CoinSwitch, a prominent player in India’s crypto space, has released a status update around its Web3 Discovery Fund, that was announced last year. The ventures arm of the crypto exchange claims to be helping Web3 startups in India with a subsequent funding of nearly $25 million (roughly Rs. 206 crore), according to a press release by the firm. At present, 12 startups are being supported by this fund. These up-and-coming blockchain firms include PYOR, Silence Labs, AirStack, Mohash, Shield, PolyTrade, BitsCrunch, and PlayZap among others.
The Web3 community in India is expanding under the shadowy lack of regulations established to rule the sector. India currently houses over 450 Web3 startups, out of which four are unicorns with valuations exceeding the mark of $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,267 crore). By around April last year, Indian Web3 startups had managed to rope-in $1.3 billion (roughly Rs. 10,700 crore) funding from national as well as international investors, as per a Nasscom report cited by the media.
Several new founders however, struggle to meet with the required financial resources in the initial stages of their projects, causing hurdles in the quality and completion of the initiatives.
As per Parth Chaturvedi, Investment Lead at CoinSwitch, the formation of this Web3 focussed fund last year was to enable early-stage startups to experiment with blockchain, crypto, and overall Web3 to solve real-world problems.
“Our aim is to build a bridge that enables Indian startups to have access to global capital, thereby facilitating the growth of the Indian Web3 ecosystem,” Chaturvedi said in a prepared statement. “Even in the bear market, we have seen a huge influx of innovative startup ideas.”
For now, the startups receiving financial aid from the CoinSwitch fund are working on projects around blockchain infrastructure, blockchain analytics, and real-world asset tokenisation.
To increase the financial aid to needy startups, CoinSwitch claims to be working on expanding its network of venture capitalists.
At present, CoinSwitch Venture’s Web3 Discovery Fund has up to 70 participants including over 100 startups with esteemed global investors, boasting prominent names like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Coinbase Ventures, and Sequoia Capital.
While India remains sceptical towards accepting crypto with open arms, the country is intrigued about exploring the use-cases of the blockchain technology.
In January last year, NITI Aayog, India’s government-backed think tank, launched a blockchain module to help local developers explore the potential of the sector with experimental use-cases, trials, and errors.
“Blockchain is playing a crucial role in revolutionising business and redefining economies. It has the potential to unlock tremendous opportunities for the youth and this module will introduce students as young as grade six to the concepts of blockchain, which will help them in solving societal issues through its application. The module covers the basic aspects of blockchain and goes on to its case-based application in various industries,” Mission Director Chintan Vaishnav had said in a statement at the time.
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