Binance Floats $50 Million Fund for Blockchain Startups in India 

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is investing a substantial sum in promoting blockchain development in India. Earlier this week, the company announced the “Blockchain for India” fund, a new initiative which it is launching to help improve blockchain adoption across the region.

Money and Mentorship with Binance and Its Affiliates 

As the announcement confirmed, the fund is managed by Binance and WazirX- an Indian exchange that the former purchased last year. The fund is backed in the Binance USD stablecoin, the Binance Coin, and the native crypto token developed by WazirX. The firms will be looking to invest in several local blockchain projects, and lead to an increase in the adoption of the technology into everyday life in India.

“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,” WazirX Chief executive and founder Nischal Shetty said.

The fund will see investments ranging between $100,000 and $5 million, and it will go into setting recipients and companies with mentorships run by local venture funds. It will also support universities and student organizations that are interested in launching university blockchain technology incubators.

Let's invest in #India.

I foresee many other blockchain companies following our footsteps. Let's go!

» binance labs: Cryptocurrency exchange Binance sets up $50 million Indian blockchain fund – The Economic Times https://t.co/eVHbTk12tM

— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) March 17, 2020

All selected projects will be able to access Binance’s Cloud service, it’s Launchpad accelerator program, Binance Research, the Binance Academy, it’s decentralized exchange, and the Binance Chain amongst others. It’s a combination of both funding and mentorship from one of the most revered names in the blockchain and crypto space, and recipients will be more than taken care of as they look to get their business ventures off the ground. 

Blockchain for a New World 

The move underscores what is appearing to be a global acknowledgment of blockchain and its benefits. Last November, the European Commission and European Investment Fund (EIF) announced a new investment scheme that will help to bolster emerging technologies, particularly blockchain and artificial intelligence, across Europe. 

As the fund explained in the release, the organization will be committing about €400 million (about $440 million), and it will focus on developing AI and blockchain projects beyond just the stages of research and proof of concept. 

Western Europe alone was estimated to have spent about $674 million on blockchain development in 2019, thus making it the second most invested region of the world in the technology, behind the $1.1 billion invested by the United States and ahead of China and its $319 million. However, most of that cash has gone towards proof of concept and research – a jinx that the new fund will be looking to break. 

From 2020, the scheme will provide €100 million ($110 million) for the development of blockchain and AI-based products and services. Over time, they are looking to attract an additional €300 million ($330 million) from private investors. 

Hopefully, Binance’s contributions help to improve the adoption of blockchain and crypto-assets in India – a country that has been notoriously anti-crypto for the past few years.