The blockchain supporter NEAR Foundation has launched a $100 million venture capital fund and venture lab in partnership with Caerus Ventures.
The fund will be anchored by NEAR with an initial closing of $50M and a target of $100M for seed to series A investments.
According to the press release, the first investment of the fund will be in the venture lab, which will work with creators, talent and franchise owners to conceive, validate, test and build the next generation of platforms.
The venture lab will offer cross-functional support to portfolio projects.
Marieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation, said, “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.”
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Caerus Ventures is a new investment firm founded by Nathan Pillai, with an aim to catalyze innovation in Web3, focusing on sport, music, film, fashion and art.
Pillai said, “…the genesis of Caerus: to be a catalyst for innovation that unleashes projects in sport, music, film, TV, fashion, art and gaming which offer greater equity for all.”
Talking about the partnership with NEAR Foundation, Pillai added, “We’re creating this partnership to help revolutionize the existing multi-layered entertainment ecosystems, growing the size of the market whilst promoting greater equity.”
