Uniswap launches Labs Ventures to support like-minded web3 projects 🚨 This article is 3 years old...
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Uniswap launches Labs Ventures to support like-minded web3 projects
DeFi giant Uniswap officially launched its venture capital fund called Labs Ventures to support web3 project that share its objectives.
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Updated: Apr. 12, 2022 at 6:07 pm UTC
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Uniswap launched a new venture capital fund called Uniswap Labs Ventures (ULV) that will invest in projects at different stages of the web3 stack, from infrastructure to developer tools and customer-facing applications that share Uniswap’s primary values.
1/💫 At Labs, we want to onboard millions of users into the web3 economy, with the goal of unlocking universal ownership & exchange for all. But we know we can’t achieve our mission alone.
Today we're proud to announce the launch of Uniswap Labs Ventures!https://t.co/Y4gSKOd9dC
— Uniswap Labs 🦄 (@Uniswap) April 11, 2022
The team said projects that share Uniswap’s values of building for the long term, openly collaborating with communities, and putting users first would be the main target of the fund. New co-director of the ULV, Matteo Leibowitz, said:
“[Uniswap places] a lot of emphasis on the tenacity and vision of the founders. Beyond that, we look for projects that will advance the benefits of Web3 and user adoption. In all cases, we seek to support teams that can benefit from our experience and expertise as a fast-growing crypto-native company.”
The company said its primary goal with UVL is to share its experience in strategy, product, partnerships, engineering, and design to give back to the community and help the web3 sphere flourish. Leibowitz said:
“The growth of Web3 companies supporting each other through venture investments reflects the principles of collaboration that are so fundamental to the industry’s open-source ethos.”
He further elaborated:
“The Uniswap ecosystem has benefited enormously from third-party contributions, and we’re excited to pay it forward by sharing our experience and expertise with our peers.”
Uniswap’s CEO, Mary-Catherine, will co-direct ULV with Leibowitz. The investments will be made directly from Uniswap’s balance sheet, although the company did not share any details on the amounts of these funds.
Already invested in 11 projects
UVL has already invested in 11 new projects within the web3 ecosystem. According to the announcement, Tenderly, LayerZero, MakerDAO, Aave, Compound Protocol, and PartyDAO are among some of the projects the fund has backed so far.
Knowing the importance of responsible protocol governance, the team also mentioned that ULV would actively participate in on and off-chain governance when relevant. The practice is common, and certain venture capital firms like Sequoia Capital and Bain Capital Ventures also choose to participate in the governance processes of projects they back.
UVL is planning to participate in the governance systems of MakerDAO, Aave, compound, and Ethereum Name Service protocols.
Author 
Zeynep Geylan
Zeynep is an academic who turned to crypto in 2018. Originating in social sciences, she is especially interested in the social impact of blockchain and cryptocurrencies and strongly believes in their transmuting power.
