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Source: Plain Language Blockchain
According to a report released by CEX Bybit in June, institutional investors’ positions in spot Memecoin increased from $62.5 million to $204.8 million between February and March this year, and peaked in April, with a total position reaching $293.7 million.The most popular Memecoin include DOGE, SHIB, PEPE and BONK.Subsequently, after Memecoins suffered a sell-off, the total holdings fell to US$139 million, but the increase in this holdings also increased by 125% from the beginning of the year.
It can be said that since this year, Memecoin has become an important focus of institutional investors.And unlike the flashy Memecoin craze in the past, Memecoin has become an important narrative and hot topic in this market cycle.
Since the second half of 2024, some VCs have also announced that they will invest in Memecoin infrastructure. Since Memecoin was opposed by VCs, it has changed from being gradually accepted by VCs.So how do these venture capital institutions come to participate in Memecoin?
1. a16z
A16z, full name Andreessen Horowitz, is a famous American venture capital company founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, and is headquartered in Silicon Valley.In the early stages, he invested in Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Airbnb, and continued to make efforts in the Web3 and blockchain fields. He once gained a lot of money in Coinbase and established multiple crypto funds, becoming one of the important investors in the crypto industry.
However, as a mainstream venture capital firm, a16z started with Memecoin, which snatched the market.mannerNot very friendly.From February to April this year, the Memecoin market soared. Whether it was the average weekly increase of 20 popular Memecoin such as PEPE reached 6 times, or the rapid launch of CEX such as WIF and BOME, it seized the market share of VC Token.
Eddy Lazzarin, CTO of a16z Crypto, harshly criticized Memecoin in an April 25, 2024 tweet, saying it undermined the “long-term vision” of cryptocurrencies and tarnished the “public, regulators and entrepreneurs” about thisThe industry’s view and acts as a casino for “relatively minority groups”.”
Chris Dixon, managing partner and chief technology officer of A16Z, also posted a post to denounce Memecoin, bluntly saying that Memecoin is simply a casino.
However, recently a16z has changed his critical attitude towards Memecoin in the first half of the year and has frequently participated in MemeCoin.
First, a16z co-founder Andreessen Horowitz gave a $50,000 BTC to the robot account Truth Terminal on X, which gave birth to the recent hot Goat Coin GOAT, pushing GOAT from an unknown project to a shocking $850 millionWith its highest market value in history, Truth Terminal became the first AI millionaire, and has also taken the trend to promote the development of AI+Meme.
Then on the morning of October 28, Marc released two related content about AI16Z, which quickly attracted attention to AI16Z.This “AI16Z Fund” was created by Twitter account “Marc ‘AI’ ndreessen”, which launched the fund on daos.fun.The fund manages about 420 SOL of raised funds through AI dialogue, invests specifically in Memecoin, and simulates the personality of Marc Andreessen.
Until October 27, the fund’s market value was about $4 million.However, after Marc forwarded a comic picture of a T-shirt printed with an ai16z pattern, the market value of AI16Z soared more than 20 times in just 12 hours, reaching a high of nearly $100 million.
While some sources linked it to the well-known venture capital firm a16z, arguing that the fund may have received support from the company, Andreessen Horowitz has not officially confirmed its relationship with the project.Therefore, it is unclear whether the token is actually supported by a16z or just borrowing a similar name to attract attention.But it is clear that a16z no longer denounces Memecoin as it used to be.
2. DWF Labs
Founded in 2022, DWF Labs is a new generation of Web3 investors and market makers, investing in a number of well-known projects, including dYdX, SushiSwap, Injective Protocol, Astar Network and Morpheus Network.
According to relevant information, DWF Labs has invested in multiple Memecoins and has been involved earlier.In 2023, he invested in the pet Shiba Inu “Floki” (FLOKI) and further invested $12 million in 2024.These funds support several FLOKI development projects such as FlokiFi (decentralized finance), Floki University, the educational platform for the Floki Inu ecosystem, and its meta-universe game Valhalla.This series of investments not only drove FLOKI’s price increase, but also helped it successfully log in to several important trading platforms.
In addition, I invested $5 million in Milady Meme Coin (LADYS) on June 3, 2024.This funding is designed to support Milady Meme Coin’s growth in the memecoin market, enhance its development capabilities, and promote community engagement.
In August 2024, DWF Labs partnered with Floki and BNB Chain to launch the Memecoin Simon’s Cat exclusively on the BNB Chain.Simon’s Cat is a world-renowned cat animation series and a very popular cat emoticon.
In September 2024, DWF Labs announced a joint partnership with GraFun to support the launch of Token on the GraFun platform, with the aim of supporting the Memecoin project released on the GraFun platform through enhanced liquidity.
Andrey Grachev, managing partner of DWF Labs, expressed great enthusiasm for this cooperation: “Working with GraFun is an exciting opportunity to support the next generation Memecoin project on BNB Chain.”
BigGra of GraFun agrees, saying: “The partnership with DWF Labs is an important milestone for the GraFun and Memecoin ecosystems. We believe that this partnership will lead to our community and the broader market.Come with great value.”
Andrei Grachev once posted on the X platform:“The Memecoin market has become a mature and solid part of the industry.It takes advantage of extreme fear and greed, allowing smart investors and traders to make huge fortunes.DWF Labs institutionalized investment in Memecoin a few years ago, and that remains one of our priorities.”
3. Binance Labs
Binance Labs is a world-leading blockchain and crypto investment institution affiliated with crypto CEX Binance and was founded in 2018.Currently, we have invested in a number of well-known crypto projects, including Coinbase, Polygon, Injective Protocol, Elrond, Terra and 1inch.
As early as 2023, Binance Labs invested in multiple Memecoins.In 2024, we will continue to maintain our enthusiasm for participation in the MemeCoin track.In January 2024, Binance Labs invested in Memeland’s native ecosystem Token MEME.Memeland mainly revolves around NFT and social functions, and the project was included in Binance Launchpool in October 2023.
Binance Labs then supported the development of its Whyanelephant project,This project is a dancing elephant. Its label is nonsensical, free and easy, and extremely emotional fluctuations, and it also represents the crypto market you, me and him.
4. Coinbase Ventures
Founded in 2018, Coinbase Ventures is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and serves as an investment arm of Coinbase, Inc, which mainly invests in early-stage companies in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.Currently, investments include Compound, Chainlink, Dapper Labs, Etherscan and Ripple.
Coinbase Ventures also participated in Memecoin very early, and began to support Dogecoin as early as 2018.However, the specific investment amount has not been made public, but the project has accumulated a lot of support in the community.Coinbase Ventures invested in Shiba Inu in 2021, and parent company Coinbase announced at the end of 2023 that it would add Bonk to its tradable assets list.
The latest news is that after the GOAT fire, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong proposed setting up a crypto wallet for Truth Terminal.
Coinbase Ventures then released a proposal to explain that the combination of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology will shape the future.Coinbase said in its post: “The future of artificial intelligence can be built on blockchain technology because crypto assets can help improve accessibility, transparency and use cases of emerging technologies. Cryptocurrencies’ efficiency, boundarylessness and programmabilityThe convergence of sex and artificial intelligence has the potential to change the way humans and machines interact with the digital economy.”
It can be seen that as Coinbase plays an important institutional role in the cryptocurrency market, in addition to launching the popular Layer2 base chain and becoming a custodian for all Bitcoin spot ETFs, it also participated in the layout of the Memecoin track very early.
5. Crypto Labs
Crypto Labs is a venture capital firm founded in 2018 and headquartered in Singapore. It has invested in a number of well-known crypto projects, including Ripple, Filecoin, Dapper Labs, SushiSwap, Aave and Chainlink.
On October 9, 2024, PPKING, the TON Public Chain’s Memecoin fair launch platform, announced that it has completed a seed round of $2 million, led by Crypto Labs.The project aims to create an efficient, secure and entertaining decentralized financial platform through innovative DeFi mechanisms and deep integration of MEME culture, with new funds supporting its Memecoin transactions and liquidity provision.
6. Pantera Capital
Pantera Capital is a California-based venture capital firm founded in 2013. Founder Dan Morehead was a former Goldman Sachs trader with extensive financial experience.Currently, we have invested in several well-known crypto projects, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Chainlink, Dapper Labs, and Polkadot.
Pantera Capital has long shown strong interest in the memecoin field, and Pantera Capital invested in Shiba Inu in 2021.
Pantera’s partner Paul Veradittakit stressed that Memecoin plays an important role in attracting young users to Web3.He regards Memecoin as a “Trojan horse” adopted by cryptocurrencies, using viral popularity to establish interactions with DeFi, NFT and other decentralized services.By making encryption and blockchain applications easier to reach mainstream audiences, Pantera believes memecoin has important value in overcoming the distribution restrictions faced by NFTs and may achieve split ownership of NFTs through the ERC-404 standard.
In recent months, Pantera executives mentioned that Memecoin is helping platforms like Solana build a more active user base.Pantera also actively embraces participation in the MemeCoin track.
7. OKX Ventures
OKX Ventures is the venture capital department of the OKX platform, and has invested in many well-known encryption projects, including well-known encryption top projects such as Solana, Polygon, Tether, and SushiSwap.
OKX Ventures also participated in Memecoin investment activities earlier.In May 2021, OKX Ventures participated in the investment in SHIB amid this wave of craze.He has subsequently participated in investments in Floki Inu, BabyDogeCoin, etc.
In addition, OKX began to support the listing of leading Memecoin very early this year. It can be seen that OKX Ventures, which relies on the trading platform, is more sensitive to Memecoin.
8. Others
In general, because it is impossible to directly issue Memecoin to make profits, most venture capital institutions use investment methods to cooperate with project releases, and they invest in hot Memes with background and stories.Some investment institutions were unable to participate directly or indirectly at the beginning, and once had a confrontational mentality; in addition, some investment institutions were actively deploying launchers for various public chains to further promote the dissemination and vitality of Memecoin.
According to RootData data, incomplete statistics, since 2024, there have been more than 10 new Meme Launchpad or Meme Launchpad functions, and they support different public chains to support the largest number of Meme Launchpad projects in Base and Solana., Behind these, you can also see some venture capitalists.
