Foresight Ventures, a venture capital company based in Singapore, has opened up the application process for the second phase of its accelerator program.
This round focuses on Web3 projects in various emerging ecosystems, with an additional $10 million pledged towards the program, the company said in a recent announcement.
The first phase saw 30 companies selected and given investments ranging from $50,000 to $200,000 each.
Moving forward, selected projects will receive a fixed investment of $200,000 to develop their products and scale operations.
Foresight Ventures will also provide mentorship and guidance through up to three professionals assigned to each project and an organized Demo Day to showcase their progress and potential.
The $10 million pledge brings Foresight Ventures’ total investment in the Web3 accelerator to $20 million, which is intended to support the growth and development of Web3 projects in areas such as ZK systems, AI, machine learning, liquid staking derivatives, Bitcoin, and NFTs.
Additionally, Foresight Ventures has raised its VC portfolio AUM to over $400 million through collaborations with BitKeep and Bitget.
Foresight Ventures recently announced its backing for a Web3 game called “HIM”, which combines AI and gaming within the Web3 ecosystem and targets a female-oriented audience.
Web3 VC Funding Slumps amid Market Downturn
Web3 startups are experiencing a decrease in venture capital funding due to sluggish deal flows.
Crunchbase’s data reveals an 82% year-on-year decline in Web3 VC funding, dropping from $9.1 billion to $1.7 billion. In Q4 2020, the VC funding amounted to $1.1 billion.
Though the term Web3 was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, there was scarce coverage until 2021, with Google Trends indicating a significant surge in December of that year.
Deal flow also reduced, with only 333 deals finalized in Q1, showing a sharp decline from over 500 in Q1 2022 and lower than the previous Q’s 369.
Out of these, only two deals exceeded $100 million: Blockstream in January, receiving $125 million from Kingsway Capital, and Fulgur Ventures. This number marks the lowest since Q4 2020.
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