The Swiss non-profit organization, Near Foundation, partners with the Venture Capital firm Caerus to launch a venture fund to support web3 development in Africa.
Near Foundation reportedly partnered with the Caerus Ventures firm to launch a venture capital fund and venture lab of $100 million. The Swiss non-profit that overlooks the development of Near protocol, focuses on supporting Web3 developers, engineers and builders.
“The creators, talent, and franchises with reach and influence spearheaded that growth and will now drive the adoption of blockchain at scale. But this time, they and their fans will have greater access to the value created,” said Marieke Flament, CEO of the Near Foundation.
The $100 million fund
Founder of the venture capital firm, Caerus Ventures, Nathan Pillai, showed his support for the partnership. He stated that he is greatly impressed with Near Foundation’s approach to supporting the development of Web3 technology. He also opined that Web3 technologies use cases are not yet fully implemented.
“So we’re creating this partnership to help revolutionize the existing multi-layered entertainment ecosystems, growing the market size while promoting greater equity,” he stated.
The Swiss entity aims to lead the initiative with Caerus Ventures supporting the course. The venture processes an initial closing of $50 million and a target of $100 million.
Near Foundation in Africa
Earlier this year, Near Foundation expanded its presence in Africa. The Foundation teamed up with the Kenyan blockchain community, Sankore.
Both parties planned to establish a blockchain unit in the region. The plan focuses on crypto innovations, education and talent development throughout the African continent.
In May 2022, Near also launched a developer Bootcamp in Kenya with Web3Clubs and BitKe.io which was hosted by Strathmore University.
The Bootcamp program which was conducted for three days constituted an intensive course that equipped the participants with the required skills for developing projects on the protocol.
The partnership aspired to educate developers about the NEAR project and to encourage them to leverage the NEAR protocol to develop and launch their own smart contracts.
In June, the venture capital and innovation incubator of Binance raised $500 million for its first start-up fund. Binance lab intended to allocate the funds to organizations that form the web3 ecosystem.
In July, Magic End introduced a $130 million venture capital fund. The Solana-based NFT marketplace will focus mainly on investments in web3 games.
Near Foundation’s Vision
Near protocol founded by Alexander Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin, aim to build a network that provides people with finance, creativity and community re-imagination. Mainly through inclusivity.
The protocol receives support from major VCs such as Electric Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com, A16Z, Pantera capital and Baidu ventures.
The blockchain network supports various platforms that are vital for a multiverse experience among various channels. As such franchises such as the Armored Kingdom previously chose Near as the blockchain for its entertainment.
Near carries a global community that comprises innovators, developers and contributors. Such a community contributes to the development of the platform, ecosystem and applications that run using the protocol.
Web3 acts as the new iteration of the internet based on blockchain technology and remains a hot topic in the cryptocurrency space. Numerous companies have their attention on the web3 space.
