "Sassie" Duggleby appointed to Texas Space Commission's Board of Directors

  • Commission initiated by Governor Greg Abbott to solidify Texas' role as a national leader in the space industry

  • Duggleby to collaborate with board members to foster innovation and promote integration of space, aeronautics, and aviation into Texas' economy

  • The Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) provider is using Azuro to add betting markets to their list of features

  • Metavault is building their “all in one” service to include staking, bridges, perpetuals, and now prediction markets and sports books via Azuro

  • This reflects a broader trend in app building, both in Web2 and 3, to centralize services onto one platform

  • Season 2 runs from April 1st to June 31st, focusing on NBA and NHL Playoffs

  • Each community represented by a captain with a $1000 bankroll on UBET Sports

  • Participants can join by staking a minimum of 5k DGEN, with no cap

  • Three ways to earn: betting profits, 1 million DGEN prize, and UBET Credit competitions

  • The NFT marketplace is integrating bitsCrunch suite of fraud detection tools

  • Metaverse Merchants specializes in one-of-one and personalized NFTs

  • Marketplace users will be able to see AI-detected malicious trading activity on their platform

  • As of this month, over 1.1M users have been onboarded to the platform

  • Over 1.7M AI assets have been generated and 30k NFTs minted

  • 27.5M $LMWR tokens have been burned; over $26 Million USD worth

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đź”” Active Investment Opportunities:

3DOS: the Amazon Marketplace of 3D-printed items

  • They have already developed a software (3DPrinterOS) to network 3D printers, used by 290k designers globally

  • 3DOS is building a blockchain-secured network of professional and hobbyist printers to replace the logistics of small printable item manufacturing and shipping

  • Backed by NGC Ventures, Escape Velocity, Modular Capital, and more

  • Link to invest

LayerZero Labs: highly sought-after secondary shares+token warrant

  • One of our most prized investments has given us the opportunity to syndicate a secondaries shares sale

  • We have a $400k allocation, at the same valuation as their last round ($3B FDV)

  • TGE is scheduled for June 2024, 1 year cliff, 2 year monthly vesting

  • Link to invest

Mintify: a Bloomberg Terminal for tokenized economies

  • They have built a highly modular system for complex traders and professionals working in the space

  • Mintify was built for cross-chain interoperability, API and SDK support, and scalable architecture

  • Backed by Alchemy Ventures, GSR, and Master Ventures

  • Link to invest

Rational Vaccines: developing solutions to globally debilitating problems

  • They are revolutionizing the vaccine industry and developing an HSV vaccine that can impact 4.5 BILLION people globally

  • RVx is using cutting edge technology to edit virus genes, making them harmless

  • Backed by Thiel Capital, Presight Capital, The Madden Family Funds, and more

  • Link to invest

Heights Labs: taking blockchain investigations from days to minutes

  • Their revolutionary AI-backed FLOWS technology digests billions of blockchain connections to find the endpoint of criminal activity

  • In pilot programs with many federal and local law enforcement agencies, totaling over $170M+ in the pipeline

  • Backed by Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, Narcissus Ventures, and more

  • Link to invest

BioFire: the world’s first usable biometric smart gun system

  • BioFire uses facial recognition and fingerprint biometrics to ensure the gun cannot be removed or fired unless by an authorized person

  • Round led by Founders Fund, Valhalla Ventures, Draper Associates, and more

  • Shipping their flagship product in the next four weeks; this round will close before then!

  • 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, ThermoFischer, Colgate, Little Caesar’s, 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

Deep6 AI: Clinical Trials at Turbo Speed using AI

  • The costliest and longest bottleneck of bringing new health treatments to market is being accelerated by their AI matching system

  • By speeding this delay, Deep6 is able to save billions in revenue, massive drug cost increases, and potentially hundreds or even thousands of lives

  • Backed by Point72, GSR Ventures, Samsung NEXT, 3M ventures, and more

  • Link to invest

Versus Game: Gamified Ads Using Gen-AI

  • This B2B tech helps media, publishers, and brands use generative AI to make interactive content

  • Eric Schmidt, investor and board member, said “This is the most powerful real-world AI application” he’s seen

  • Almost 1000 digital media partners including Forbes, USA Today, ESPN, ABC, Microsoft, and more

  • 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! 

Wilder World x RBV event at NFT NYC - April 4, 7:30PM

If you know anything about RBV events, you know this is certainly NOT one to miss!  

A Note to Guests:

- No +1s, must RSVP

- 100 guest limit

- We will start at 7:30pm sharp

- First come first serve until we reach our capacity at 100 guests

- Registration is not your confirmation, keep your eye out for a confirmation email

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🤝 We are hiring! 

Red Beard Ventures is seeking a Venture Capital Intern to join our team. The intern will focus on identifying and evaluating potential investment opportunities, writing deal memos, and helping with the operations of the syndicate and fund. This internship spans 6 to 12 months, requiring at least 20 hours per week of remote work. For those interested in this position, here is a link to our application.

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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Fidelity Private Shares equity administration and cap table solutions: serving founders and their stakeholders throughout the company lifecycle all inside a single platform designed by and for the innovation economy.  Shoobx | Equity Management | Cap Table Solutions | 409A Valuations. Through a partnership with Red Beard Ventures, we are offering a 20% discount to any company that signs up for a paid subscription. For more information, please contact Jason Hammond – [email protected]

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Onwards 🚀 

Drew, Elana, Mitchell, and LaurenÂ