The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance has teamed up with their subsidiary exchange in India – WazirX, to announce a joint initiative $50 million (backed by BNB, BUSD, and WRX digital assets) “Blockchain for India” (BFI) fund to support the development and growth of blockchain startups in India.
“Let’s invest in India,” said Binance CEO and Founder Changpeng Zhao (‘CZ’).
The funds are meant to incubate and invest in blockchain projects and startups focused on solving industrial and social problems through the use of blockchain technology. Investments will include, but not limited to, fiat-to-digital assets gateway solutions, trading platforms, payment, and remittance solutions, digital asset wallets, stablecoins, DeFi platforms, decentralized applications (dApps) and more. The BFI fund will make investments in both equity and tokens, ranging from USD 100,000 to USD 5 million.
“Due to looming uncertainty, India experienced another brain drain as the crypto got banned a few years ago. Crypto funds were inaccessible and many good Indian companies suffered growth while the counterparts could raise funds based on just the whitepaper. Binance’s entry at these low times is one good big thing that happened to India and possibly opens a big hope for all of us in Indian blockchain space,” stated Nitin Narkhede, CEO of Blockchain startup Minersinc.
Nischal Shetty, Founder and CEO of WazirX, said:
“We started WazirX with the aim to involve everyone into this technology revolution, and the Blockchain for India fund marks a big step in this direction. India has the biggest tech talent pool in the world. With this fund, we want to encourage and enable more and more founders and teams to come in and BUIDL. This initiative also shows the incredible potential that the Indian blockchain ecosystem has to offer. Apart from funding transformative blockchain projects in India, we look forward to collaborating with other investment funds to grow the ecosystem even further.”
The fund will also partner with venture funds in India that are actively investing and supporting the blockchain ecosystem. Additionally, the initiative will look to provide mentorship and support to universities and student organizations interested in setting up university blockchain technology incubators.
Under the Blockchain for India initiative, the selected startup founders and teams will get direct access to Binance’s global blockchain ecosystem comprising of Binance Chain, Binance Cloud, Binance DEX, Binance Launchpad, Binance Research, Binance Academy, Binance X and Binance portfolio companies, such as WazirX, DappReview, Trust Wallet and more. They will not only benefit from knowledge and resource sharing but also receive direct mentorship from other founders and leaders within Binance.
Projects interested in inquiring about, and applying to the fund, please write to [email protected] with your project information and business presentation.
Additionally, the team is calling on talent from various areas to join the fund with a background in venture capital and/or blockchain research. The team is also looking for advisors to join its advisory committee; industry leaders or experts in blockchain technology, business development, and government relations are welcome.
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