Crypto Lender Nexo Spins Out $150M Venture Arm for Web 3 Investments, Acquisitions

Cryptocurrency lender Nexo established a venture arm with $150 million for Web 3 projects and acquisitions.

• Nexo Ventures will invest in Web 3, decentralized finance (DeFi) innovation, non-fungible tokens (NFT), metaverse and GameFi as well as payments and trading infrastructure and compliance services, the firm announced Wednesday.
• The division will be led by Tatiana Metodieva, Nexo's head of corporate finance and investments.
• Nexo Ventures will also "explore the feasibility of enabling Nexo's users to invest alongside us, thereby leveraging our capabilities to facilitate investor diversification and wealth maximization," Metodieva said in the statement.
• The Web 3 ecosystem has become an area of interest for investors in the crypto and blockchain industry, with several similar funds emerging in recent months. In December, Hashed raised $200 million for Web 3 ecosystem development, and in March Griffin Gaming Partners announced a $750 million fund.
• Gaming, in particular, has attracted industry heavyweights, with crypto exchange FTX last year investing $100 million to fund gaming studios that integrate the Solana blockchain into games. The fund was raised alongside Solana Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

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