Quick take:
- Lingfeng Innovation Fund is a Web3-focused sister fund to Lingfeng Capital.
- The $20 million raise is the fund’s first close, according to Zhang.
- The fund is targeting $30 million.
Ex-Binance Labs exec Nicole Zhang, has launched a new venture capital fund, Lingfung Innovation Fund (LIF), with $20 million to invest in Web3 startups.
Based in Singapore, LIF is a Web3-only sister fund to Lingfeng Capital, a Beijing-based fintech firm with over $400 million in assets under management. Zhang, who is a founding partner at LIF, said that the $20 million raise is the fund’s first close and it is targeting $30 million to focus on “enabling web2 elites with web3 expertise.”
After launching in June, LIF has already invested in 10 startups including ApolloX, ZetaChain and Ultiverse. The fund will primarily invest in early-stage startups from pre-seed to Series A.
Prior to founding LIF, Zhang was executive director at Binance Labs for two years, where she oversaw Web investment, early-stage incubation and portfolio value creation. LIF’s managing partners include other former Binance Labs execs as well as those previously from Goldman Sachs and Alibaba/Ant Financials
At LIF, Zhang is leads fundraising and due diligence on investment deals. She leads the fund alongside Lingfeng Capital’s founding partners, Ning Ma and Ming Shu, who are also LIF’s founding partners.
Zhang said that while LIF and Lingfeng Capital share some personnel and permissions, the fund has its own set of limited partners that include well-known entrepreneurs and publicly listed tech companies like crypto security firm CertiK and Singapore-based family office Kamet Capital Partners, among others.
Several Web3 funds have launched in recent months despite the market downturn. Some notable ones in the past couple of months include the $30 million fund from Metaweb Ventures, the $50 million fund launched by former Citadel execs, and another $50 million fund launched by Golden Equator Group and Snoop Dogg’s son Cornell Broadus.
Last week, Coindesk reported that a16z’s flagship crypto fund has suffered a 40% loss in the first half of this year, and has slowed down its investments in Web3 startups. According to Pitchbook, a16z made just nine investments in Q3 this year compared to 26 in Q4 last year.
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