RBV Weekly Newsletter🧔📖Week of 4/5/23

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

Author

Joshua Howard
April 12, 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 we have Drew and Alex giving a recap about NFT NYC, Solana outages, $PEPECOIN, bull markets, 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

DOUBLE TGE Tuesday: SAGA Mainnet and Truflation $TRUF Launch

Early Tuesday morning, within an hour of each other, two major Token Generation Events (TGE) took place for two of our most recent portfolio companies: Saga and Truflation.  Saga is the VM-agnostic appchain deployment network that makes deploying an L3 significantly easier, cheaper, and faster. Truflation, the first company associated with the prestigious Chainlink BUILD program, provides robust and exotic pricing data for indexes, synthetic tokens, and inflation-pegged assets. Both Saga and Truflation are part of the Red Beard Ventures Fund I portfolio, with Truflation additionally having been offered successfully as a syndicate SPV to our LPs.

The SAGA token ($SAGA) is the native asset of the Saga Mainnet, where validator networks and blockchain deployment is managed.  As a reminder, our cost basis for the token was $0.13; current market value of the token can be found on the $SAGA CoinMarketCap page, along with live statistics and exchange listing information. The Truflation token ($TRUF) rewards data providers in their network as well as serves as the method of payment between data providers and purchasers. The cost basis of $TRUF to the syndicate LPs was $0.04; current market value of the token can be found on the $TRUF CoinMarketCap page.

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Portfolio News

  • The pre-launch round raised $3M from investors

  • RBV participated in this and past rounds, with the most recent valued at $85M FMV

  • $AZUR token TGE is listed as “soon”

  • Samsung, the web3-friendly tech giant, has partnered with WW for their distribution efforts

  • Samsung games portals, and their upcoming web3 hub, will feature Wilder World assets and information

  • Wilder World will also be available through the Samsung Smart TVs

  • The Africa-based blockchain company has pivoted to a consumer-friendly experience

  • Jara wallet is available now, available on their website or on the Google Play store

  • The Jara token is coming as well, with tokenomics available on their website: GetJara.xyz

  • Multi-chain applications seamlessly integrate and operate across different blockchain ecosystems

  • They address fragmented liquidity, complex navigation, and poor user experiences in web3

  • These applications leverage features from various blockchains to provide a unified, user-friendly experience

  • Anduril served as the prime technology provider, integrating various platforms and data sources into its Lattice software

  • Lattice enabled simultaneous command and control of heterogeneous unmanned vehicles across air, sea, and sub-sea

  • Operators used Lattice to automate machine tasking, adjust asset positions, and coordinate autonomous behaviors

  • The token allocation for $BCUT sold out in under 24 minutes, raising $3.8M

  • 38,000 pre-registrations ended up with 3,300 breaking through and buying the maximum amount

  • Pre-registrations came from 163 countries, a remarkable diversity

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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! 

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

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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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Onwards 🚀 

Drew, Elana, Mitchell, and LaurenÂ