Manav Gupta
Hong Kong-based startup accelerator Brinc recently raised US$130 million in a round led by digital entertainment, blockchain and gamification unicorn Animoca Brands to expand into new locations and launch new programmes and funds.
The accelerator’s ultimate goal is to support the development of over a thousand new purpose-driven startups over the next decade. In addition, the capital will enable Brinc’s expansion into Web3, including the launch of new blockchain-focused accelerator programmes across culture, music, art, collectibles, gaming, decentralised finance and data.
On the sidelines of the deal, e27 sat with Founder and CEO Manav Gupa, who shared the details of Brinc’s plans.
Edited excerpts:
You have just raised US$130M from Animoca and others. How and where do you plan to deploy this capital?
We plan to scale into several new locations, launch new accelerator programmes, launch new funds, grow the team.
This capital is being split into two parts:
- To support the growth of Brinc: This includes the development of new capabilities that support expansion into new geographical locations, the launching of additional accelerator programmes across new verticals, and establishing new teams to drive efficiencies operationally at scale.
- To invest in accelerator deals across all programmes and invest in and grow over 1,000 purpose-driven startups over the next five years.
How is your accelerator programme different from traditional ones?
Our programme is fully remote. However, unlike other distributed accelerators, we have a wealth of live sessions with industry experts and mentors. We can cover several time zones by running a combination of fireside chats, break-out sessions and 1-to-1 sessions with experts, partners, and mentors.
Our programme has unique tools and frameworks designed to support founders regardless of their stage permitting tailored value delivery.
We focus on technical and core technology support and pay close attention to the human element of being a founder and growing a startup. We provide expert advice on conflict resolution, founder development, hiring and scaling, leadership, and building culture.
On top of these, Brinc supports founders across key business functions, such as marketing, product development (including Tokenomics and Token design), legal and especially fundraising. Graduating companies have a remarkable success rate in how fast they close their subsequent rounds.
You run two funds apart from a separate fund with partners. Can you share the details of these three funds?
We currently have three venture funds:
BrincArtesian Flagship Fund: In partnership with Artesian, we are raising a US$100 million Flagship Fund, which will invest in early-stage deeptech companies in Asia, solving fundamental problems such as food & water security, healthcare quality & access, climate change, financial inclusion and more. It will build a diversified portfolio by investing in startups through our accelerators which support commercialisation, growth and fundraising. The vehicle will provide follow-on funding to the top companies that graduate the seed and Series A programmes and give the LPs direct investment opportunities at later stages. The fund is currently backed by the National University of Singapore.
BrincArtesian Counter Culture Fund: In partnership with Artesian, we are raising a US$50 million Counter Culture Fund that strives to counteract the inefficiencies, climate challenges and ethical concerns with mainstream animal agriculture. The fund will drive systemic change and capture a share of the growing US$1.4 trillion food sector by investing in early-stage alternative protein companies in Asia focusing on cellular agriculture, precision fermentation, plant-based analogues, and alternative dairy.
This fund will invest in companies at the seed, Series A and Series B stages, focusing on companies located in Asia or targeting the Asia market. Brinc’s accelerators provide a range of opportunities such as TurtleTree Labs, Avant Meats, Cell X, and Shandi.
Launchpad Luna Mentor Fund: In partnership with Animoca Brands, we are raising a US$100 million Mentor Fund to invest in founders leveraging Web3 principles to build decentralised and inclusive businesses. The fund is meant to incentivise, reward and empower our network of value-add mentors by providing early, exclusive access to startups during the Launchpad Luna Program before our public demo day.
This fund will invest in the equity and future token/NFT supply of companies that meet specific performance milestones during the programme. The fund will be governed by a DAO to incentivise participation, reward contribution and promote transparency.
We are actively looking for strategic LPs across all three venture funds.
Animoca is an active Web3 and metaverse investor. What do you expect from this partnership?
They (Animoca Brands and its subsidiary The Sandbox, an open NFT metaverse platform) bring a wealth of experience with strong networks to the table. They are also fully committed to developing the creator economy and thus are active mentors supporting investee companies with their experience.
Through the Launchpad Luna Accelerator, Animoca Brands and The Sandbox are helping startups with technical guidance, token architecture, and follow-on fundraising. Brinc and Animoca will also work closely to scout startups, complete due diligence, and actively create value through the programme.
We are also exploring additional sub-verticals where we believe technology and Web3 can provide further value alignment and work to develop programmes and supportive services.
Beyond this, we are growing and connecting our networks. We have already onboarded 75-plus mentors for the LaunchPad Luna programme. Mentors currently include Sebastian Borget (Co-Founder, The Sandbox), WhaleShark, Aleksander Larsen (Co-Founder, Axie Infinity), Holly Liu (Co-Founder, Kabam), Jerome Wong (Co-Founder, EVG), Ray Liu (CEO, Bit.Country), Luna Javier (Co-Founder, Altitude Games), Dapper Labs, Binance, Solana and many others.
In a press note, you said you would expand into Web3. Could you tell me what you mean by expansion? Is it that you plan to accept Web3 companies into your programme?
We see our expansion into Web3 by developing accelerator programmes and funds across core areas:
We will invest in Web3-native companies across culture (arts, media, gaming, e-sports, entertainment, collectibles), metaverse, DeFi, DAOs, guilds and infrastructure through Launchpad Luna. We will continue to expand the scope of our investment as we bring on more exciting partners across sub-verticals like Metaverses, De-Fi, Fitness, etc.
Also Read: Animoca Brands attracts US$360M to grow open metaverse, make strategic acquisitions and investments
We will facilitate the Web3 transition from bits to atoms by helping companies in traditional sectors adopt Web3 principles, which can help coordinate and incentivise disparate groups of people to solve tangible problems. We will educate these companies on the value of community building, novel governance mechanisms and tokenomics so that more people can have skin in the game and a seat at the table.
How does your Web3 accelerator work? Is it going to be a hybrid programme? When do you plan to launch? How many companies do you expect to join the programme?
The programme is fully online, and startups join us from all over the world. Brinc accelerators have always had an online component — before migrating to fully online in early 2019, all cohorts were half online and half in person.
The transition to fully remote was natural and not difficult due to our existing infrastructure, in-house tools and processes. We expect to continue to improve our online programmes to make them as valuable as possible from founders from every time zone.
The first programme is underway. We invested in 30-plus Web3 startups. We expect to increase that number in the future as we add more verticals under the Launchpad Luna Accelerator. We will invest in arts, music, marketplaces, collectibles, games, DeFi, metaverse, guilds, and more for the next programme.
Web3 is still in the early days, and many critics like Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk don’t seem to have a favourable opinion on this; they say Web3 is too idealistic, and some say it is a vapid marketing campaign. What is your view?
To be an entrepreneur, you have to be idealistic. Entrepreneurs have a particular vision for the future and spend considerable amounts of time, energy, resources and funding to make that vision a reality. Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey are quintessential visionary founders, and we understand their criticisms.
Where there is rapid experimentation and an opportunity to make comical sums of money with minimal oversight, there will naturally be people who try to take advantage of the situation. Web3 has many challenges, including marketing, mania and fraud, which require investors to be more discerning.
But under all the hype, we fundamentally believe that Web3 will be a secular shift in how people come together to create enterprises and solve problems. Historically, venture funding came from highly concentrated pools of capital which meant startup portfolios reflected their particular geographical and sectoral preferences.
Also read: Metaverse is around the corner and you should play a role in it
Traditionally with funding, liquidity was the end goal, but with Web3, it’s available right at the start, bringing all stakeholders in as owners. Web3 provides new mechanisms of organisation, governance, community building, and incentivisation, allowing more people to have skin in the game and a seat at the table.
We believe these new operating principles will empower the next generation of entrepreneurs, especially in emerging markets, to solve problems that reflect a global citizenry’s priorities rather than those occupying corner offices on Sand Hill Road. Innovating and driving change will be distributed and democratised.
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Image Credit: Brinc
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The post “We want to facilitate organisations’ Web3 transition from bits to atoms”: Brinc CEO Manav Gupta appeared first on e27.