This Week in DAOs + Web3 - Oct 12, 2023
A roundup of the most exciting developments in DAOs and web3.
Highlights
🔬 DeSci FTW - Academic journal Nature Biotechnology published an editorial recognizing DAOs as a revolutionary structure that allows scientists to create transparent research and investment communities and raise funding.
🧬 Centrifugal Force - VitaDAO, godfather of DeSci DAOs with a focus on human longevity, has spun off its first company, Matrix Biosciences, in collaboration with the University of Rochester’s Aging Research Center.
🏦 Community Chest - Gitcoin celebrated the results of its 18th funding round. A 12% increase in donations and three-fold growth in contributions relative to the Beta Round equates to 328K contributions totaling $680K for web3 projects focused on climate solutions, infrastructure, community, open source technology, and more.
🎥 Calladita - The Quiet Maid, a film funded through the sale of NFTs, will have its world premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Key players in creating this reality include filmmaker Miguel Faus, Roman Coppola's Decentralized Pictures, Steven Soderbergh, and FilmSharks.
⌚ NFT Watch - Diesel is continuing digi-physical project Metamorph by launching a timepiece collection called Vert, where each watch includes a digital collectible.
💳 ZK Pay - Digital payment service provider Wirex has introduced EVM-compatible zero-knowledge payment services and non-custodial crypto debit cards.
🍄 Psyply chain - Blockticity, which provides certificates of authenticity for tangible goods, has already minted $275M worth of goods on the Avalanche blockchain, offering emotional security to traders of hemp, psychedelic mushrooms, and kratom.
World Wide Web23
🆘 Aid for Israel - A collective of local web3 leaders has established Crypto Aid Israel, a global fundraiser managed through a multi-sig wallet, to help displaced Israeli citizens in need of humanitarian aid.
🖼️ Art + Tech - The 37xDubai art gallery will offer a web3 and NFT ecosystem education to artists and art enthusiasts in efforts to bridge art and technology.
🇨🇳 Tokenized Culture - China Daily, an English-language newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist Party, aspires to digitally distribute the Chinese culture through the creation of an NFT and metaverse platform.
Show Me the Money
💰 Titan Fund - Hong Kong-based, blockchain-focused, venture capital firm CMCC Global has launched a $100M fund to support early-stage, Asia-based, web3 startups.
🍽️ Seconds Please - Blackbird Labs, with Resy co-founder Ben Leventhal at the helm, raised $24M in a Series A round led by a16z to develop and scale its blockchain-based restaurant loyalty program.
🦋 Social Butterfly - Phaver, the gateway to web3 social, has closed a $7M funding round that includes support from Polygon Ventures, Foresight Ventures, and others, to solve the eternal challenge of making web3 onboarding easier, while offering users the opportunity to monetize and more fully control their social media profiles.
Listen + Learn
🌏 Saving Planet Earth - In Empowering Gen-Z Builders, the Crypto Altruism podcast’s Drew Simon speaks with Amanda Maritan and Shaan Patel, Co-Stewards of Dream DAO, about opportunities for Gen Z to contribute to web3 projects that regenerate people and our planet.
Coming up in Web3
💻 October 6-27: ETHOnline
🇭🇰 October 22-24: ETHHongKong
🇪🇸 October 25-26: European Blockchain Convention Barcelona
🏴 November 2-3: Enter the Metaverse London
🇵🇹 November 7-10: NEARcon Portugal
🍻 December 4-5: Next Block Expo Berlin
🕉️ December 4-10: India Blockchain Week
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